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Not just any snack gets to become a JustBite snack — as a more nutritious snack, it has to bring something special to the table. We put every snack through a strict selection process, looking first and foremost at taste, but definitely also at composition and ingredients. In our snack reviews, we spotlight a different snack from our range each time and love sharing why you'll find it in your snack box.
This snack review introduces you to Adya's surprising Apple Drops!
Adya, embracing biodiversity
Adya's mission (which, by the way, means Mother Earth in Sanskrit) is clear. They want to offer plant-based happiness through easy, more nutritious and meaningful pieces of fruit!
They want to make it easy for everyone, young and old, to get enough fruit every day.Â
That's why they offer delicious, easy fruit snacks with the same nutritional value as a fresh piece of fruit, minus the moisture and the hassle. All the (freeze-dried) fruit in Adya's snacks comes from organic, sustainable farming. And their snacks give you a tasty bite without unnecessary extras like flavour enhancers or colourings. What's more, they contain no added sugars, because ripe fruit is already sweet enough. So you get your energy the natural way, without any sugar highs and lows.Â
And they still contain all the vitamins, minerals, fibre and protein you'd find in fresh fruit.
What's even handier is that Adya's snacks keep for a very long time once packaged. The water has been removed from the fruit, so you can store these snacks dry, safely, and for extra long.
A passion for nature and people
But Adya doesn't just believe strongly in plant-based, organic food for the health of people and nature — they're also deeply committed to supporting the development of local communities.
Adya is a project born from a deep passion for biodiversity combined with a great love for South Asia.
For its tropical fruit, Adya works with an Indian cooperative of no fewer than 16,000 small-scale farmers who grow spices, coffee beans and fruit on their land. This way, Adya can contribute to the cooperative's mission: giving farmers more certainty of sale and, in turn, a stable income. The partnership with the cooperative also continued through the difficult coronavirus period (trickier transport, lockdowns, higher prices, and so on).
On top of that, transporting freeze-dried fruit is far more sustainable than transporting regular fruit. Only the edible parts are shipped, with no heavy water weight involved.
Snacks in the spotlight: Apple Drops Royal Gala and Apple Drops Granny Smith
This snack review shines a spotlight on Adya Apple Drops. Soft apple bites made from organic apples with the peel on.
We're delighted to offer 2 different flavours of Adya snacks in our more nutritious snack boxes.Â
The Apple Drops Royal Gala
Soft apple bites made from ripe, sweet, red apples that would make Snow White's witch jealous. All the goodness of a juicy red apple in a handy, more nutritious snack!
The Apple Drops Granny Smith
The tarter little sibling of the Royal Gala. 3 soft, sweet bites with a lovely bit of tang. Made from crisp green apples with the peel on.
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Why are Adya's snacks part of the JustBite range?
As we said, not every snack makes it into the JustBite range. You have to pass our test with flying colours. Snacks always go through our strict selection process, which looks at composition, ingredients, and above all, taste!
That's why we're happy to explain in more detail why Adya's Apple Drops have earned a spot in our range!
Ingredients
We can be very brief about the ingredients. Adya Apple Drops contain... apples!
They contain 100% organic apples in the form of dried apple, apple crumble and a touch of concentrated apple juice.
So what you see really is what you get.
What's more, the apples are always processed with the peel on. So why is it so important that the peel is included in the snacks? Apple peel is packed with important nutrients like vitamin C and dietary fibre. Fibre keeps you feeling full for longer and also supports healthy digestion and a healthy gut.
And the ursolic acid in apple peel has an anti-inflammatory effect, keeps your muscles in good shape, helps tackle bad cholesterol and helps your body burn fat. That'd be a shame to throw away, right?! Â
Taste
The most important criterion of all. If you're not incredibly tasty as a more nutritious snack, you're not getting in!Â
We can assure you that Adya Apple Drops sailed straight through our taste panel's test.
They have a fresh, sweet taste with a pleasant, delicate texture on top. They're not sticky at all, unlike most processed fruit snacks. The little balls are a joy to bite into, giving you the taste of a summer orchard all year round.
Composition
Because Adya Apple Drops are so pure in composition and contain only apples, they fit perfectly into our range.
They have a nicely balanced carbohydrate-to-fibre ratio of 1:6, almost identical to a regular apple.
All the goodness of fresh apples, like vitamins, minerals and fibre, is preserved, partly because the peel is processed into the Apple Drops too.
These snacks also contain no fats.
Why one sugar isn't like another!
So what about the sugars in Adya Apple Drops? Aren't apples sweet after all?
Not all sugars are the same, and not every sugar is bad for us.
Adya Apple Drops contain only naturally occurring sugars and no added sugars. That's good news, but even with natural sugars, moderation matters, so don't go overboard. Thanks to the well-balanced composition of the Apple Drops and their high fibre content, they're definitely a more nutritious choice for your break.
In our learning snacks, you can read more about the claims 'no sugar’, ‘no added sugars' or 'no refined sugars'. That way, you know exactly what to expect from your apple balls!
Conclusion
An apple a day keeps the doctor away, as the saying goes, and with these Apple Drops, getting your daily dose of fruit has never been easier. It's the ideal snack for on the go or between two meetings. Perfect for bike rides or your lunch box!
It's a snack that's easy to love, especially for kids.
The fresh, fruity packaging makes you want to dig in straight away, and the sweet-and-sour scent is sure to surprise you. The playful little balls make this snack extra fun for kids (and grown-ups too, of course) and guarantee a tasty, enjoyable break!