Chocolate-covered raisins are a candy consisting of individual

raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...

s coated in a shell of milk, dark or white

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

Varieties and brands

In some countries, they are also known as Raisinets, which is the earliest and one of the most popular brands of the product, currently made by Ferrara, a subsidiary of

Ferrero SpA Ferrero SpA (), more commonly known as Ferrero Group or simply Ferrero, is an Italian multinational company with headquarters in Alba, Italy. manufacturer of branded chocolate and confectionery products, and the second biggest chocolate produc ...

. Raisinets were introduced in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1927 by the

Blumenthal Chocolate Company Blumenthal is a German name meaning "flower dale". The English name Bloomingdale is composed of the same Germanic roots. A spelling reform in 1901 omitted the letter h in the word ''Thal'' in normal use. It may refer to: People * Blumenthal (s ...

Ferrero Ferrero (Italian: , Spanish: ) is a surname of Italian (from Piedmont) and Spanish origin that means 'smith', the person who works with iron, in parallel with surnames like Ferraro, Ferrari and Smith. Notable people with the surname Ferrero inclu ...

acquired the brand in 2018 from

Nestlé Nestlé S.A. (; ; ) is a Swiss multinational food and drink processing conglomerate corporation headquartered in Vevey, Vaud, Switzerland. It is the largest publicly held food company in the world, measured by revenue and other metrics, since ...

, who had briefly expanded the brand to include milk chocolate-covered dried

cranberries Cranberries are a group of evergreen dwarf shrubs or trailing vines in the subgenus ''Oxycoccus'' of the genus ''Vaccinium''. In Britain, cranberry may refer to the native species ''Vaccinium oxycoccos'', while in North America, cranberry ...

and dried cherries from late 2009 through 2013. A large number of other brands also exist, including: * In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, chocolate raisins are considered a classic sweetshop confectionery and can be found in many supermarkets in plastic sharing bags under supermarket branding and in

corner shop A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticke ...

s. Around Christmas time, chocolate raisins are also sold with milk, white and dark chocolate coatings as a festive treat in boxed packaging. * In

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, the Glosette brand consists of various chocolate-covered candies, including Glosette

Raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...

s, Glosette

Peanut The peanut (''Arachis hypogaea''), also known as the groundnut, goober (US), pindar (US) or monkey nut (UK), is a legume crop grown mainly for its edible seeds. It is widely grown in the tropics and subtropics, important to both small and ...

s, and Glosette Almonds. The candies are sold in small cardboard boxes rather than a typical plastic wrapper. The brand was acquired by Hershey Canada on July 1, 1987 from

Nabisco Nabisco (, abbreviated from the earlier name National Biscuit Company) is an American manufacturer of cookies and snacks headquartered in East Hanover, New Jersey. The company is a subsidiary of Illinois-based Mondelēz International. Nabisco's ...

Canada. * In Australia, these sweets are more commonly referred to as chocolate-covered sultanas, rather than raisins. In Australia, there are no particularly prominent brands in the market, although chocolate-covered sultanas are produced by some large local confectioners and also on the behalf of supermarket chains as store-brand versions. The Promotion in Motion Companies, Inc, the candy company that manufactures

Welch's Welch Foods Inc., commonly known as Welch's, is an American company, headquartered in Concord, Massachusetts. It has been owned by the National Grape Cooperative Association, a co-op of grape growers, since 1956.Hays, Constance LHow Too Much P ...

Fruit Snacks, also manufactures a Sun-Maid brand of chocolate-covered raisins. There is a non-dairy equivalent made of sugar (non-refined),

cocoa mass Chocolate liquor (cocoa liquor) is pure cocoa mass (cocoa paste) in solid or semi-solid form. Like the cocoa beans (nibs) from which it is produced, it contains both cocoa solids and cocoa butter in roughly equal proportion. It is produced fr ...

cocoa butter Cocoa butter, also called theobroma oil, is a pale-yellow, edible fat extracted from the cocoa bean. It is used to make chocolate, as well as some ointments, toiletries, and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter has a cocoa flavor and aroma. Its mel ...

, raisins and

vanillin Vanillin is an organic compound with the molecular formula . It is a phenolic aldehyde. Its functional groups include aldehyde, hydroxyl, and ether. It is the primary component of the extract of the vanilla bean. Synthetic vanillin is now u ...

. A similar food, also commonly sold at movie theaters, is the

chocolate-covered peanut Chocolate-coated (or chocolate-covered) peanuts are a popular bulk vending product. They consist of peanuts coated in a shell of chocolate. They have a reputation in many countries of being an item most familiar from the concession counter. In s ...

. As described above, the two products are often combined for consumption in a mixture. Less common alternatives are the chocolate-covered almond or the chocolate-covered macadamia nut.

References

{{Hershey, state=autocollapse Raisins Nestlé brands Chocolate-covered foods

Varieties and brands

See also

References