California produces much of the world’s raisins and markets them through the famous animated California Raisins. The state’s commercial raisin industry is concentrated in the warm, dry Central San Joaquin Valley, especially around Fresno.
California grows most of the raisins produced in the United States. Raisins are primarily made from seedless grape varieties, especially Thompson Seedless grapes. After harvest, the grapes are dried naturally in the sun on paper trays or, for some varieties, mechanically processed. The region’s hot summers and limited rainfall make it well suited to that transformation.
The anthropomorphized advertising group known as the California Raisins became a pop-culture phenomenon in the 1980s. Their clay-animated performances, especially of “I Heard It Through the Grapevine,” turned dried fruit into singing characters and helped make the California Raisins brand widely recognizable. The characters are fictional mascots, not a separate fruit variety, and the state’s actual raisin industry extends beyond the advertising campaign.