Steve's PaleoGoods, Dried Fruit Strawberries, 6 oz (Pack of 3) - Dried Fruit No Sugar Added, Paleo Snacks, Low Calorie Snacks

Let me preface this review with a few disclaimers:1) I do not follow a paleo diet, but I understand what it means to do so.2) I am not a medical professional or dietician.So.... why two stars?I feel deceived by the labeling of this product. And I think other people are being deceived too, and they don't realize it. I love dried fruit, and I love strawberries. However, I have issues with the "no junk" label, and the "paleo" designation, especially as it relates to the spirit of what a paleo diet is supposed to be (low in processed food & sugars.)As I said above, I do not eat paleo, but I sought out a no-refined-sugar version of dried strawberries while doing a month of eating "no refined sugar." I am trying to re-calibrate my palate, which is difficult to do in the U.S., where there seems to be sugar in EVERYTHING. So I purchased these, based on the "no refined sugars" pronouncement on the label.Well, I should have read the label more carefully. It is worth noting that the ingredients are NOT listed on Amazon. (Hmm.) I should have Googled the product, and had I done so, I would have known they would be super-sweet. Because these strawberries are SOAKED in apple juice concentrate - which is 65% fructose - which is... sugar.First of all... you have to ask yourself: if you're really following a paleo diet, why are you eating processed fruit from a bag? Just eat some actual strawberries. In hindsight, that would have been good advice to give myself.To your body, sugar is sugar. And according to a Harvard Health Letter, published October 2006, on Added Sweeteners, "Concentrated apple juice, for example, is 65% fructose, higher than the 55% fructose content of HFCS-55 that is used in soft drinks."I wonder how many people choose paleo products like this, not knowing that they are eating a product that has a more highly-concentrated source of sugar than a can of soda. Probably not many.So enjoy these if you will... but don't kid yourself about what's in them.

So a lot of people are giving these things bad reviews saying they are too sweet and that the apple juice concentrate is added sugar. These people are dead wrong! While I do agree these could be less sweet they are simply the best dried strawberries I've ever tried, and i've tried a lot of them. Now, back to the juice concentrate, if you search the internet for "juice concentrate" you'll see that all it is is juice that has been squeezed from the fruit and then water is extracted which would obviously make the juice sweeter. So what does this leave us with? The concentrate in these strawberries IS NOT TABLE SUGAR! It is the same juice you'd be consuming from an apple just with less water. So I rest my case that there is no added sugar in these, just juice from another fruit besides the strawberry. If you're so concerned about the missing water in the juice concentrate then drink some water while eating these. Also don't tell me that to your body "sugar is sugar" because if that was really the case then eating fruit would be just as bad for you as eating candy! Meanwhile I am going to enjoy something as sweet as candy that HAS NO SUGAR.

Steve’s Paleo dried strawberries are excellent in taste and texture. My only complaint that it has too much sugar. The packaging says “no sugar added” but there is; in the form of concentrated apple juice. I would prefer less sweetness for less fructose.

I ordered some dried cranberries, and saw these strawberries, along with Steve's PaleoGoods dried blueberries, and decided to try them.Both were an exciting treat for me, since most of the dried fruit I see in stores is craisins (not complaining about that, mind).These strawberries are AWESOME. I managed to share a bit with my parents so they could try them, but yeah, I ate the rest of this bag by myself (not in one sitting though!). I've seen and tried freeze-flash dried strawberry slices but had never seen dried strawberries.As far as dried fruit, I've usually stuck with craisins but from here on out, I think I'll be sticking with Steve's PaleoGoods for dried fruit of different kinds!

So, when they say "dried fruit strawberries," strawberries is exactly what they mean... WHOLE strawberries! I was expecting sliced strawberries, and honestly, I think sliced would work better for any kind of mixing them into oatmeal, cookies, etc.However. These taste so good that I had to look at the label and see if sugar was added (nope, just apple juice). They don't have that juicy burst of fresh strawberries, but the flavor is very good. They look quite gross--they're so dark they're almost brown, little blobs... you would not know they were strawberries to look at them... but they taste good and would make an excellent addition to trail mixes or for snacking. The texture is fairly gummy, as dried fruit generally is.

These are like fruit snacks, only sweeter. When I took a few out of the bag, the strawberries looked like it was made from smaller bits and pieces of strawberries mashed together. The strawberries were sweetened with sugars from apple juice concentrate. The sweetness was overbearing and I could only finish about two pieces at a time. The flavor did not really resemble that of a real strawberry.I know that Trader Joe’s has freeze-dried strawberries. I have never seen a moist strawberry snack without added sugars which is why this caught my eye. I read the label too quickly and did not realize that there is added sugar in these strawberries and that these are basically extremely sweet fruit snacks. The texture reminds me of fruit leather pieces mashed together.I’d recommend passing on trying this strawberry experience because these snacks are too sweet, has added sugars from apple juice, and lacks real strawberry flavor.