Red Vines


Red Vines is a brand of red licorice candy manufactured in Union City, California by the American Licorice Company. Red Vines are the official candy of the University of Chicago Scavenger Hunt. Red Vines Original Red Twists are also sometimes referred to as red licorice despite containing no licorice. The original Red Vines were raspberry-flavored, but in 1952, with a slight formula change, the Red Vines Original Red Twist flavor was introduced.

August 2012 recall

In August 2012 the California Department of Public Health announced a recall of one lot of Red Vines' black licorice candy due to lead contamination. Only the one-pound packages marked "Best Before 020413" were recalled. Testing found that candy in the contaminated lot had as much as 0.33 parts per million of lead resulting in up to 13.2 micrograms of lead per serving. This was more than double the limit of 6.0 micrograms of lead per day from all dietary sources for children under 6 years old.

In popular culture

science-fiction drama television series Fringe frequently refers to Red Vines throughout its five season run, as it is the preferred candy of the character Doctor Walter Bishop. In the season 2 premiere, "A New Day in the Old Town", he is even seen eating Red Vines while conducting an autopsy. After the TV series was renewed for a fourth season on March 24, 2011, co-star Josh Jackson publicly stated his appreciation of Fringe fans for sending Red Vines to Fox in an effort to campaign for a renewal.
Red Vines were airdropped into 89th Academy Awards ceremony by host Jimmy Kimmel.