Peeled Organic’s Apricot-a-lot Is The First Real Dud I’ve Had From Peeled Organic!

The Good: Amazingly nutritious
The Bad: Proportionately expensive, Terrible flavor
The Basics: Apricot-a-lot dried fruit from Peeled Organic is a poor addition to their otherwise interesting and delicious line of dried fruit!


I have been on a bit of a health kick since joining CalorieCount with my wife. My intent is to get healthier so I can live longer and better with her. To that end, she “won” a whole bunch of packs of Peeled Organic dried fruit snacks and when they arrived, she split them evenly between us. So far, I have enjoyed and reviewed Peeled Organic’s Paradise Found dried fruit blend (that’s here!) and Peeled Organics’ Much-Ado-About-Mango (reviewed here!). Unfortunately, the last snack of the bunch, Peeled Organic Apricot-a-lot, did not impress me. In fact, it pretty much repulsed me.

Basics

Peeled Organic is a relatively new fruit snack company that is doing good work for both the environment and personal health. Using no preservatives, Peeled Organic strives to present the healthiest possible dried fruit to customers and, as the name suggests, does so using organic farming methods.

The Apricot-a-lot blend is just as the title suggests; a bag of dehydrated organic Apricots! The dehydrated fruit balls – they are 1” discs of dark brown/orange ribbed fruit - are supple, not hard. They are also not covered in a coating of sugar, wax and/or preservatives. The Apricot-a-lot fruit snacks come in a 5 oz. stiff plastic bag that is resealable.

Ease Of Preparation

Apricot-a-lot fruit packs are simple to use. Simply open the bag and remove the fruit from it! There is no trick to eating Apricot-a-lot; they are a snack that is ready to go from the bag to the mouth.

Taste

Apricot-a-lot is weird when it comes to the scent. Honestly, when I opened the bag to smell this treat, it did not smell like fruit at all. Instead – and I kid you not – it smelled like vanilla cake frosting. After about thirty seconds of that aroma, the Apricot-a-lot treats smelled pretty much like composting fruit.

On the tongue, the Apricots from Apricot-a-lot are dry and pretty tasteless. Actually, they taste dry and like dirt or sand. Mind you, it does not taste like anything bad in that dirt, but it is a pretty earthy, woody flavor without any real fruit flavored relief. In fact, one of the real disappointments of the Apricot-a-lot fruit snacks is that when one presses the tongue into the soft middle of the dried apricot, the taste does not improve. There, one is greeted by a soft, grainy, texture and a flavor that is more like bamboo than apricot.

Nutrition

Apricot-a-lot organic dried fruits are an all-natural snack, with no preservatives or added sugar. Given that the sole ingredient is organic Apricots, there is nothing hiding in them that will surprise consumers. These have a shelf life of about eight months, so they are not ideal for stocking up on. The package we got on December 26 (2011) expires on July 9, 2012.

Each 40 gram serving of Apricot-a-lot has 120 calories, none of which come from fat. There are also 3 grams of dietary fiber. Outside that, there are no significant nutrients in a serving, though there is 30% of one’s RDA of Vitamin A and 8% Vitamin C. They are gluten free and were packaged in a facility that processes nuts, dairy, wheat and soy, so those with applicable allergies ought to keep that in mind.

Storage/Clean-up

Kept in their bag, Apricot-a-lot will remain fresh for almost a year and as long as the bag is resealed, one suspects they will last that long anyway. Because I only got enough to review, I am not worried about keeping these fresh! They come in, they go right back out!

Cleanup is simple as well. Apricot-a-lot dried fruits are a dry food and thus leave no mess behind. Simply toss out the plastic bag and cleanup is done!

Overall

Apricot-a-lot is a very disappointing fruit snack that left me underwhelmed. For the expense, one might think Peeled Organic could make dehydrated apricots taste good. The fact that even this wonderful company cannot suggests that maybe this is not the ideal dehydrated fruit, despite the nutritional benefits.

For other fruit-related reviews, check out my reviews of:
Pomegranate Craisins
Dole 100% Juice Orange Peach Apricot Juice
Celestial Seasonings Mandarin Orange tea

3/10

For other food and drink reviews, please click here to visit my index page!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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