The Good: Good ingredients, Surprisingly low sodium (comparatively)
The Bad: Expensive, Not at all tasty, Not as impressive on the nutrition front as one might hope
The Basics: Aurora Naturals Plantain Chips are fit for neither human nor rabbit, apparently.
One of my favorite things in the world is clearance rack shopping. I’m a sucker for a good deal, especially when it comes to food. I am always thrilled to find food less expensive than it is initially priced. So, when I went to check out my local grocery store this month to see what was new in the world of discounted food for enjoyment and review, I was intrigued by the site of the Aurora Natural Plantain Chips. I knew nothing about this product before trying them, but I picked them up figuring if I didn’t like them, Daisy, my little black dwarf rabbit, might enjoy them.
My first clue that these would not be something I would enjoy should have been that Daisy wouldn’t touch them. And she loves banana and dried banana!
I also should have looked closer to note that these were barely discounted ($.50 off, which isn’t much for a product that is $2.49!) and that they were lightly salted. But even as I try to snack on them, I find them to be, unfortunately, gross.
Basics
Aurora Natural is a nut and fruit snack company that creates atypical snacks. This was actually my first experience with an Aurora Natural product and, despite my inability to recommend this particular product, I do like the all-natural ingredients list!
Plantain Chips is exactly what the name suggests; a container of plantain (banana) slices that have been fried and salted as a salty snack! The fruit chunks are hard and crispy like potato chips. They are not covered in a thin coating of salt and come in a 4 oz. plastic container with a resealable top.
Ease Of Preparation
Plantain Chips are easy to consume. Simply open the tub and remove the chips from it! There is no trick to eating Plantain Chips; they are a snack that is ready to go from the plastic tub to the mouth.
Taste
Opening the plastic container of Plantain Chips, I was shocked by how salty and greasy these chips smelled. Immediately, I realized that these chips were not trying to compete with something like Peeled Organic’s Banan-A-Peel fruit snacks (reviewed here!); they were competition for potato chips!
Placing the Plantain Chips in my mouth, I was, therefore, unsurprised by how incredibly salty they tasted. For sure, these are defined as “lightly salted” (and I was shocked that the nutritional information seemed to back that up!), but they taste entirely like salt with a faint, bland, utterly unsweet aftertaste of banana.
Nutrition
Plantain Chips organic dried fruits are an all-natural snack, with salt being the only preservatives. They have no added sugar. Given that the ingredients are selected plantains, palm olein oil and salt, there is nothing hiding in them that will surprise consumers. These have a shelf life of a few months, but seem unlikely to go bad even after they “expire,” given that they are dehydrated so well.
Each 28 gram serving of Plantain Chips has 140 calories, 70 (!, ack!) of which come from fat. There is 2% of your RDA of Vitamin C and 4% of Iron and Vitamin A for the day. Outside that, there are no significant nutrients in a serving. They are not marked as gluten free and were packaged in a facility that processes tree nuts, milk, peanuts, egg, wheat and soy, so those with applicable allergies ought to keep that in mind.
Storage/Clean-up
Kept in their tub, Plantain Chips will remain fresh for several months and because they are dehydrated, it is hard to imagine them going bad even after they expire.
Cleanup is simple as well. Plantain Chips have a simple coating of salt on them. Because of that, they require one only to wash their hands after they are done with them. Simply toss out the plastic container (recycle it if possible!) and cleanup is done!
Overall
Plantain Chips are unfortunately a letdown for those who like dried fruit and as one who likes potato chips, I’m sorry to say these weren’t much to write home about, either; especially for the price!
For other fruit snack reviews, check out my reviews of:
Peeled Organic Cherry-Go-Round
Peeled Organic Apple-2-The-Core
Peeled Organic Pine-4-Pineapple
2.5/10
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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