FOOD HOLIDAY: Chocolate-Covered Raisins Day | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures - The Nibble Webzine Of Food AdventuresFOOD HOLIDAY: Chocolate-Covered Raisins Day | The Nibble Webzine Of Food Adventures
The best-known chocolate covered raisins in the world are Raisinets, made by Nestlé. Some fun Raisinet facts:
Raisinets are produced in Burlington, Wisconsin, with California raisins.
Nestlé didn’t invent Raisinets: They were created in 1927 by the Blumenthal Chocolate Company, which also made Goobers. The brand was acquired by Nestlé in 1984.
In 2010, nearly 20 million pounds of Raisinets were produced—that’s almost 30 million Raisinets per day and 8 billion per year. If you lined them up end-to-end, Raisinets would stretch around the earth about three and a half times.
It took almost seven million pounds of raisins and more than 10 million pounds of chocolate to produce all those Raisinets.
Celebrate the day with Raisinets. Photo by Jerry Deutsch | THE NIBBLE.
To celebrate National Chocolate Covered Raisins Day, Nestlé has launched the Star Struck Sweepstakes: Upload a photo of you with Raisinets, and you could win your choice of a trip for two to Hollywood or New York City, plus $2,500. The contest continues through June 21, 2011.
Final factoid: There’s a town in America called Raisin City, located in the heart of California’s San Joaquin Valley. Home to nearly 5,000 raisin growers, it’s where 99.5% of U.S. raisins are produced—including those that become Raisinets.
