Tart 'n' Tinys are small, fruit-flavored candies distributed by
Leaf Brands
Leaf Brands, LLC is a candy company based in Newport Coast, Newport Beach, California. The original Leaf International (also known as the "Leaf Candy Company") started in the 1940s. Leaf International was once the fourth largest candy producer ...
. Tart 'n' Tiny's were originally manufactured by the
Wonka company in five colors, bluish-purple (grape), yellow (lemon), orange (orange), red (cherry), and green (lime). In 2015 when they were reintroduced, they added a new color, light blue (blue raspberry).
The original incarnation of Tart 'n' Tinys candies were small cylinders of
compressed dextrose. The candy had a chalky appearance and consistency, with a firm crunch that would crumble in the mouth, similar to
SweeTarts
SweeTarts (; officially stylized as SweeTARTS) are sweet and sour candies invented under the direction of Menlo F. Smith, CEO of Sunline Inc., in 1962. The candy was created using the same basic recipe as the already popular Pixy Stix and ...
or
Smarties
Smarties are colour-varied sugar-coated chocolate confectionery. They have been manufactured since 1937, originally by H.I. Rowntree & Company in the United Kingdom, and now by Nestlé.
Smarties are oblate spheroids with a minor axis of about ...
. Along with
Nerds and
Wacky Wafers, Tart 'n' Tinys were top sellers for the Wonka company in the 1980s.
[Kimmerle, Beth Candy: The Sweet History USA: Collectors Press, 2003.] In the 1990s these original candies were discontinued.
A short time later, Wonka introduced Candy-coated Tart n Tinys, identical candies with a brightly colored candy coating. This candy was then marketed simply as Tart n Tinys. While the original version was hard in texture, a soft and chewy version of Tart 'n' Tinys was introduced, titled Chewy Tart 'n' Tinys, that had the same candy coating but with a chewy center. These Tart 'n' Tinys, as well as the regular hard ones, have now been discontinued.
Brand revival
In 2014,
Leaf Brands, LLC acquired the Tart n' Tiny trademark and made plans to revive the brand by the second quarter of the year. Leaf's focus was to reintroduce the famous Tart n' Tinys candy as the original, uncoated product from the 1970s and 1980s, and not the later, hard-coated versions. The original flavors were to be revived, with new tropical and sour varieties to be introduced soon after. As of January 2015, Tart n' Tinys were made available to the public in both bulk and in 4.5 oz packages.
See also
*
List of confectionery brands
This is a list of brand name confectionery products. Sugar confectionery includes candies (''sweets'' in British English), candied nuts, chocolates, chewing gum, bubble gum, pastillage, and other confections that are made primarily of sugar. In so ...
References
Candy
American confectionery
{{confection-stub