I was recently frustrated in the supermarket aisle, which happens somewhat frequently, but this time I was looking in the fruit cup aisle. Looking for alternatives from heavy or light syrup, I thought I had found some good fruit cups to take in my lunches. They were clearly labeled “No sugar added”. Instead though, they were artificially sweetened with Splenda or aspartame or such. It doesn’t make sense. It’s fruit. It has natural fruit sugars. I don’t need the fruit to be sweetened beyond its natural delicious flavors.
Instead of the “No sugar added” fruit cup, the actual solution came from Del Monte and their fruit naturals line. They have a variety of fresh fruits like:
- Cherry mixed fruit
- Citrus salad
- Mandarin oranges
- Mixed berries
- Peach chunks
- Red grapefruit
- No sugar added peach chunks
- No sugar added red grapefruit
- Pineapple chunks
- Tropical Medley
The secret instead of using sugar or artificial sweeteners is that Del Monte uses 100% juice to suspend the fruit. The trade-off is that the fruit cup must be refrigerated but that seems to be a small price to pay in order for a delicious, healthy snack without the high fructose corn syrup. The half-cup snack is only 60 calories and boasts 100% daily value of Vitamin C.
Since the Del Monte fruit naturals fruit cup has to be refrigerated, you will find it in your grocer’s refrigerator section.
Del Monte also has some canned fruit products stored in 100% juice.
