Snack Review: Fruit Leather from Stretch Island Fruit Co.
Have you ever wondered what Spam would taste like if it were made of fruit instead of pork shoulder? Neither had I, until I bit into Stretch Island Fruit Co’s “Fruit Leather,” a kind of Fruit-Roll-Up for (strong stomached) adults.
At 50 cents a pop, these iPod-sized fruit snacks were an impulse buy. Behaving like the easily distracted five-year-old I am, I couldn’t resist their colorful packaging, with its drawings of mangoes and strawberries dancing to what I imagined was kickin’ reggae beat. Needless to say, that tropical vibe had me at hello, and I exited the store confident in my cheap summer purchase.
But oh, how the tide changed when I tore open those pretty packages. Glistening like the US Army’s finest canned meat, Fruit Leather’s resemblance to processed ham was apparent immediately.
To give you a clearer mental picture of what they look like, imagine the sweaty face of an over-tan socialite as she sits on Miami Beach, thumbing through a copy of US Weekly. After weathering years of cigarette smoke and harsh UV rays, her skin has acquired a bumpy, pockmarked quality, which is slightly obscured by the layer of coconut oil covering her cheeks. These snacks resemble those cheeks exactly. Imagine a dermatologist’s nightmare and you’ve imagined Fruit Leather.
But of course, you can’t judge a snack on appearance alone, since sometimes it’s the weird-looking morsels that offer the coolest tastes. So even though Fruit Leather’s congealed, yellowish-brown appearance made me think of my grandfather’s recipe for fried Spam, a sampling was in order.
Texture-wise, this snack is surprisingly soft, despite being triple the thickness of a typical Fruit Roll-Up. For a food called “Fruit Leather,” I was expecting more of a fight from my bite. Instead, these gummy slabs quickly gave way to my incisors, and disintegrated in my mouth after only a couple of seconds.
That leaves flavor, which is the only aspect of Fruit Leather that I can’t complain about. “Summer Strawberry” tasted like homemade strawberry pie filling - a little sugary and artificial, but good nonetheless - and “Mango Sunrise” lived up to its name. I doubt I’d be able to differentiate between the two if I were participating in a blindfolded taste test (sugar is sugar, right?), but at least the flavor didn’t make me gag.
Harsh words, I know. But when it comes down to it, I have little sympathy for snacks so strangely gelatinous that they make me yearn for fresh vegetables. That’s when you know things have really gotten out of hand.
Buy Stretch Island Fruit Leather Online:
- at Amazon.com
4 Comments
Joan Russo on September 9th, 2008
Oh - I think you are way off on your review of Stretch Island’s Fruit Leather.
My kids and I love these things - they have no added sugar, preservatives and are all-natural. Granted they are jellied fruit - but they are good on the go, great for school snacks and above all - the KIDS LOVE THEM!
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Daniel on July 28th, 2009
This will be very harsh. And you will likely be offended, but after a review like that I must oblige.
You’re ending really sums up what must be the extent of what must certainly be a keen palate. “Sugar is Sugar”. This snack is made from fruit, it is rapped in plastic. These snacks are seldom refrigerated, hence they will glisten, it will be sticky - they contain water. Unlike the chemical concoction of the Fruit-Roll-Up these contain real fruit, I’m sorry.
You complain, complain and complain, and of what, the snack that you bought Quote: “like the easily distracted five-year-old I am”) glistening? About leather not being to your standard? I’m opening a store just for you that is going to sell “fruit wood” - ( wood that will be soaked in 5% fruit juice and 95% sugar, then dried - so it doesn’t glisten. That should be right on the money then? Quite honestly you must have the palate like the back side of a rhino. I’m a quite sorry to have offended you so but that an outrageous review, that certainly called for it.
Candy Addict » Snackerrific Weekly Roundup on September 4th, 2008
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