Welcome again to FTW’s Beverage of the Week sequence. Right here, we largely chronicle and evaluation beers, however fortunately broaden that scope to any beverage (or meals) that pairs nicely with sports activities. Sure, even cookie dough whiskey.
I’m undecided once I grew to become a dried fruit man, however I’m assuming it occurred someplace across the time I received a Costco membership. Out of the blue, an array of unique path mixes had been laid earlier than me. There was extra to this world than wrinkled drupes. Bananas, cherries, papayas… CRAISINS??? They had been all in play.
Thus, I used to be fairly excited to obtain a pattern pack from California’s Mariani Dried Fruit. Not solely did this look like a reduce above the cubed and smushed fiber I’d usually solely discover subsequent to cashews and yogurt chips, nevertheless it got here from a family-owned firm with origins on the east coast of the Adriatic Sea as soon as whence my circle of relatives as soon as emigrated.
However then, an issue. I opened up my pattern bag earlier than evaluation and ate, nicely, a bunch of berries. My daughter completed off the remaining. So whereas I guarantee you the blended berries are crushable and satisfying, I used to be left to craft a evaluation past “my household raided two baggage value earlier than I may write about it.”
Fortuitously, I had some backup strawberries to evaluation on high of the combination that labored so nicely. Welp, let’s discuss them.
Sweetened dried strawberries: B
You’re getting full strawberries dried right down to about one-third their regular measurement. It’s a little bit unsettling to take a look at. The feel is an issue as nicely; the dried berries are dense. Not chewy, however just a bit bit unappealing upon first chew. Take into consideration how an natural gummy would really feel in your mouth; kinda bizarre, proper?
When you get by means of that, you get candy, full-bodied fruit taste. It’s unmistakable strawberry, coated with simply sufficient sugar to be successful in any baby’s cereal. I don’t assume Mariani wants that additional sweetness, however I additionally perceive there’s a complete vast spectrum of strawberry taste from tart to nearly savory, so this helps create a uniform style throughout every bag.
I like these strawberries higher as smaller chunks of a combination, however they’re fantastic on their very own. Not one thing I’d search out, however one thing I get pleasure from. Whereas that additional sugar and 140 energy per serving guarantee I gained’t consider this as a wholesome snack, I’m getting some fiber out of the deal. That’s apparently one thing you are concerned about whenever you’re 40.
through Mariani.com
Berries n’ Cherries: A
This was completely my jam and my daughter’s as nicely, apparently. Once you’re in a position to create a reasonably wholesome snack a 40-year-old and a six-year-old can share, that’s signal. My solely remorse just isn’t having extra, so she may open a recent bag, resolve she not likes them and by no means contact them once more.
This might not have been an issue for me. Dried cherries and blueberries are the very best a part of my default Costco path combine; the snack I purchase once I simply killed off a household sized bag of Cool Ranch Doritos alone and need to eat “wholesome.” With Mariani’s they’re even higher, shriveled into tiny, chewy capsules that burst with taste and a satisfying texture with every chew.
You’re paying a premium for that high quality. As you possibly can see within the screenshot above (as a result of, once more, we ate each pattern baggage earlier than I may take an image. I’m a real skilled), you’re taking a look at greater than $1.25 per ounce. Which implies by the point I’m accomplished (as a result of there’s no probability in hell I’m stopping at a single ounce of snack meals) I’ve eaten what would in any other case be a 12-ounce bag of potato chips value of meals.
That makes it extra of a luxurious than I’d like, however I can’t say it’s not value it. Whereas I’d OK with skipping the complete strawberries, the Berries n’ Cherries combine is strictly what I needed it to be. Now I simply want to determine the place to purchase extra so my daughter can get instantly sick of them.
Would I (eat) it as an alternative of a Hamm’s?
It is a move/fail mechanism the place I examine no matter I’m ingesting to my baseline low cost beer. That’s the standby from the land of sky-blue waters, Hamm’s. So the query to reply is: on a typical day, would I eat Mariani Berries over a chilly can of Hamm’s?
Properly, a little bit of a berries to beer comparability right here, however in case you made me the very bizarre one-or-the-other provide, I’d take you up on the nut-free path combine. Most likely not the strawberries, however these weren’t too dangerous both.
