Stretch Island Fruit Co. Smooshed Strawberry FruitaBü

While it has been years since most of my peers have eaten Gushers, Fruit Roll-Ups, or Fruit-by-the-Foot, I’ve actually eaten those candies within the last couple of months. I just love candy. [Don't] Sue me.

My friend Rosa, well aware of my predilection for fruit-flavored candy, suggested that I try fruit leather. “Suuuuuure”, I told her in that “don’t hold your breath” kind of way. But the weekend rolled around, and as my Olympics-induced awareness of my mediocrity heightened, I figured it was time to step outside of my comfort zone and do something different. It was time to not only know better but to do better. Fruit leather would obviously be instrumental in this transformation.

But the health food store was all out of fruit leather, so I picked up a box of Stretch Island Fruit Co. Smooshed Strawberry FruitaBü instead.

To be quite frank, all-natural fruit products can look pretty unappetizing. We’re so used to our fruit-flavored foods and drinks coming in vivid, visible-from-space colors (thanks chemical dyes!) that we think that anything that isn’t bright, let alone slightly brown, is probably rotten and has a terrible taste. Because it’s made with all-natural ingredients, Stretch Island Fruit Co. Strawberry FruitaBü is a brownish red fruit roll with little seed flecks scattered throughout, but it tastes better than it looks.

FruitaBü is made with and tastes like real fruit, yet its flavor isn’t too radically different from those more popular fruity candies. It has a slightly rougher and chewier texture than you may expect, but I didn’t find it to be distracting. FruitaBü is a snack for children (the wrapper has a monkey on it and the box comes with games), but if your sweet tooth prefers fruit flavors to chocolate, I recommend swallowing your pride and giving these rolls a try.

Each roll of Stretch Island Fruit Co. Strawberry FruitaBü has 80 calories, 10 calories from fat, 1.5g of fat (2% of the DV), 1g of fat (5% of the DV), 0mg of cholesterol, 40mg of sodium (2% of the DV), 70mg of potassium (2% of the DV), 16g of carbohydrates (5% of the DV), less than 1g of fiber (3% of the DV), and 14g of sugar.

You can purchase Stretch Island Fruit Co. Smooshed Strawberry FruitaBü online or at supermarkets across the country. Use the store locator to find your nearest retailer.

Image courtesy of Lucky Vitamin.