Trader Joe's Fiberful Bar: Fruit & Veggie

As you've no doubt noticed if you're a regular reader, I have been on a bit of a hiatus from reviews as of late.

It's not that I don't love you guys. It's not that I have burned out. And it's certainly not for lack of items to review. It is because due to some new medications I have to take, my taste buds haven't been up to snuff lately.

Oh, I can still taste. But the more subtle flavor notes are currently lost on me, and some things just have weird metallic notes to them -- and I know it's not the food, it's me. So with that in mind, I have felt that it would not be fair to review much, since I could risk giving a good product a bad review -- or, maybe worse, recommending something that is less than good.

But standing in line at Trader Joe's this afternoon, I noticed a new product that I thought might actually benefit from my lack of fully functional taste buds. I am quite the fan of TJ's dried fruit bars, and when I saw a new green and blue label I got quite excited. Well, it turns out this bar is indeed new, and it is a combination fruit and veggie bar. Sort of a chewable Green Machine.



The bar has carrots, apples, pumpkin, beets, broccoli, celery, and lots of fiber. And, in a very uncharacteristic turn of events, the Trader Joe's cashier gave the bar the old side-eye and implied that I was being rather brave for buying it. I will grant you that I like all of those ingredients -- yes, I even like beets -- it's just that I am not sure I like the thought of them all together at once. And honestly, maybe, just maybe, the lack of nuanced tasting ability might be to my advantage here.

In appearance, the bar is typical TJ's fruit leather. It's a long and decently thick slab. It's a neutral brownish color and smells vaguely like apples.

Taste wise? The strongest single taste seemed to be the celery. There is a sweetness, too -- kind of like apples, but mostly it as if like someone took vegetable stock and made leather out of it. I will grant you that is probably not the most appealing description, but I found it oddly tasty. I kept hoping it would be a little saltier -- again, so it would be more like a solid, chewy vegetable soup.



I can't say I will probably ever start buying these en masse, but there was something about it that was just so bad it was actually good.

I am not comfortable putting a rating number on this because of my current taste bud situation, so take my words with a grain of salt when trying it yourself. I might be missing out on the best or worst parts of the flavor. (Chris tried a piece, and he was -- to put it kindly -- not impressed.)

PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's

PRICE:
$.89

CALORIES:
70 calories per bar.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
traderjoes.com

Trader Joe's Apricot Dried Fruit Bar

Fruit leather is one of my work snack staples. I had a stash of Matt's Munchies fruit leather, which I have since gone through. But my local go-to brand is Trader Joe's.

While not organic, Trader Joe's fruit leathers are unsweetened and come in a huge variety of flavors.



The package contains two nori-like strips of leather that are roughly the thickness of a U.S. quarter.

The color is a rich shade of chocolate brown. The leather has a great texture. It's got enough tooth to it that it bites off in a clean snap, but there is still enough moisture from the fruit that it becomes juicy in your mouth rather than dry or gummy.

I normally love apricot anything (in fact, there are fresh apricots on my counter as we speak), and as much as I like the texture of these bars, it's the taste that I have a hard time with.



Have you ever smelled Demeter's "Dirt" fragrance? Well, this fruit leather tastes exactly the way that smells. (Now don't get me wrong -- I absolutely LOVE that scent, and I in fact do own and wear it.) It's a rich, earthy taste that's slightly grassy, vaguely herbal, salty and watery all at once. Imagine a very rich, very fertile potting soil and you'll get the idea. But while that makes for a wonderful scent, I'm not sure it's the best thing to taste. And somewhere in there, it's like the whole thing was kissed by a perfectly ripe apricot. (Well, more like platonic peck-on-the-cheek rather than a passionate tongue-down-the-throat type of kiss.) The apricot flavor is there, but just barely. I have to be honest, I prefer my apricots to simply be sweet and kind of peachy.

From a foodie standpoint, this fruit leather is clearly superior to the sugar-and-chemical laden stuff aimed at kids that tastes more like candy than fruit. Nonetheless, I would actually prefer that "fake" kind over this one.

It's difficult to rate this, because while it is clearly a better, healthier product than the highly processed kind, in the end I am drawing the line at taste alone.



PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's

Matt's Muchies Island Mango

I wasn't sure I was the right person to review this flavor, Island Mango is a mango and coconut leather
I have a well documented hatred of coconut- well let's check that- I hate untoasted coconut. It's a texture thing, I like the flavor of coconut just fine. It's that moist, mushy yet oddly crunchy, stringy texture I really hate. Now toasted coconut manages not to have any of those problems. Luckily for me the good folks at Matt's Munchies thought of this (clearly they did it just for me because DUH! the world does in fact revolve around ME!) while I am not sure if the coconut is actually toasted or if it somehow seems to become toasted during the "leathering" process, but either why it has that great slightly crunchy, toasty taste and texture.

The Mango leather base is incredable! It's like someone took the most perfectly ripe slice of mango ever and dried that. It's sweet but it had that piney sour notes to it. Combined with the coconut it almost picks up a papayaesque flavor. .
I knew I would like the mango it's self but I am surprised at how much I liked the coconut with it.

For those of you who aren't coconut fans or can't eat coconut Matt's also makes a "plain" mango leather- there's nothing plain about it, it's the same fantastic mango base that's in the Island Mango.

By the way both leather's are under 100 calories (70 for the Island Mango and 50 for the Mango) and they are Organic and free of gluten, nuts, eggs & dairy. They are also certified both vegan and Kosher.


PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company
You can purchase directly from them by visiting their website HERE or by phone at (516)319-3135

Matt's Munchies Apple Pie Fruit Leather

I love fruit leather, when I am smart enough to think ahead when it comes to lunch I try to always have one.
So when the good folks over at Matt's Munchies asked if I would like some of their leathers to try I jumped at the chance.

Matt's fruit leathers are all natural, organic. The are also gluten, nut, dairy, soy and egg free. They are also certified Vegan and Kosher Parve. AND they are less then 100 calories a serving. The sheets are roughly 4 inch strips of nori-like fruit.

I was in an apple mood so I decided to start with the Apple Pie flavor. the first interesting thing I noticed is that the apple pie flavor is in fact made with no apples but with banana's instead. With that in mind the first thing I had to do was the smell check, the smell is very, very cinnamony. It actually reminded me of those cinnamon scented brooms they sell around Halloween (which I happen to love them).

So did the banana end up tasting like apple?
Actually, yeah it does. It reminded me alot of the flavor of apple sauce. There's almost a floral quality to it, I couldn't tell if that is from the banana or the cinnamon. The cinnamon is just slightly fiery- which is for this leather works out well. I think if the cinnamon was the really "hot" variety it would just be too much.

Where the fact that it's actually made with banana rather then apple stands out is the texture. It starts out with that chewy yet firm texture fruit leather has but as it's in your mouth it sort of melts in that thickish, kinda creamy, kinda not way that banana's do (well frozen banana's) I think if you didn't know that the banana is there you most likely couldn't tell that it was not in fact made with apples.

I love the fact that these leather's are a snack I can have without screwing up my diet. And one package is a very generous serving. I am not sure if this will end up being my favorite flavor of the bunch (I have a feeling that is going to be the Mango) but I am excited to try the rest.

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company
You can purchase directly from them by visiting their website HERE or by phone at (516)319-3135