Crunchies!

Confession: I don't really like fresh fruit. Strawberries are okay, and I do love me some bananas. But I rarely crave fresh fruit. And if you give me a choice of snacks, fresh fruit is typically the last thing I'll choose. But that's not to say that I don't like the taste of fruit. I think it's the juicy, fibrousness that turns me off.

I usually get my fruit group in through smoothies or fresh juices because I do like fruit in liquid form. And I also love dried fruit in trail mixes and just for snackin'. And apparently, I also love freeze-dried fruit because the folks from Crunchies sent me some of their fruit snacks to review, and I absolutely loved them. 

They sent over all seven flavors — Mixed Fruit (above) and Raspberries, Strawberry Banana, Grapes, Blueberries, Pineapple, and Strawberries (below).

Out the seven, the Grapes were definitely my fave. I've had freeze-dried strawberries and blueberries in cereal before, but freeze-dried grapes were totally new to me. Grapes have always been one of my least favorite fruits because they're so cold and mushy and eyeball-ish. But when you suck out the liquid and shrink it down in freeze-dried form, you get super-concentrated sweet flavor without all that weird texture stuff. I've been snacking on these at my desk just like this.

I also a huge fan of the Strawberry Banana and the Mixed Fruit, mostly because freeze-dried bananas are awesome. They're similar to banana chips, but they don't have that oily, fried mouthfeel. The strawberry banana made a perfect oatmeal topper (pictured below), and the mixed fruit (with strawberry, banana, & blueberry) have made great desk snacks.

I enjoyed the Pineapple by itself one afternoon while coloring in my new adult coloring book. When I eat fresh pineapple, it burns my mouth and leaves my tongue feeling all weird. But this dried pineapple had all the yummy, sweet pineapple flavor without that burning sensation.

I also have been snacking on the Strawberries by themselves. Freeze-dried strawberries are a classic in cereal, but they never give you enough in your box of cornflakes. Now I can have a whole bowl!

The Blueberry made an excellent yogurt topping for this Kite Hill Blueberry Artisan Almond Milk Yogurt. I do actually really love fresh blueberries, maybe because they're less fibrous and small enough that their mushy insides don't bother me. But I think I actually love these freeze-dried berries better. Plus, they're good to eat year-round, and this is definitely not blueberry season.

My least fave were the Raspberries. I tried to enjoy some with some Kite Hill vanilla yogurt and Larabar dried fruit & seed mix. But the freeze-dried raspberries were just so tart! When you condense the already tart flavor of raspberries down to freeze-dried form, they're a little hard to eat. I could only a eat a few before it was overwhelming. I'd say these are best for when you're craving something sour, but you just want a little taste. A few are all you need.

I would totally buy most of these (except raspberries). They make great snacks, and they're an excellent way for the fresh fruit averse to get their fruit group in. They'd also be great for car snacks or for camping.