Runts

The Runts lineup as of 2013 (l-r: banana, orange, strawberry, green apple and grape

The 2007 Runts flavors: banana, orange, strawberry, pineapple, and mango

A lineup of Runts from the late nineties (l-r: cherry, banana, orange, strawberry, watermelon and blue raspberry)

Original Runts introduced in 1982: banana, cherry, strawberry, orange, and lime

Runts in a bulk vending machine (on the right) with the 2007 and 2008 flavor lineup

Runts (also known as Fruit Runts) are hard candies sold by Nestlé under their Willy Wonka Candy Company brand. First seen on the market in 1982, the candies are in the shape, color and flavor of a selection of fruits. Original Runts have a hard candy shell with a somewhat powdery center (the center being the consistency of the more-familiar SweeTarts).^[1]

Flavors

The current flavor lineup of Runts includes orange, banana, strawberry, grape, and green apple.

Banana, orange and strawberry have been included in Runts since the candy's debut lineup, which also included cherry, and lime. In the late nineties, watermelon and blue raspberry were added, replacing lime. In 2007, those two newest flavors, as well as cherry, were removed and replaced by mango and pineapple at which time the candy included a less diverse variety of colors (being only shades of red, orange and yellow). In 2009, those two newest flavors were again replaced by grape and green apple. Thus, every newly added flavor has been discontinued upon the subsequent lineup change. The shape of the mango candy was reused for watermelon and for grape, while the shape of cherry was reused for blueberry and green apple. Pineapple was the only flavour added which had a new shape.

Runt varieties

In the 1990s, a variation known as "Tropical Runts" was available. The blue raspberry and watermelon Runts originated in this candy. A similar variant, "Rock'n Runts", contained watermelon, pineapple, lemon, raspberry, and grape flavors.

There is also a soft and chewy version of Runts known as Chewy Runts, which includes grape and green apple flavors in addition to banana, strawberry, and orange.

Often the banana flavor is sold separately and has often been given a name coined "bananarama".

Ingredients and nutrition information

Ingredients include: dextrose, maltodextrin, and less than 2% of corn syrup, malic acid, calcium stearate, carnauba wax, artificial flavors, color added (red 40 lake, yellow 5, yellow 5 lake, yellow 6).

As stated by the Wonka website, the box comes in two sizes: theater size (6 oz.) and single box (1.8 oz.)

Nutrition facts as given on a box of Runts: Serv size: 12 pieces, servings: about 3.5, amount per serving calories: 60, total fat: 0 g (0% DV) Sodium: 0 mg (0% DV) total carb: 14 g (5% DV) sugars: 13 g protein: 0 g (Percent daily values (DV) are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.)

References