Look at the ingredient list of a supermarket granola and the fruit is often listed with something attached: raisins in sunflower oil, cranberries with sugar, dried fruit pieces with glucose syrup. Dried fruit gets sticky and hard during storage, so many producers coat or infuse it with sugar and oil to keep it soft.
What freeze-drying does
Freeze-drying removes the water from fresh fruit at a very low temperature. The fruit keeps its shape, colour and flavour, and it stays light and crisp instead of chewy. Because it doesn’t go sticky, it doesn’t need a sugar or oil coating.
What that means for our granola
Our Strawberry Granola and Wild Berries & Collagen Granola use freeze-dried fruit. The sweetness in both comes from apple juice, and neither has added sugar. You can see the fruit pieces through the window on the front of the pouch.
How to tell the difference on a label
Check what is written in brackets after the fruit. If you see sugar, syrup, glucose, dextrose or vegetable oil, the fruit has been sweetened or coated. Freeze-dried fruit is usually listed on its own.
Freeze-dried pieces soften quickly in milk or yoghurt. If you like them crunchy, add the granola just before you eat.
