The Fruit Roll Revival

So does anyone remember Fruit Rolls? I’m not talking about Fruit Roll-Ups that are like plastic strips of technicolor crap with cartoon characters on the boxes, I’m taking about the Fruit Rolls from the early 80s? Anyway, they were flat and round (conducive to twisting around your finger) and came on thin cellophane that always got super sticky, but they tasted like real fruit and were significantly less plastic-y then the “Super Kiwi Kick” and “Screamin’ Green” Fruit Roll Ups you find today (shaped like a parallelogram describes Wikipedia-did you ever think you’d hear that word again after 5th grade?). Anyway, they had natural-tasting flavors like apricot, strawberry, apple and raspberry and seemed somewhat good for you. Well, I think I found the modern day equivalent at Trader Joe’s. Their handmade dried fruit bars in flavors like apricot and boysenberry taste exactly like old-school fruit rolls, even if they are a little thicker and aren’t round, but they’re unsweetened, so maybe that’s the key? The dried fruit comes from fresh pulp. Whether or not you grew up on them like me, I highly recommend.

Trader Joe's dried fruit rolls