Today's focus was yet another fortunate find from my local Shop-Rite grocery. I was actually looking for blog fodder, and found some. Dried papaya and mango didn't seem all that exotic, but then I checked the back label--"Product of Thailand" was written on each. Although the company that packaged and distributed these products is based in the U.S. state of New Jersey, hence the name of this article. The company in question was Paramount Foods, LLC.
As its website noted, Paramount began in September of 2006. The point of the business was to, "provide bulk nuts, dried fruits, and grains to supermarkets in Northern New Jersey." Since this time Paramount has expanded its selection quite a bit. Now it also sells cookies, chips, seaweed, coconut water, coffee, sauces, salt, herbs, veggies, honey, fruit and aloe juices, bread, and spices. It also has expanded its footprint a little, as its products are now sold in parts of Pennsylvania and New York, as well as South Jersey, since that's where I am. The business's name is derived from the initials of the founder's three daughters--Payton, Morgan, and Taylor. Oddly, the website didn't mention the name of the founder. However, alternate online sources revealed it to be David Carn. This was a tad difficult to find out, as calling your food company "Paramount" is not exactly the most unique moniker.
Moving on to the fruit, mangoes appear to have originated in South Asia, probably in areas of India, Bangladesh, and the Andaman Islands. Now, though, they're grown in many other parts of the world that have the requisite hot tropical climate, such as most of Southeast Asia, East and West Africa, Spain, the Caribbean, Australia, and the warmest U.S. states such as Florida, California, and Hawaii. They're eaten in a myriad of ways. Raw, cooked, pickled, or as part of chutneys, salads, jams, jellies, ice cream, smoothies, or other beverages. Nutritionally they're quite healthy. They're strong in their amount of Vitamin C and folate, and also have small amounts of just about every other vitamin. There is a downside, though--their leaves, stems, skins, and sap can cause skin reactions (dermatitis) and anaphylactic responses in some people.
Papayas took an opposite route. They were "born" in what's now the Western Hemisphere, in Southern Mexico and Central America. But like mangoes they've been avidly transplanted, and are now cultivated in many other suitably hot areas like Central Africa, Hawaii and Florida, India, and Australia. (And clearly, at least some are grown in Thailand, given where mine came from.) Nutritionally they're rather similar to mangoes, as they contain huge amounts of Vitamin C and some folate, and small amounts of most other vitamins. Also like mangoes, some folks get adverse allergic reactions to papayas, if they're unripe. Papayas are eaten raw or cooked, as parts of entrees or in jams and juices. Finally, when green and unripe their juices can tenderize meat, and are often used to do just that.
Paramount Foods LLC dried mangoes: These were an orange color, in strips of various sizes--they kind of looked like sweet potato chips. Their texture was chewy, and the taste was sweet. I haven't had a lot of mango in my life, as I recall, but these were good. Surprisingly so. Nature's candy, I guess. I would recommend these. Also, their texture rather reminds me of dried ginger.
Paramount Foods LLC dried papaya: These were smaller in size, mostly in cube shapes that were reddish orange with some whitish spots. The texture was chewy once again, and kind of raisin-y. The flavor was not as good as the mango, but still alright. They didn't taste as sweet as the mango, which I suppose is why I preferred mangoes more. I'd still recommend them, though.
After mentally patting myself on the back for eating healthier snacks, I got an unpleasant surprise when I checked the ingredient list for both of these. I figured this list would be brief--basically dried mangoes or dried papaya. But, they both had sugar added. (And artificial colors, if that bothers you.) Which, depressingly, might explain why I enjoyed the mangoes so much, and liked the papaya okay--they weren't super healthy, plain fruit, but had the extra sugar. So keep that in mind--there are probably healthier brands of dried fruit which are basically just the fruit itself.
No comments:
Post a Comment