Whenever I travel, I am suddenly endowed with the power and self-control to make better snack choices. I suddenly get somewhat repulsed by the idea of eating entire bags of chips and I reach for moderately healthier snack choices. This certainly doesn't happen all the time in real life. Also a side note, if you happen to give birth at a hospital, it is very nice to bring snacks as a token of appreciation for the NURSING STAFF (I suppose we could share with everyone else too). I really enjoyed those Cheez-Its last night. Thank you.
Maybe it's related to the fact that A and I tend to take food-centric trips. All the sightseeing, activities, and bum time help pass the time between meals. Snacks then take a back seat, unless we're hiking or something. Then it's all about the snacks.
This was a Boston TJ's pick. I doubt it's exclusive to Boston stores, but this isn't the type of thing that would normally catch my interest. It's a travel snack - easy to tote around and not pungent or obnoxiously noisy. Y'all know I have a certain snack niche (as evidenced here, here, and here). Also not something A would pick either. He normally reaches for some granola bar that I don't have the energy nor interest to review.
Basically what we're dealing with here is fruit leather. What is fruit leather? It's like the more legit, healthier version of a fruit roll-up snack that can actually be made at home. It's a nice way to preserve fruit into what the internet calls the "beef jerky of fruit" (A, stop rolling your eyes please). You pulverize whatever combination you like into a pulp, spread it out onto a baking sheet, and let it dry out in the oven for like 9 hours. Yes, apparently people do it in real life and not just in some late night infomercial for a food dehydrator, although having one certainly speeds up the process. But no one eats sheets of leather. That's practically barbaric. You have to cut them into strips or smaller pieces. Here, TJ's has gone ahead and cut them into "ends and pieces." Some diamond or square-like. Some thick strips. Some thin slivers. Gives it more character. Aka rustic. Aka how to get away with cutting my cake/bread/baked good hideously. Rustic. Yaaaaas.
Those of us that grew up on beloved fruit roll-ups - this au naturale version doesn't have the same stretchy chew. It's tougher, like leather, but still "chewy" in the sense that you have to really work at it. It has a pleasant generic fruity flavor - sweet but not too sweet. However, I really couldn't make out any distinctive individual flavors. The ingredient list is sort of vague on what could potentially be in the apple puree vs. what was actually used.
Like I said, A was not impressed. I liked it, but this isn't something I would pick up on a regular basis. It is travel friendly, shelf-stable, not a granola bar, requires a bit of chewing, and is not terribly junky. Probably good for kids as a little snack in a lunchbox. It does have quite a bit of sugar but nothing funky added. $2.99 for an 8oz. bag.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Handmade Dried Fruit Bars Ends & Pieces. Rustic fruit leather. For those of us too busy/lazy to DIY. 6 out of 10.
I ate fruit leather as much as I could as a kid--I liked it more than fruit roll-ups or fruit by the foot!--but I wasn't allowed to have it often because it was very sugary. As an adult, I still enjoy fruit leather, and I like the Trader Joe's take on it, but I agree that the flavor on these ends and pieces is less distinct. I got the impression that some of the "pieces" in the "ends and pieces" are manufactured specifically for this blend, from a combination of all the leftover fruit juices.
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