Frukas: cult chewy sweets with a secret identity

Alaaf and Helau! Especially at carnival time, they fly out of floats into the crowd and bring joy to young and old alike. But only very few people know their name: Böhme fruit caramels, or Frukas for short.

The small, square chewy sweets have cult status, but very few people know who produces them. "Everyone knows it, but no one knows what it's called," says Gerrit Sachs, Managing Director of Halloren Vertrieb, to the German Press Agency.

This was the intention for a while, as the Frukas were not a main product of the confectionery manufacturer from Saxony-Anhalt. They were originally invented in the late 1950s in carnival-obsessed North Rhine-Westphalia.

Since the 1990s, however, they have been produced in Saxony - at the Delitzsch chocolate factory, where around 20 employees are involved in their manufacture.

Sustainable nostalgia?

One of the Frukas' trademarks is their nostalgic packaging, which has hardly changed over the decades. An attempt was made to change the design a few years ago: "We were punished," says Sachs.

But not everything stayed the same: Around two years ago, the packaging was made more sustainable. Instead of aluminium, paper is now used, which has led to a saving of 20 tons of aluminium per year.

Vegetarians excluded

"The classic varieties bring back childhood memories for customers," says Sachs. Be it from starting school, visiting the doctor or bakery, or even carnival. The flavors are: cherry, raspberry, lemon and orange. According to Sachs, the most popular flavor by far is cherry, followed by raspberry. Crazy flavors are not planned, even if there are occasional sour variants such as cola.

However, changes are being considered for the recipe. More and more consumers want a vegetarian variant - other competitors already have these in their range. "It's almost being demanded," says Sachs.

The sweet caravan

Frukas orders start around December so that they can be delivered in time for the carnival season. The company produces around 1,000 tons of Frukas every year - the equivalent of over 300 million sweets. One Fruka weighs just 2.8 grams - together, this equates to the production weight of around 200 adult elephants. Stacked on top of each other, the annual production would result in a tower over 3,500 kilometers high.