Essential Facts About Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles
Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles are round, chewy fruit sweets with a squidgy, jelly-like centre and a crisp sugary coating. They come in five flavours, with a different colour for each one, and these are orange (orange), blackcurrant (purple), lemon (yellow), lime (green) and strawberry (red).
Here are some essential facts about the popular British sweet...
Fruit Pastilles were introduced in 1881
Rowntree's launched Fruit Pastilles 142 years ago in 1881, as their first sweet product, and they have been produced at the Fawdon factory in Tyneside, England ever since.
They are known as Wonka Fruit Pastilles in Australia
Although originally known as Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles, the new Wonka name was given to the product in 1988, when Rowntree's was acquired by Nestlé. In Italy, they're called Fruit Joy, and they're known as Fruitips in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Canada.
There are 14 Pastilles in each tube
An individual tube weighs 52.5g (not multipacks) and contains 14 Fruit Pastilles. Each tube includes a thin layer of foil-backed paper, and a green outer wrapper providing details of the product.
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They've been vegan friendly since 2020
On September 15th 2020, Nestle officially announced that Fruit Pastilles would become vegan friendly, in line with the changing eating habits. Real fruit juice is used as a flavouring, with no artificial flavours or colourings.
Fruit Pastilles were advertised by Windsor Davies in the 1970s
A series of British TV adverts aired during the 1970s, which shared the same theme of a celebrity trying to resist the temptation of biting into the crispy, sugary coating, revealing the real fruit flavour of the squidgy centre.
Welsh comedy actor Windsor Davies and the English actor and singer Don Estelle featured in an amusing TV advert which aired in 1977. They were two of the stars from the hit BBC comedy series It Ain't Half Hot Mum, which was set in Burma during the Second World War, and was originally broadcast for eight series between 1974 and 1981, with 56 episodes in total. It was written by Jimmy Perry and David Croft, who also penned Dad's Army and Hi-de-Hi!
There was also an advert featuring Rod Hull and Emu.
Windsor Davies holding a packet of Fruit Pastilles in 1977
An Advert featuring the basketball player Bobby Kinzer became iconic
In 1980, an advert featuring the American basketball player Bobby Kinzer became iconic. After showing a young lad his impressive ball skills, the lad remains unimpressed and replies "not bad, but I bet you can't put one of these Fruit Pastilles in your mouth without chewing it". Kinzer confidently replies "Sure I can", but after just a few seconds, ends up chewing the sweet.
Other similar adverts (with different people showing off their skills to a child) aired throughout the 80s, and included a baton-twirling majorette with a young girl (1983) and a juggler with a young boy (1984). All the ads came with the slogan "all you can do is chew".
There are dessert flavoured pastilles
Rowntree's Dessert Pastilles come in a 139g sharing bag with four different flavours; cherry bakewell, blueberry pie, apple crumble and mango sorbet. Two other share bags are available; classic Fruit Pastilles (143g) and Strawberry & Blackcurrant (143g) with just the two flavours.
You can buy Fruit Pastille Lollies
There's an iced lolly version that comes in a box of 4 or a Big Family Pack, and they are suitable for vegetarians. You will find them in the frozen isle of most major supermarkets, including Waitrose, Co-op, Ocado, Sainsburys, Iceland, Tesco, Morrisons and Asda.
Ingredients
This is a list of ingredients for a tube of Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles
Sugar, Glucose Syrup, Starch, Invert Sugar Syrup, Acids (Malic Acid, Citric Acid, Lactic Acid, Acetic Acid), Concentrated Fruit Juice (1.2%) (Apple, Blackcurrant, Lime, Orange, Strawberry, Lemon), Acidity Regulator (Trisodium Citrate), Flavourings, Colours (Anthocyanins, Copper Complexes of Chlorophyllins, Beta-Carotene, Curcumin)
I hope you have found these essential facts about Rowntree's Fruit Pastilles useful. Here are some nostalgic photos of various products from over the years...
An old Wrapper from 1989
Fruit Pastille's milk chocolate Easter egg from 1987
Fruit Pastilles Strawberry & Blackcurrant sharing pouch from 2017
Dessert Pastilles 139g sharing pouch from 2023