Pears from Concentrate

I don't eat those packaged so-called fruit snacks--whether they are rolls, fun-shapes, squirters or strings. They almost always contain copious amounts of corn syrup and other sweeteners--and they don't taste all that great to me. But I do try to take a look at the labels from time to time because people often ask me about them.

Recently, I noticed that the first ingredient listed on many of these snacks is now "pears from concentrate." Now, as we pointed out in Feeding the Kids, "concentrated apple juice" and "concentrated pear juice" are essentially just sugar. Neither contains significant nutrients or fiber. But, to me, a "concentrated pear" sounded like it might be a bit better.

Curious, I called General Mills, who makes many of these snacks. I asked the pleasant woman who answered what "pears from concentrate" means. I was put on hold. When she came back on the line, she explained that it was just like the orange juice concentrate you have in your freezer. I told her that it says "pears"... nothing about juice. She put me back on hold.

When she came back, she had the information I was looking for. Concentrated pears are made from a slurry of ground up fruit, with water removed. I asked why, in that case, the snacks don't contain fiber. (The box I have says 0g fiber.) She said that there must not be enough "of it" to put it on the label. By "it" I am not sure if she meant pears or fiber--but, regardless, their can't be much pear per snack or there would be fiber.

Armed with this information, here's my verdict on products whose first ingredient is "concentrated" fruit. Look for a brand with fiber in it, so you know it contains a significant amount of fruit in the product. But avoid brands containing "partially hydrogenated" oils. (The oils contain very-bad-for-you trans-fats.) One brand that is an okay, In-between choice is Archer Farms Organic Real Fruit Strips (from Target).

But, before you eat any packaged fruit snack...consider just eating a piece of fresh (ie not concentrated!) fruit. That way you won't have to wonder what you are eating.

Getting Kids to Eat Vegetables...at a Party!?!

I have meaning to blog about this since before Christmas. Sorry for the delay...but I just have to tell the story of the vegetable Grinch.

I was assigned to bring a vegetable platter to my 2nd grader's class Christmas party. Coincidence? No, the organizer knows that I wrote Feeding the Kids. And, frankly I was delighted with the challenge. Would my vegetable platter be able to hold its own against holiday cookies and chocolate candy?

Well, that night as I read The Grinch Who Stole Christmas out loud to my kids, I came up with (in the words of Dr. Seuss) my own "wonderful, awful idea." I'd make a Grinch out of vegetables! My son was delighted with the idea. He helped me buy what we needed: guacamole for the face, red peppers for the hat, cauliflower for the white trim, snow peas for the scrawny neck.

The day of the party, I arrived a little late. I set the Grinch right next to some cookies and went to say hi to my son, who was busy with a party activity, then chatted with some other parents. Soon, the party was over. My son came to find me and asked, a bit accusingly, why I hadn't brought the Grinch.

"I did!" I defended myself, "It's right over there."

But it wasn't. It was gone. All that remained of the Grinch was a smudge of guac and a few snow peas. Even the cauliflower was gone. The kids had eaten the Grinch. They had eaten vegetables that were located next to cookies. And eaten them so quickly that my own child hadn't even had a chance to see his Grinch. He was somewhat heartbroken until I promised to help him make another one for dinner that night. And, I have to say, I got a little thrill out of eating the Grinch myself.