Fit Fare

They got the name right. Unlike dried fruit that is baked or heated to remove moisture, these freeze-dried fruit pieces are surprisingly light and crisp, more like a meringue than a piece of chewy dried fruit.

The newest fruit in the CrispyGreen line is Pear. The clean, subtle flavor of Crispy Pear is my favorite so far. Pineapple and Apricot are nice, and the favorites of my young children, but those flavors were a bit more pungent and punchy than the smooth Pear. Also available from CrispyGreen are Apples and Peaches.

The process to make CrispyGreen freeze dried fruit results in a reliable and consistent flavor and texture. There are none of the surprises of biting into a fresh piece of fruit. Is this one a delicious and juicy pear or a mealy and dry pear? Is this batch of grapes sweet and crisp or mushy and sour? With freeze dried fruit, you get the same texture, same flavor, and same color in each bag.

And since almost all the moisture is removed from the fruit, and moisture is the enemy of shelf stability, these snacks don’t require preservatives. The ingredient list is as simple as it gets – fruit.

But before you replace your 5 (to 9)-a-day of fresh fruits and veggies with these yummy snacks, you have to ask whether freeze-dried fruits are as good for you as whole fruit. Levels of fiber and minerals are most likely maintained. As for the more fragile vitamins and phytonutrients, the jury is still out. The CrispyGreen website and packaging maintains, however, that the dried fruits “retain nearly all the nutrients of fresh fruit.”

The downside is that you might be missing an important benefit of eating whole fruits and vegetables. When you eat several servings of fresh fruits and vegetables each day, you’re eating fairly large amounts of food. And if you agree with Barbara Rolls’ research that shows the volume of food impacts how much you eat, regardless of calories, small bits of dried fruit aren’t going to give you the same benefit of satiety as a piece of fresh fruit. One serving of CrispyGreen dried fruit (weighing a paltry 10 grams and about 40 calories) will be a nice sweet treat, but don’t count on it to curb your appetite.

Photo courtesy of Crispy Green’s Website