This week's topic was a complete happy accident. I had a coupon for CVS that was about to expire, so I was browsing their small selection of food, searching for something that would be free, or almost so. I happened to spy a new-to-me kind of fruit gummy--the mango and passion fruit flavor from the Solely line. So it all worked out.
The official Solely company website has next to no information about the founder, and company history. Fortunately, an online interview with Forbes was much more detailed. Back in 2000 a 17 year old Mexican boy named Simon Sacal abandoned his engineering training to try to create a fat free potato chip at an unnamed company. However, the Atkins Diet fad of 2009-10 essentially ended the point of fat-free foods, so Sacal switched to a spin-off company that was initially called IHS, and eventually Fruitex. Now his goal was to help Mexican school children get more, and healthier fruit products. At first this was in the form of an apple fruit bar. However, growing seasons meant their apple sources weren't available year round. Fruitex developed a special drying machine for the fruit, which solved the availability problem. Sacal's brother Gabriel, working with the company's research & development section, then designed a way to make pasta from pineapple, with no additives. In 2014 the fruit industry became intrigued, and focused on "clean" fruit, meaning fruit products made from organic fruit, with no preservatives or additives. So Sacal split off from Fruitex to create the Solely company and brand. In 2018 Solely relocated over the border, into Southern California. Solely products, as the name suggests, are made from fruit alone. The line has three different categories--fruit jerky, fruit gummies, and dried fruit. There are several different variants and combinations, but many have mango in them, and some have chocolate drizzling, or even spices like chili. Solely also makes pasta, although I couldn't find this on the official website. I'm not sure of the exact distinction between the product types, since all of them appear to be kinds of dried fruit. Also, not shockingly, Solely wares are made exclusively from organic fruit, and are all free of GMOs. They're all vegan-appropriate, and certified Kosher as well. Although some contain gluten, and all are made at facilities that also process soy, peanuts, and tree nuts, so those with allergies to any of these should take note.
Solely organic fruit gummies, mango & passion fruit flavor: These were small, twisted squares, about 1 cm. by 1 cm (about .5 inch by .5 inch). The texture was chewy. I couldn't really detect the separate mango and passion fruit flavors. They were sweetish, but a little bland. I would have preferred a stronger, sweeter fruit taste. Also, I don't know if these qualify as "gummies," since they're just dried fruit, without the usual (mostly artificial) gummy ingredients. Most of the gummies I've had are candy, so full of sugar and/or corn syrup, meaning they're probably terrible for you, but they taste good. These are undeniably healthier for you, but the taste suffers. So I don't really know how to rate these. I would recommend them as a healthy snack, since they are, but I wouldn't recommend them purely on taste. Finally, from a shallow, aesthetic viewpoint they uncomfortably remind me of rabbit turds, which didn't help the experience, even if it was just a coincidence.
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