Sep 28, 2026
The Jews and Fruit Gems
This is pretty cool for customers, an adoring public - even if just the small Jewish community, raised an outcry after a corporate announcement, and almost immediatly the company reversed its decision.
The Forward has the history of Sunkist Fruit Gems.
Fruit Gems have been very popular candies. Besides for being great candies, their soft and light body with some density and volume made them great for throwing at bar mitzvas and aufrufs in shul! Very popular. I don't think you will have an easy time finding an affiliated American Jew who is not familia with Sunkist Fruit Gems.
The Ferrara Candy Company, who have owned Sunkist Fruit Gems since 2006under the banner of the Jelly Belly Candy Co decided in May 2026 to discontinue the fruit gems, as they did not hold up well against many other candies in their lines of candies (e.g. Nerds, Atomic Fire Balls, Lemonheads, etc)..
After learnign of the fact that the Fruit Gems were discontinued, American Jews raised an outcry. I saw many posts online bemoaning the end of an era and the end of a beloved candy and tradition in synagogues across America.
Sunkist was aware of the outcry and because of it they reversed their decision. They announced on their Instagram page that they are working to bring them back and are working with another candy maker to put them back on the shelves very soon...
They clearly were not selling well enough to keep them on the shelves but Ferrara will bring them back because of the Jewish community expressing nostalgia for it and sharing our stories of hos beloved a candy it has been for so long and part of, even if just a small part of, our youth and our growing up. I find that amazing, though I am aware that if they bring it back and sales continue to lag they very likely will discontinue it again at some point.
Good to know Jews also control Fruit Gems, along with the weather :-)
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