For my total life, I’ve been a fruit snacks fanatic. As a toddler, I used to be indoctrinated by the seemingly limitless 90s fruit-snack-sphere: Shark Bites, Gushers, Enjoyable Fruits, and (deep reduce) Fruit Wrinkles. To today, my movie-theater snack of alternative is Welch’s Fruit Snacks. What, like they’re just for kids or one thing? One thing concerning the gummy texture, the colourful flavors, the bite-sized format — all of it simply provides up for me into one thing higher than the sum of its elements, a marvel of contemporary meals science.
I lately heard that Los Angeles-based chic-cool-stuff-brand Flamingo Property — maker of what’s most likely the world’s greatest seasonal meals subscription field and a Swedish princess cake candle that might make you cry with its olfactory magnificence, amongst different issues — presents an grownup model of the fruit snack. Moreover, this grownup snack is obtainable for the notable value of $82 per 6.5-ounce jar. Now, these aren’t simply any fruit snacks; colloquially known as “Spicy Strawberry Fruit Snacks” on the model’s web site, their longer and extra formal identify is the Juicy Strawberry Spicy Guajillo Key Lime Squeeze Fruit Snack. My intrigue swelled.
I learn the web site’s copy for this mysterious product, as soon as, after which once more.
“We took the lushest, ripest Strawberries from Harry’s Berries and dusted them with the brilliant spice of Guajillo Chiles grown by Boonville Barn Collective, including a squeeze of Key Lime and a pinch of Massive Sur Sea Salt. Then we gently dehydrated them to protect their juiciness and focus all of that quintessential Strawberry taste. The result’s these small dried wonders. Insanely addictive, candy, tart and spicy with a tasty chew. Really nature’s sweet.”
At this juncture, I paused. These “small dried wonders” sound like a poet’s interpretation of the fruit snacks served on the poolside eating menu in heaven: the one fruit snack to rule all of them. The antidote. The fruits of my wishes, as a fruit snack lover. Are you aware about Harry’s Berries? They’re, like, the Platonic preferrred of strawberries; they’re a Southern California sensation set aside by their distinctive high quality, taste, sweetness, and jamminess. The traces for Harry’s Berries at any Los Angeles-area farmer’s market are usually lengthy, snaking, and unrelenting. To make these berries right into a chewy snack… extraordinary, beforehand, so far as I do know.
“We’re honored to companion with the inimitable Harry’s Berries through the use of their beautiful Strawberries. This small-batch household farm has been rising for over 50 years, and is the true definition of generational farming. Their berries characterize what Strawberries needs to be at their greatest — harvested when completely ripe, ruby crimson, and candy. They’re Licensed Natural, make use of sustainable rising practices, and have a deep dedication to stewardship of the land.”
I imagined transcendence. I can admit that I yearned. I noticed sizzling individuals consuming the fruit snacks on TikTok and Instagram and felt a profound sense of FOMO. A must know.
Lo and behold, I lately turned a recipient of a jar of those storied creations. However might chewing on a Spicy Strawberry Snack so robustly exceed the enjoyment of consuming a bag of saxophone-shaped Enjoyable Fruit?
First impressions: the Strawberry Spicy Snacks undoubtedly really feel premium. The jar and label have a a lot totally different presence than the skinny plastic or foil-lined paper packets from which I’ve traditionally eaten fruit snacks. A jar feels… artisanal. Open it and also you’ll see dozens of darkish, shiny berries, glimmering like rubies with a syrupy, crystalline sweetness as a substitute of the satin end of a standard fruit snack. Did I point out that they’re made with nearly completely natural elements (moreover the ocean salt — salt can not legally be licensed “natural”)?
Naturally, you wish to understand how they style, what it’s prefer to eat them. The reply is: surprisingly complicated. At first, the stickiness was a little bit of a shock — they’re not gooey, however they undoubtedly don’t have that kind of cornstarch-driven anti-stick know-how present in, say, Welch’s, or the fruit snacks of the 90s. They’re nonetheless undoubtedly finger meals, however you’ll need to provide your fingers a fast wipe or rinse after consuming. Chopsticks could possibly be an asset right here. That mentioned, I benefit from the mouthfeel of the tiny seeds embedded within the strawberries’ surfaces, regardless of internal references in my psyche that liken jammy, seedy fruit to alien pod individuals.
As for the flavour, it begins with a slight tartness that morphs right into a candy, jelly-like, basic strawberry taste that quickly offers technique to a stunning quantity of warmth. They’re not joking — these fruit snacks are unquestionably spicy; they’re spicier than Cholula sizzling sauce, which I generously doused on my eggs this morning, however not spicy sufficient to induce any sweating. I’d say they’re on par with sizzling Takis or Flamin’ Scorching Cheetos — there’s a sluggish and gentle burn nevertheless it fades inside about 15 seconds of ending every chew. Assume an elevated, much less tropical and extra berry-forward interpretation of chile mango.
The TL;DR is that I can verify they’re scrumptious; a Harry’s Berry marinated in sugar, lime juice, Guajillo chile, and cayenne, because it seems, creates a chewy, tactile present of the Earth. They’re candy however in an grownup manner; piquant however not in a manner that’s limiting. They’re very chewy, a high quality which I each get pleasure from and, as a TMJ sufferer, lament. Some berries (sorry, “snacks”) require a stable 15+ seconds of forceful chewing. In truth, I like them lots, however would solely eat a number of at a time. Savor them. Don’t let the magic turn out to be routine.
As for the worth tag — which, at $82 per jar, is undoubtedly eye-popping — let’s break it down a bit. Flamingo Property says that there are three kilos of Harry’s Berries in each jar, and a pound of Harry’s Berries prices $20 (or, from some sellers, almost $30). Certain, Flamingo Property certainly buys them wholesale, however proper there, we’re taking a look at $60+ of the jar’s worth mathematically expressed by means of the price of the berries alone. Then there are the opposite natural elements, the cooking and drying course of, and the necessity for a revenue margin, and also you’re taking a look at $82.
Whereas it’s a discourse-worthy price ticket, it’s not terribly totally different than, say, the actually costly fruit in Japan that’s particularly developed for presents and holidays— this isn’t a chill pantry addition for informal on a regular basis consumption, though if that’s a chance with the Scrooge McDuck gold swimming pool you’re working with, by all means. This isn’t a commodity that you simply’re going to purchase in bulk and hold jars of readily available always. This can be a big day fruit snack. A present fruit snack. A luxurious fruit snack. They’re a snack, and so they’re actually fruit, however I’m undecided they completely embody the thought of a fruit snack I’ve had in my thoughts for the reason that days of Gushers.
By the way in which, these could also be fruit snacks, however my private perception system dictates that they’re not for teenagers. Purchase your rugrats some regular gummy sweet and ship them outdoors to play within the dust and develop an immune system. If Fruit Wrinkles nonetheless existed, I’d say get them a few of these. (RIP.) (Please carry again Fruit Wrinkles.)
A case could possibly be made that to ensure that the world to take care of steadiness, there have to be not solely a really low cost, accessible model of any given product, but additionally a extremely refined, elite model. There may be $6 caviar on Amazon, and there’s $2,600 caviar at Bergdorf Goodman. There may be the $7 olive oil at Grocery Outlet and there’s the $119 olive oil at Williams Sonoma. You already know, it’s like that Byrds tune — there’s a time and place for all issues.
So why wouldn’t there be $1.49 fruit snacks and in addition $82 fruit snacks? And if the latter exists, why wouldn’t we wish to attempt them… not less than as soon as?
Spicy Strawberry Fruit Snacks can be found at Flamingo Property.