Monday, June 28, 2010

Au’some All Natural 3-Dees

All Natural 3-DeesBack around Easter I got a hold of some stunning looking 3-Dees gummis from Au’some. Of course those are a seasonal item, so I wanted to try their year round products. What sounded even better was their 3-Dees Natural Fruit Snacks. They’re large, three dimensionally molded gummis made with natural flavors and colors plus a little vitamin C. They come in four different animal shapes. On top of that Au’some donates 3% of their proceeds to the Wildlife Conservation Society.

The back of the box has fun facts about each of the animals. Not the ordinary stuff like “elephants are big” instead I found them interesting for all ages, like “An elephant’s ears can be used to cool the body on a hot day.” and “Polar bears paddle with their front feet and steer with their hind feet when swimming.”

The box is pretty big, bigger than it probably needs to be, but formatted more like the fruit snack boxes in the breakfast cereal aisle than the candy packages.

All Natural 3-DeesThe ingredients are printed in large type on the back, not the micro print down the side of the box. The first ingredient is a mix of fruit juices that includes pear, strawberry, apple, blueberry and orange from concentrate, then sugar, water, rice syrup, gelatin, citric acid, pectin, buffered lactic acid, spirulina and safflower extracts, sodium citrate, ascorbic acid, natural flavors, purple carrot extract and turmeric (both for color). They’re made in a nut free facility but it doesn’t say anything about the gluten status.

They’re called fruit snacks, but from the ingredients (and having eaten them) they’re gummis, just with a little bit nicer list of ingredients than the standard Trolli or Haribo available here.

There are eight little packets that hold about a 1/2 ounce (.56 ounces) portion - which is 50 calories. This portion is two gummis. Sounds kind of stingy, but they’re quite beefy. The flavors are Strawberry, Blueberry, Orange and Apple. They random colors and come in four shapes: Tiger, Polar Bear, Elephant and Chimpazee.

All Natural 3-Dees (Elephant)

The gummis are amazingly crafted. They’re large, easy to handle and of course nicely detailed on all sides. Most stand up, like little pliable & edible statues.

Orange is quite tangy and juicy. It’s not quite zesty. The texture is soft and more like eating a very firm Jell-O than a German-style gummi. It’s moist and squishy and has a kind of crumbly bite ... not soft enough to liquefy through the teeth though.

All Natural 3-Dees (Tiger)

Blueberry was red, rather like the strawberry one, but the taste is distinctive. The flavor is immediately a believable blueberry, a little like iced tea and a little like blueberry jam or pie. There’s a boiled sugar note to it, which I enjoyed. It’s a little tangy, but sweeter than the orange. There’s a little bitter note in there, like tea or sometimes the skins of blueberries can be.

All Natural 3-Dees (Bear)

The big difference between these and the Easter or Valentines ones, besides the ingredients is that they don’t come in little molds. The naturals ones get a little squished up, so for some of them I had to kind of help the trunk of the elephant or the chimpanzee had bad posture.

Apple was also an amber color, which makes sense because that’s what apple juice looks like. The flavor was a combination of the tangy “green apple” from Jolly Rancher and the more sedate and syrupy flavor of apple juice. There was an almost-fizzy bite to it that I liked. It was one of those candies that didn’t taste like an all natural compromise - completely mainstream in every way.

All Natural 3-Dees (Chimpanzee)

Strawberry was also reddish like the blueberry. I know the chimp is orange ... so pretend. It’s like a middle of the road strawberry jam. No seeds but a definite berry/floral vibe. It’s not as intense as the others, but just as pleasant.

The packaging didn’t wow me, but I’m guessing since children are the target here. The fact that they’re already in pouches in respectable portions is an attractive option for parents. I liked all of the shapes except for the Chimp. Of course I’d want a dolphin or sea lion or something, but maybe they’ll do a marine mammal version of them.

3-Dees GummyThey’re less like fruit snacks and more of a true gummi, so again, less of a compromise for parents who don’t want artificial colors but still want their kids to feel indulged with a treat. They’re not terribly sticky either ... though everyone knows a six year old has magical powers to make everything sticky. (Don’t let small children play with them though, as they could be a choking hazard.)

While these are natural and sold as fruit snacks, there’s another version that’s not all natural that are sold in move theater style boxes. Inside they were individually wrapped. (I didn’t take a photo of them for review - but I found them at Walgreen’s, so they’re easier to come by.)

Related Candies

  1. Au’some Snerdles Super Mario Power Up Box
  2. Au’some Easter 3-Dees Gummy
  3. Wonka Squishy Sploshberries Gummies
  4. Disney Pixie Perfect Gummies
  5. Surf Sweets Gummi Swirls
  6. Albanese Gummi Butterflies
  7. Gummi Lightning Bugs


Name: 3-Dees Natural Fruit Snacks
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Au’some
Place Purchased: samples from Au'some
Price: unknown
Size: 4.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 89
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Au'some Candy, Gummi Candy, 7-Worth It, China

POSTED BY Cybele AT 3:31 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     All NaturalCandyAu'some CandyGummi Candy7-Worth ItChina

Comments
  1. They sound yummy!
    What are spirulina and safflower extracts in there for?  As a consumer, I would like to know their function (in parenthesis) or at least explained somewhere on the label…

    Comment by TriciaGab on 6/29/10 at 7:10 am #
  2. I HATE it when my chimpanzee has bad posture!!! Thank you, Cybele, for continuing to entertain while informing!

    Comment by Michelle F on 6/29/10 at 8:19 pm #
  3. I absolutely love these things! I got some before a movie once- definitely was expecting something like a gummy bear- BUT HOLY CRAP. These beauties are gigantic! Not only do they fill up your whole mouth, but they taste amazing. I do wish there were lots more in the box though. Once box seems to be like half a serving instead of several. In 7 minutes or so, I devoured all of them.

    Comment by Mary Louise on 8/15/10 at 4:23 pm #
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