Joris Sweets is a legend in the history of Belgian confectionery. This Belgian family business was founded in 1938 on the outskirts of Brussels. These four generations of confectioners have always followed the same principles of providing excellent quality sweets, with respect for tradition, using the original manual production methods and the best quality ingredients.
It was Joris Van den Driessche, the great-grandfather of the current 4th generation, who set this amazing adventure in motion back in the 1920s and 30s, almost 100 years ago. In the 1930s, his son Jan Van den Driessche joined the business: he made everything himself in his small kitchen and was able to produce 50 kg of sweets per day! In 1938, the company was named Joris.
Back then, all the sweets were made by hand: the pralines, the hard sweets, the soft caramels, the dragées, the nougat and the gums.
1938
Joris Sweets is one of the few companies that still uses real acacia gum as one of its basic ingredients.
This beautiful, natural ingredient is included in many of our well-preserved, secret recipes such as our Belgas and Black Mice. In addition to its characteristic flavour, in the past, aniseed was also used for its medicinal properties. At Joris Sweets, aniseed is still used according to the traditional recipes passed down through the generations.
This ingredient is foundation for the homemade organic elderberry syrup we use in our Brown Pector sweets. This recipe was created in the 1930s to help ease a sore throat and runny nose.
What does it mean to be the market leader in quality gums?
Our artisanal family business wants to respect flavour, tradition and quality. The secret to quality lies in the production and our well-preserved secret recipes, but most of all, in our choice of ingredients. Joris is one of the few companies that still uses real acacia gum as one of its basic ingredients.
From the beginning, we’ve always followed the same principles of providing excellent quality confectionery products, with respect for tradition, which are produced according the guidelines set out by the first generation.
For the hard gums, the acacia gum first undergoes a stringent selection process and then arrives at Joris unprocessed in jute bags. The gum is first broken down into smaller pieces and then melted and any impurities are removed.
In our range, we have lots of different varieties of gum, each with their own traditional method of production. Hard gums (vegan - gluten-free), Soft gums (gluten-free), Sugar-free gums (gluten-free), Organic Hard Fair Trade gums (vegan - gluten-free) and the traditional Curix liquorice pearls with their characteristic small, metal tin.