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Red Vines is a brand of red licorice candy manufactured in Union City, California by the American Licorice Company. 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.
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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
Fox science-fiction drama television series Fringe frequently refers to Red Vines throughout its five season run, as it is the preferred candy by 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 are brought up in several episodes of the American sitcom The Big Bang Theory. In the season 2 episode The Financial Permeability the unacceptable differences between Twizzlers and Red Vines was used as a plot point when deciding where to see a movie. They are mentioned again in the season 4 episodes The Hot Troll Deviation and The Herb Garden Germination.
The track "Red Vines" was recorded by Aimee Mann and appears on her album Bachelor No. 2 or, the Last Remains of the Dodo (2000).
Red Vines are featured at several points throughout the StarKid musical A Very Potter Sequel.
Red Vines are mentioned frequently in the Gilmore Girls series as a favorite snack of female protagonists Lorelai Gilmore and Rory Gilmore.
Red Vines were featured at the 89th Academy Awards ceremony when host Jimmy Kimmel airdropped Red Vines into the audience by the use of small parachutes.