First it was mustard pickles. Now, another Canadian convenience store staple is flying off the shelves forever: The Cherry Blossom Candy, a fruit-filled chocolate dome that a Newfoundland artist is immortalizing in a new project.
Hershey’s chocolate treat has been produced in Montreal since 1890, and is typically found by the cash register of rural general stores. The company confirmed that it stopped producing the candy this month.
As classic as it is, cherry blossom is a divisive candy. Some love it, some hate it, but the bright yellow packaging with its cross-section of deliciousness is an iconic image, and it’s one that Pasadena artist Kate Fudge is reproducing in her work.
Fudge is an illustrator who sells art depicting Newfoundland and Labrador’s favorite treats.
The Candy has special family memories for her, she told CBC Radio Weekend am.
“Twenty years ago, my grandfather would take me to the corner store on Brook Corner, Mr. Wilson, and he would always pick two cherry blossoms,” she said. “One for me and one for him.”
Those memories are why Fudge decided to make an illustrated print of the gift. She said it was a big seller when she started producing it in 2019, but demand has increased since news broke of the candy’s disappearance.
“Everyone seems to have the same kind of thing, like, their grandparents or their parents loved it,” Fudge said.
The artist said customers have been requesting stickers, cards and other products with the design to commemorate that nostalgia.
Fudge said he plans to stock up on cherry blossoms while he still can.
“I have one here now and I’m going to freeze it,” he said.
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