Sweet mangoes. Tart, exotic goji berries. A healthy blast of citrus bouquet. An occasional, crunchy goji seed brings the texture of this slightly chewey morsel to life. Not a bad start to Teather’s tantalizing Mango Goji Citrus flavor.  Goji, you say? What’s so special about goji berries?

Of the two species of goji,  we use organically grown lycium barbarum, harvested predominately in northern China (Xingxia region). The fruit produced measures less than one inch and exhibits a flamboyant reddish orange color. The delicate berries are chiefly available as a dried product in which they resemble a raisin, albeit a very colorful one. Besides making a fantastic fruit leather, goji berries have been incorporated into soup, tea, beer, and even wine. The pictures below show both fresh and dried versions of the fruit.

Limited scientific research suggests goji berries, also known as wolfberries, may provide a variety of possible health benefits such as inhibiting cancer cell growth, and protecting against cardiovascular (e.g., hypertension), inflammatory, and vision-related diseases (e.g., age-related macular degeneration). Possible benefits seem to arise from two nutritional aspects of the fruit: its rich source of the antioxidant zeaxanthin and its unique polysaccharides, which may also exhibit antioxidant activity. Additionally, dried berries may offer a significant source of vitamin B12, selenium, iron, vitamin C, zinc, and potassium. We don’t include quantitative estimates of these nutrients because the values are subject to significant variation due to a variety of factors. It’s important to remember, while the fruit might offer some health benefits, nothing has yet been proven by credible scientific study. And if there are in fact benefits, they are likely to be completely eliminated by an otherwise poor diet. This also holds true for snacking, in general – don’t expect healthy snacking to override the adverse effects from an otherwise poor diet.

We hope you enjoy Teather’s Mango Goji Citrus.

FOR MORE INFORMATION…

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfberry

http://www.itmonline.org/arts/lycium.htm

It’s not too terribly difficult to believe fruit leather could be a much more popular food item. If a brief look at the label of these products isn’t sufficient to dampen consumption, the eating experience certainly will. The lack of compelling fruit leather products illustrates an important consideration in the birth of Teather^TM into the marketplace.

So, what I thought I might do is to say a few words about what is “wrong” with today’s fruit leather products. These factors were considered as Teather^TM was developed. Moreover, the correction of these issues establishes our vision of fruit leather snacks.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS
The truth about nearly every commercially available fruit leather product is that they offer very little other than a source of fruit sugar and water. Most of the dietary fiber has been removed. Outer fruit coverings (e.g., apple peel) that is usually a good source of fiber and phytonutrients? Gone. Berry seeds rich in vitamins, minerals and healthy unsaturated lipids? Gone! Hold up your favorite fruit leather brand to a light and there’s a good chance it will pass through. Why? Because there’s not much else other than fruit sugar and water. Some brands even go as far as passing this essentially sweetened water concoction off as a serving of fruit.

CLASSIFYING THE PRODUCT AS NATURAL
The classification of a product as natural, we believe, should be based on a very simple rule. All its ingredients must be available in nature and require very little processing. Dried fruit? Sure. Think of a dried blueberry. Moisture is removed and that’s about it. Dried strawberry? It’s all still there.  A fruit concentrate? Absolutely not! Not only is most of the fruit not typically used (no seeds, no “skin” and much of the pulp is removed), but the remaining fruit, essentially juice, is subjected to very high temperatures that destroys both the original flavors and nutrients.  Have you ever wondered why “natural flavors” are added? Much of the original flavor has been destroyed through processing and must be replaced. One last consideration… Is there anything natural about a fruit product you can almost see through?

MISREPRESENTING FLAVOR DESCRIPTION
I’ve mentioned this issue before, but it still really bothers me to no end. Is there anything more irritating than expecting the flavor strawberries and experiencing a piercing apple flavor with hints of strawberry flavor? If I wanted apple flavor, I would buy one labeled as such! Aren’t there laws against this type of deception?

ADDED FLAVORS
At their root, these previously mentioned issues share a common problem: deficient, poor quality ingredients. This issue is no exception. If food manufacturers used real ingredients and didn’t subject the fruit to such harsh conditions, they wouldn’t need to add flavors. And then they have the nerve to refer these flavors as “natural.” Why don’t they invite us to see the processes by which these so called natural flavors are produced. Then we can judge just how natural these flavors really are.

By using real, whole fruit in our formulations, we’ve overcome these issues. We’re very proud of this accomplishment. However, there is still work to be done on our end. For instance,  acai used in our Berry Cherry Acai flavor contains a small amount of citric acid. It’s not acceptable, but we’ve not yet found an answer to this problem. We’ll keep looking until it gets resolved.