Fruit and Nut Snacks for the 21st Century

Lara Merriken didn’t set out to revolutionize snacking when she dreamed up the Lärabar. In fact, the Denver-based fitness enthusiast and founder of the nutrition bar that bears her name says she “didn’t even plan to make a nutrition bar. The idea came to me because I’m passionate about health and nutrition and healthy living. When I thought up Lärabar, I just went back to our roots—what’s simple, what’s unprocessed, what’s whole.”

And Lärabars are about as “whole” as a snack can get while still being wrapped in a fancy, five-layer, UV- and oxygen-impermeable barrier. Each variety contains no more than six ingredients—mainly dried fruits and nuts. The only added sugars are those contributed by the fruit itself, and Merriken notes, “We always use unsweetened fruit, which is very rare in a food product like a bar.”

Her goal was to make a snack that, while acknowledging the fast-paced lives of 21st-century consumers, pledged to “Keep it simple, stupid.” Merriken’s entry offers an example from the grassroots camp, while Plano, TX–based Frito Lay’s True North snacks show how seriously the majors take simplicity. The crunches, clusters and crisps in the line sport ingredients like brown rice flour, expeller pressed sunflower oil, honey and—in the featured role—nuts.

For health-conscious consumers, seeing big, identifiable fruits, nuts and grainy things—whether in a bar, a baked good or a snack mix—is a prerequisite for purchase. Formulators are paring down snack ingredient statements while featuring fruit and nut ingredients that signal quality.

Dried fruit chips have positioned themselves as virtuous alternatives to their fried potato cousins. Even fruit roll-ups are cleaning up their acts. Made mostly with sugars and gums in the past, “now they’re using real puréed and dehydrated fruit,” says Wendy Bazilian, Dr.P.H., R.D., a nutrition educator and author of “The SuperFoodsRx Diet” who consults with industry organizations like the Cherry Marketing Institute, Lansing, MI.

Throughout the “snacksphere,” nuts and fruits are enjoying a healthy renaissance.

The original functional foods

“While fruits and nuts have been around practically forever as healthy, energy-enhancing foods, they’re getting a new kind of caché, because science is catching up to tell us why they’re so good for us,” says Bazilian.

Look at nuts: Almonds are high in vitamin E and show prebiotic benefits; walnuts are a source of the hormone melatonin and the omega-3 fatty acid alpha-linolenic acid; hazelnuts have more antioxidant proanthocyanidins than any other nut; and peanuts are tops for protein content.

Then there’s the bumper crop of “superfruits,” from cherries, blueberries and cranberries to açaí berries, goji berries and beyond. Touted for their antioxidants and overall nutrient density, they’ve driven growth in a number of food and beverage categories as consumers get wise to their potential health benefits.

“If you think back 12 years,” says Guangwei Huang, senior manager, technical and scientific affairs, Almond Board of California, Modesto, “most consumers thought of nuts as high-fat items. People avoided them. But in terms of the big picture of nutrition research in the last decade, people have gained more knowledge about the different types of fat, and that not all types of fat are bad.” The mono- and polyunsaturated fats that nuts have in abundance are, in fact, quite good, and the science supporting their benefits led the FDA to approve a heart-health claim for tree nuts in 2003. “The health message registered with consumers,” she says.

“One of the reasons that nuts have become more popular, I think, is because of the unique nutrient profile,” Huang says. “Most nuts, especially almonds, meet the human body’s needs for many nutrients. You have high protein, but it’s healthy plant protein. Nuts provide lots of minerals, vitamin E and antioxidants, too. It’s a balanced, high-nutrient package. It offers a more-wholesome snack image.”

Fruits of our labors

The fruits and nuts that get top billing in today’s whole-foods snacks are fairly accommodating to work with. Suppliers are now offering them in forms that not only appeal to consumers, but that pay dividends in processing practicality for manufacturers, as well.

Let’s start with the fruit. “Nothing beats the real fruit,” says Kristen Borsari, senior manager for global marketing, Ocean Spray Ingredient Technology Group, Lakeville-Middleboro, MA. But, what manufacturers need “are products with clean ingredient statements, that taste great, and are versatile, but that are process-tolerant and aren’t going to get mashed or crushed in their manufacturing process, so that they still look, feel and taste like the real fruit,” she explains.