Match up: Fruit Leather vs. Fruit Strips vs. Fruit Rollups

Whenever I’m in line at Whole Foods, I’m enticed by the 49 cent fruit strips they have near the check out.  I’ve gotten a couple, so I figured I should put them to the test.  The contenders are a more “crunchy” version, Kaia Fruit Leather, and the classic kids treat, Fruit Rollups.

First up: Kaia Foods Gogi Orange Fruit Leather

Ingredients: Orange, bananas, gogi berries

Before I ate this, I didn’t see that there were bananas in it.  They probably use nanners to give the leather some sweetness, since there’s no added sugar.  I appreciate the simplicity of the ingredients, but not the way it tasted.

Kind of like eating a really thin, dirty orange peel.  It was definitely fun to eat, and good for me, but not necessarily the tastiest thing I’ve ever had.

Next up: Whole Foods 365 Organic Blueberry Fruit Strip

Ingredients: apples, organic natural flavor, fruit juice concentrate (blueberry and lemon)

Image from mandysmeals.com

There are a ton of varieties of the Whole Foods strips (those that I can think of off the top of my head = peach, berry, strawberry, blueberry, cherry, apricot).  All of them have apples listed as their first ingredient, but due to the fruit juice concentrate in them, they have a strong taste of whatever fruit flavor is in them.  They’re not as chewy as either Kaia or Fruit Roll-ups, but they feel more natural that way (like, fruit shouldn’t be impossible to get out of the grooves in your teeth).  They have a bit of texture to them, but are generally a great small snack for pre-workout, or when you just need a little sugar.

And the hometown favorite: Fruit Roll-ups, made by Betty Crocker (who knew?)

Ingredients: a whole lot of stuff.

I was impressed when I saw the clear “gluten-free” label on the front of the box.  That Betty Crocker really has high gf awareness.

That said…Fruit Roll-ups were not like I remembered them to be.  When I was a kid each one felt almost like a blanket of chewy fruit goodness.  You could punch out shapes in them, stick your tongue through one, and amuse yourself for hours on end.  As an almost adult, it was just kid of…ordinary.  The colors are blinding (especially the unappetizing blue/green one), it gets stuck in your teeth, and it takes me about 45 seconds to eat one.

And the winner?

Whole Foods 365 Fruit Strips! 

I would choose these even over my old childhood staple Fruit Roll-ups, and I would choose just about anything over the Kaia ones.  So, stock up…they are only 49 cents each, after all.