When I was young, we had a fruit drier and my mom would make dried apple slices in it. They became one of my favorite snacks. The memory of that was what prompted me to snatch this item up the first time I noticed it on the Trader Joe's shelves.
Alas, as Asheville's most famous son, Thomas Wolfe, said, you can't go home again. Nor can you buy your mother's cooking in a store.
The dried apple slices I grew up on were chewy, and that texture was a large part of what made them so enjoyable. The freeze-drying process for these, on the other hand, leaves them completely desiccated. They suck the moisture right out of your mouth, and crumble into apple dust with chewing. This is not pleasant, even though the flavor is perfectly acceptable. I'm also not a fan of leaving the skins on.
Will I buy it again?
No. But surely it wouldn't be all that difficult to package dried apple slices made approximately the way my mother did (even if they can't include the love). How about it, TJ's?
http://traderjoes365.blogspot.com/2016/03/new-zealand-sweet-apple-rings.html?m=1
ReplyDeleteIt seems like maybe you and Susan should swap snacks?
I haven't had the apples, but the freeze-dried strawberries are good for adding strawberry flavor where you don't want the texture of chewy dried or fresh - we use them in a Rice Krispie treat variation.
I have the dried apple rings in the cupboard, but haven't tried them yet. Maybe tonight.
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