Jelly Tots

Jelly Tots are soft, chewy fruit-flavoured sweets produced by Rowntree's. They are round, sugar-coated gumdrop-like confections about 13mm in diameter, and are advertised as containing 25% fruit juices and no artificial colours or flavours. The Nestlé website states that Jelly Tots are suitable for vegans but this is not mentioned on the packaging.

Jelly Tots were invented by Dr Brian Boffey of Horsforth, Leeds when he was working for Rowntree's.^[1]

Jelly Tots were launched in 1965 and according to the Nestlé website, quickly became established as a popular children's brand. There are seven juices in each 25g bag or 130g tube: Grape, Apple, lemon, lime, orange, blackcurrant and strawberry. Primarily, they are sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa and Australia, and were also sold in Canada. They remain available as imported candy in some specialty shops at a premium price.

From the early 1970s onwards, there were three companion "Tots" brands in the UK: Candy Tots, Tiger Tots and Teddy Tots. Candy Tots were similar to small Dolly Mixtures, Tiger Tots were licorice/fondant sandwich sweets resembling small Licorice allsorts and Teddy Tots were small cubes with a crunchy shell. These four Tots types were sold in small (pocket-money) packs and from spring 1974 were promoted together in one TV advertisement (with the jingle "More to choose from along the shelf, Rowntrees Tots: please yourself'). The three companion brands were discontinued, probably in the late 1980s/early 1990s, leaving only Jelly Tots.

Ingredients

A 130 gram tube of Jelly Tots contains: Sugar, Glucose syrup, Starch, Fruit juices from concentrate 25% (Grape, Apple, Strawberry, Orange, Blackcurrant, Lime, Lemon), Acidity regulator (Trisodium citrate), Malic acid, Citric acid, Lactic acid, Naturally sourced colours (Anthocyanins, Copper complexes of chlorophyllins, Carotenes, Curcumin), Flavourings.

Nutrition information 2015/09

A 100g serving of the product provides:-

References