A while ago I was perusing the dried fruit aisle in my local Shop-Rite. Something caught my eye--tangerines. I've had them fresh, but I don't think I'd ever had them dried before. Looking at the label I saw that they were grown in Thailand, so I not only got something to eat, but something I could post about. I also picked up some coconut from the same company. These were both from the Nutty & Fruity brand, out of California.
It's getting to the point that I wonder if a lot of people who are put in the Federal Witness Protection Program then decide to start food or beverage companies. Or, in other words, the official company websites for the products I bought contained very little information in general, and none on the company's histories and owner(s). One of the websites for the parent Food Castle Inc. company had a "history" link, but selecting it led nowhere. It was a cruel tease. There weren't even decent product lists on these websites. The Nutty & Fruity band one was one of those where they show most, or all of their products together in a big group photo, but it keeps switching to something else, so you only get a few seconds at a time to see everything. The Facebook page for Nutty & Fruity was underwhelming as well. The first post was from 2013, and the last one in 2018. So, all in all, I'm not impressed with the company and brand's online presence. After a lot of mostly unsuccessful searching on business-related websites, I was able to (possibly?) learn that Food Castle Inc. began in 2010, and its CEO is Eliyahu Levy. But I wouldn't testify to this in court. (One website indicated that Food Castle/Nutty & Fruity may be affiliated with the Paramount company, which I discussed before, in detail in my post on August 12, 2023. Not shockingly, I wasn't able to get confirmation on this, so it may well be incorrect.) Other Nutty & Fruity offerings include mangoes, kiwis, blackberries, several different forms of bananas, apples, hibiscus, pineapples, pomegranates, papayas, passion fruits, strawberries, oranges, and perhaps grapefruits. (You may notice that this list lacks any nuts, but maybe it's incomplete.) Other Food Castle products include several kinds of nuts, and other types of dried fruit.
Moving to tangerines, this fruit's nature is also a bit imprecise. Some classification systems have it as a subtype of a mandarin orange, while others categorize it as a separate, but related species of this orange. Genetic testing revealed that it has some pummelo (see my post on February 20, 2014 for more information on this fruit) in its lineage. Tangerines were first grown in the U.S. in the early 1800's, by a Major Atway, in Palatka, Florida. In 1843 Atway sold his groves to a N.H. Moragne. The name of the fruit was reportedly taken from the port city from which Atway first acquired it (the Moroccan city of Tangier), combined with the last name of the second owner. Whatever their heritage, and true nature, tangerines are usually smaller and less round than mandarin oranges, and have a stronger, and sweeter taste. China is the leading producer of tangerines, and it's not even close--China grows 25,000,000 tons of them annually, while #2 Spain cultivates 2,000,000 tons.
Nutty & Fruity coconut strips: They were small, thin white strips, which kind of looked like pieces of onion. There wasn't much of an odor. They had a dry, chewy texture. The taste was...like coconut, or good. I like coconut in general, so this wasn't much of a surprise. They were a nice snack. Probably healthier than most snacks, such as chips, etc.
Nutty & Fruity dried tangerines: They were a yellow-orangish color, and were twisted into random shapes. Their appearance was rather off-putting--they kind of reminded me uncomfortably of scabs. There wasn't really a smell to them. The texture was chewy and dry. The flavor was really good. Nicely sweet. These "tangerine raisins" were quite tasty. I've already bought them again several times. I recommend the coconut ones, and highly recommend these tangerines.
I did find one bit of dirt about Food Castle. I read an intent to sue notice from May of last year, alleging that there was lead contamination in their chili tamarind bites. I didn't see the upshot of this, so I don't know if this charge was proven or not.
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