Thursday, April 30, 2009

gluten-free finds: April

As many of you know, I have been busy with personal matters. However, I still managed to have had another interesting month investigating gluten-free foods.

Matt’s Munchies

My primary gluten-free find this month has been from Chef Roberts all Natural Snacks. Chef Roberts found me at my Food Buzz Site where I also post food images and links to this blog. He wrote and offered me samples of his gluten-free Matt’s Munchies fruit leathers.

The fruit leathers are not only gluten-free, but all natural, organic, nut, dairy, soy and egg free. They are certified Vegan and Kosher. With less than 100 calories a serving (which is an entire package of 8, 4” by 1 ½” strips of the luscious fruit leathers) it makes for a generous, healthy, sweet and delicious snack.
Matt’s Munchies come in six flavors. Three are banana based fruit leathers, Choco-Nana, Apple Pie and Banana. And the three leathers that are mango fruit based are Ginger Zest, Mango, and Island Mango.

Choco-Nana

As I am a well-known chocoholic, I ripped into this package right away.
The aroma was luscious chocolate with gentle fruity undertones. The taste and texture was of a velvety chocolate pudding as it melted on my tongue…mmm…
(That is the reason that I was unable to picture the Choco-Nana package in my image…they ahh, well…disappeared rather quickly…lol…)

I could see this flavor being a favorite of children that have food allergies. And because these all natural fruit roll-ups are quite filling, would be a great after school snack to hold the children over until dinner. I will definitely be ordering many packages of this flavor.

Apple Pie

Although there are no apples in this munchie, the tastes is bright with a fresh cinnamon burst and succulent fruitiness. I had to look again at the ingredient list to see that it contained only banana purée and organic cinnamon. The flavor and aroma brought to mind autumn in my kitchen.

Banana

The banana had a pure, ripe fruit aroma and flavor, but seemed a bit sweeter than the others. I have to say this fruit leather was little too sweet for my tastes but it appealed very much to my little 4 year-old-neighbor. She ate the entire package as I visited with her mother.

Ginger Zest

This munchie has a ripe mango flavor with a kick of gingery spiciness. The zesty burst of ginger appealed more to the adults that tasted this healthy treat more than ir did to the children. I liked this munchie very much as I have a soft spot in my heart for crystallized ginger.

Island Mango

The mellow smoothness of a ripe, succulent mango with the crunch of toasted coconut made the first bite of these munchies a very pleasant surprise. As the golden mango puree melted on my tongue, the coconut aroma took me back to past Hawaiian vacations.
I will definitely be inviting these munchies to my beach blanket party this summer.

Mango

These munchies had a pure, fresh, delicious and gently sweet flavor and a heavenly fruity aroma. I love that this flavor (as well as the banana) has just ONE ingredient…! There is nothing so delightful to a perdon with allergies to food additves than a product with just one natural ingredient that tastes so delightful.

I totally agree with Chef Roberts' quote stamped on each package…
"A healthy all natural trip to Paradise”.

All the leathers that I sampled were sweet, delicious, and tasty and were a surprisingly filling snack. All the people that I approached to sample these luscious leathers had their taste preferences. However, most, including me rated Choco-Nana, Island Mango and Apple Pie in their top three choices.

I also enjoyed playing with these malleable munchies. I cut them, bent them, stacked them and twisted them into interesting shapes and plated them on my favorite silver Nambé dish.
They were a great deal of fun to plate.
Matt’s Munchies could easily feel at home at the poshest of dinner parties…served on silver, of course.

As I have stated, these would make a great afternoon snack. Because of their slim size, easily packable in a lunch bag, picnic basket and portable in a slim purse or briefcase.

To order these delicious gluten-free treats, go to Matt’s Munchies
or call (516) 319-3135.


For overall taste, texture, flavor and fun, as well as puity of ingredients, I give Matt’s Munchies 5 (out of 5) gluten-free symbols.

7 comments:

A Brush with Color said...

You sure made these babies sound and look appealing, Terrie! I'll have to give them a try sometime. I love how you made them look attractive all twisty and curly. Your artistic eye! Thanks for the descriptions. I love that banner photo, too--forgot to mention it last time I checked in and it's gorgeous, Terrie!

~I AM Love~* said...

Wonderful post as usual Terri. I love your descriptions of each flavor and the photography is really stunning. I'm not much of a fruit leather person, but the chocolate sounds ... mmmm good. I'm glad that you have found some delectable treats to stock your gluten-free pantry (and purse) with. And hats off to Chef Robert for coming up with a winning line of products!

I hope this finds you well ... I've been missing you too :)

Biz
Barbara

feasting-on-pixels (terrie) said...

Merci mile fois chêre Sue and chêre Barbara for your generous kind words and wonderful comments.

I have always loved fruit leathers as a child, but not so much as an adult...but these yummy treats certainly changeed my mind.

Chêre Sue, do happy to hear that you liked my fruit leather sculptures...it was certainly fun to play with this product.
Merci for your kind comment on my new header...I love to mix it up alot as there is so much beauty around me in food.

Anonymous said...

These munchies sound like a great find! Hope you are doing well!

jeanette, mistress of longears said...

Your photos are just gorgeous! I'm checking out Whole Foods tomorrow! No point in waiting for mail order if I don't have to!

feasting-on-pixels (terrie) said...

Merci mille fois, Natasha...yes these are really good.
I am doing better, merci for asking me...bisous.

Merci mille fois, Jeanette, I do so appreciate your generous comments on my images.
Matt's Muchies are only available on-line unless you live in areas of New York City, Long Island or Southern California.
Please check this store link...
http://www.chefrobertsdirect.com/store.php?osCsid=b892b2c229548560465baae67d62980e

Whole Foods do not carry these as yet. Perhaps they need to hire me to market in the Midwest...lol...

Phil Lowe said...

these leathers actually look really tasty. I think that I have had something similar here in the UK from the chemist of all places.