When Do We Get To Taste Test More Foods, Mom?
One of the benefits of cooking with kids for a living is that people often want to know what I think of their products. Our cooking classes for children and our bustling household are both good venues for testing products and ingredients: How do snacks taste? How do tools work with kids, inexperienced and potentially clumsy cooks?
When we arrived home from school with friends this week, the kids found a package next to the mailbox. They were thrilled when they discovered that it contained “something new to taste.”
Before I tore open the boxes, I told the kids that I would be writing an article about their opinion of these snacks. The ground rules were simple:
- Be honest
- Be polite
The tasters:
- Ari: age 5 1/2
- Maggie (who wanted to be called Margaret for the article, so she would sound more official!): age 6
- Amelia: age 7
- Me: age undisclosed
I opened the boxes and was delighted to discover that we would get to taste three flavors of dried fruit from Crispy Green. Ari nearly fell off his chair, exclaiming repeatedly that it was “so exciting.” Amelia said, “I’m like yummmm. I love tasting new snacks.” (Remember, she is only 7 and not a teenage girl from the valley!). And Margaret said she was excited to help and make her sister (who was at home) jealous!
We first tasted the Crispy Green Peaches. They were sweet and had the subtle flavor of peaches. Their crunch came as a surprise, particularly because the flavor reminds us of eating soft juicy fruit.
The Crispy Apples were next and received rave reviews from all of the tasters. The kids loved that it was a little “tangy” and tasted just like apples. They were very excited and repeatedly said “yum!” with their mouths full!
Our final flavor was the Crispy Pears. After tasting the flavorful and tangy apples, these appeared a bit bland and was rated as being too sweet by our tasters.
Crispy Green offers a variety of freeze-dried fruits, which come packaged for easy snacking on the go. Unlike traditional dried fruit, these freeze-dried fruits retain nearly all the nutrients of fresh fruit, with no additives or preservatives. Each pouch contains only one ingredient - the fruit, itself. This is a welcome change from the bulk of packaged foods on the market today, which are filled with ingredients that are difficult to pronounce and sound as if they came from a laboratory.
While it is not peach, pear, or apple season all year long, Crispy Green has developed a technology that allows us to enjoy the delicious flavors and nutrients of our favorite fruits any time. They are easier and less messy to take along during travel and have a nearly indefinite shelf life. While nothing beats biting into a crisp fresh apple, Crispy Green gives us the next best thing.
