{"id":4924,"date":"2026-07-19T22:38:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:38:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4924"},"modified":"2026-07-19T22:38:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T22:38:20","slug":"wait-its-a-candle-her-beeswax-fruit-and-veggie-ones-look-so-real-youll-want-to-take-a-bite","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nextcitydigest.com\/?p=4924","title":{"rendered":"Wait, it\u2019s a candle? Her beeswax fruit and veggie ones look so real, you\u2019ll want to take a bite"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Lisa Boone, Los Angeles Times<\/strong><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Jessica Gonzalez hustles behind her booth at the recent Renegade Craft Fair, frantically ringing up sales, answering questions and packaging her beeswax candles.<\/p>

Read more Social Security is trying to stabilize a year after DOGE cuts<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s hot on the grounds of the Los Angeles State Historic Park in April, but 35-year-old Gonzalez and her fianc\u00e9, Jordan Colindres, keep their cool as a crowd gathers to admire her Happy Organics candle collection, a homage to her family\u2019s produce company in the Central Valley that looks like real fruits and vegetables.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love doing in-person events because it\u2019s so fun to see people\u2019s reactions,\u201d she said a few months later. \u201cIt makes me feel good to see other people finding joy in my candles. They often say, \u2018Oh, that\u2019s really funny.\u2019 And it is<\/em> funny to have a cherry candle on top of your birthday cake.\u201d<\/p>\n

Judging by the smiles and charmed looks on shoppers\u2019 faces, her produce-inspired candles are less about illuminating rooms and more about sharing the joy she sought when she first started the company in 2018.<\/p>\n

But then, it\u2019s hard not to smile at the playfully elegant Bosc pears, puckered mandarins and green-and-purple asparagus taper candles which range in price from $12 to $40. Some are molded into corn on the cob, celery and rhubarb shapes. Others are made to look like mushrooms, figs, tomatoes and snap peas. The most popular are the small birthday candles shaped like raspberries, cherries and blackberries, packed in molded-pulp baskets just like you\u2019d find at the grocery store or farmers market.<\/p>\n