I was obsessed with Fruit Beans when I was a kid. Every memory of an event in my young life is accompanied by Fruit Beans. School lunch, Fruit Beans. Waiting out tornado watches/warnings in the basement, Fruit Beans. Church, Fruit Beans.

I actually remember purposely waiting until communion in church to eat my Fruit Beans. I would eat one when the bread plate was passed, and then I would bite one in half and pretend to drink it when the wine plate was passed. I thought that everyone in church would think I was taking communion. In reality I'm sure no one noticed. Or they did notice and wondered why a 6-year-old was pretending to drink a half eaten Fruit Bean. It's a wonder I didn't put a Fruit Bean in the collection plate.

I've told people over the years about my love for Fruit Beans, hoping they'd join in. "Remember Fruit Beans? I used to eat them all the time!" "No", they'd reply. I told my friends in college, my friends out here in LA, I've even mentioned them to Justin tons of times. No one ever knew what I was talking about. (wow, why do I talk about Fruit Beans to everyone? People probably call me "Fruit Bean" behind my back).

So while I was home last month I was sitting in the living room with my mom and Ginger. I brought up my favorite topic of conversation, Fruit Beans, and started telling Ginger how much I loved them. She, of course, had no idea what I was talking about. My mom even joined in, telling me how many cavities the FBs gave me, and how when she would take me to the dentist, the dentist would be like, because of the cavities I guess, "does she eat Fruit Beans?". How did the dentist know?

So anyway, I was relaying this important FB info to Justin the other day and, again, he had no idea what I was talking about. He decided to look them up on Google. Nothing. I was like "look harder!". He said they didn't exist, or that I was calling them the wrong name. I told him that "even the dentist" knew what they were. Justin said that it was very possible that my mom was calling them the wrong thing, too, and that the dentist may have never said that.

He started to convince me they were a figment of my imagination.

Finally, on a mission to find my beloved Fruit Beans, I typed "80's Fruit Snacks" into Google. A few blogs later and I found them!

They are not called Fruit Beans.

I've been calling them that for years! Admittedly, I shouldn't have been calling them anything because they were a regular fruit snack and there was no reason for me to bring them up past the age of seven... but I did. They are called "Sunkist Fun Fruits". They do look like beans, so, I must have just given them that name, and my mom never corrected me/adopted the name as well.

Here is a photo of what they looked like.