# Sour Date Snacks Joolies' Date Sours Provide a Sweet Snacking Alternative with No Added Sugar By Laura McQuarrie | Published 2026-02-28 | Lifestyle Source: Trend Hunter, https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/date-sours References: [nosh](https://www.nosh.com/pr/2026/02/26/joolies-debuts-date-sours-at-expo-west-expanding-the-role-of-dates-in-modern-snacking) & [joolies](https://joolies.com/)  At Natural Products Expo West 2026, Joolies debuted [Date](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/date-pops) [Sours](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/hartleys-jelly-sours), a bold, chewy snack with attitude. Date Sours coat soft, organic fruit with a sour finish, treating snackers to vibrant flavors like Blue Raspberry, Watermelon, Peachy, and Cherry Cola, as well as personality-packed characters with a "Sour Not Sorry" attitude. Dates are having a well-deserved moment as snackers wake up to their natural caramel-like richness, delivering flavor while bringing fiber and natural energy along for the ride. Naturally, dates pair well with nut butters and chocolate for candy-bar-like indulgences, and now, brands are exploring other ways of making them candy-like, such as pairing them with bold flavors that bring the nostalgic thrill of [sour candy](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/sour-strips) to a whole-food base. ## Trend Insights (Trend Hunter) - Score: 7.6/10 - Popularity: 80% | Activity: 84% | Freshness: 64% - Audience gender: 50% men, 50% women - Primary generations: Millennial - Top markets: North America ## Categories [Trend Hunter](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends) > [Lifestyle](https://www.trendhunter.com/lifestyle) > [Food](https://www.trendhunter.com/food) ## Key Themes ### Key Themes Behind This Trend - **Fruit-forward Sour Snacks:** A movement toward sour-flavored whole fruit snacks creates space for fruit bases like dates to replace traditional candy with nutrient-dense, nostalgia-driven alternatives. - **Whole-food Candy Reinvention:** Brands are recasting whole ingredients such as dates as the core of candy-like products, enabling indulgent textures and flavors without added sugars. - **Character-driven Snack Branding:** Personality-packed packaging and bold attitudes offer a path to stronger shelf differentiation and ancillary revenue through licensed characters and collectibility. ### Where This Applies - **Confectionery:** Traditional candy makers could be disrupted by clean-label, fruit-based confections that meet sugar-conscious consumer demand while mimicking familiar taste profiles. - **Plant-based Foods:** Producers in the plant-based sector may expand into indulgent snack formats using dates to deliver natural sweetness, fiber, and stable texture in candy-like products. - **Retail and Licensing:** Retailers and licensing partners stand to capitalize on character-led snack lines that drive impulse purchases and extend into merchandising and co-branded experiences. ## Related on Trend Hunter - [Candy-Coated Date Snacks](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/candy-dates.md) - [Candy-Flavored Dates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/flavored-dates.md) - [Dubai-Style Chocolate Dates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/dubai-covered-dates.md) - [Nut Butter-Filled Dates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/pbj-dates.md) - [Decadent Pistachio Dates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/nutruits-pistachio-fruit-bites.md) - [Date-Powered Brow Serums](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/aiza-date-setter.md) - [Expansive Protein Energy Bites](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/protein-energy-bites.md) - [Date-Sweetened Pickles](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/bread-and-butter-pickle.md) - [Seasonally Inspired Stuffed Dates](https://www.trendhunter.com/trends/stuffed-dates-covered-in-chocolate.md)