Jelly Tots

Bag of Canadian-sold Jelly Tots (2007)

Jelly Tots are soft, chewy fruit-flavoured sweets produced by Rowntree's. They are round, sugar-coated gumdrop-like confections about 7mm in diameter, and are advertised as containing 25% fruit juices and no artificial colours or flavours. According to the packaging, Jelly Tots are suitable for vegetarians or vegans as they contain no gelatine or animal-based ingredients.

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

Jelly Tots were launched in 1967 and quickly became established^{[citation needed]} as a popular children's brand. There are five flavours in each 25g bag or 168g tube: lemon, lime, orange, blackcurrant and strawberry. Primarily, they are sold in the United Kingdom, Ireland and South Africa, and were also sold in Canada.^{[citation needed]} They remain available as imported candy in some specialty shops at a premium price.

From the early 1970s onwards, there were 3 companion "Tots" brands in the UK: Candy Tots, Tiger Tots and Bunny Tots. Candy Tots were similar to small Dolly Mixtures, Tiger Tots were licorice/fondant sandwich sweets resembling small Licorice allsorts and Bunny 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 3 companion brands were discontinued, probably in the late 1980s/early 1990s, leaving only Jelly Tots.

Ingredients

A 168 gram tube of Jelly Tots contains: Sugar, Glucose syrup, Modified starch, Fruit juices 25% (Strawberry, Orange, Blackcurrant, Lime, Lemon), Acidity regulator (Trisodium citrate), Malic acid, Citric acid, Flavouring, Lactic acid, Colours (Anthocyanins, Copper complexes of chlorophyllins, Beta-carotene).

Nutrition information

A 100g serving of the product provides:-

Energy - 1464 kJ (344 kcal);

Protein - 0.1 g;

Carbohydrate - 86.3 g;

of which sugars - 59.2 g;

Fat - Nil;

of which saturates - Nil;

Fibre - 0.1 g;

Sodium - 0.1 g;

Salt equivalent - 0.1 g.