Fruit For Life Dried Mango Slices | Chewsday Review
This week, we’re peeling back a bag of dried mango. Is it ripe for the picking, or not quite as mango-nificent as it seems?
- Mango (68.8%), sugar, humectant (422), acidity regulator (330), preservative (223) (sulphites).
- The numbered ingredients in this product protect the mango from drying out and becoming discoloured.
- Allergens: Nil.
- At 1.8g of dietary fibre per serving, this mango provides almost 13% of a toddler’s daily fibre requirement, and 10% for a school aged child.
- Sodium, total fat and saturated fat are all within my guidelines.
- Dried fruit still contains the same nutrients, vitamins and minerals as fresh fruit.
- Let’s talk about the ever-debated sugar content in dried fruit. These mango slices contain 59g of sugar per 100g, including both natural and added sugars. Typically, dried mango contains around 51g per 100g of naturally occurring sugar, meaning roughly 8g per 100g is added sugar. Dried mango has a higher proportion of natural sugar than fresh whole mango (51g per 100g vs 10-15g per 100g). This is because dried fruit has all of the water removed (water makes up around 84% of a fresh mango). The ‘negative’ here is not the total sugar amount, as most of it is naturally occurring, it’s that I’d rather it didn’t contain any added sugar. Brands such as Nibblish Gently Baked Mango or Tropical Harvest Dried Mango both contain no added sugar.
- At $6.00 for a 150g bag, these will cost you a pretty penny! That works out to be $40 per kg and is much more expensive than fresh mango, which ranges between $5.00-$8.00 per kg in peak season. Woolworths Dried Mango Slices are slightly cheaper at $4.00 for a 130g bag ($30.77 per kg), as is Fresh Life Dried Mango ($22 per kg), both also offer a higher mango content at 88%.
- Dried fruit is often criticised for its sticky texture clinging to teeth. As always, I recommend serving it with other foods, offering water to drink, and maintain regular tooth brushing.
- “No artificial colour or flavours.” Correct.
- “Suitable for vegetarians.” True – I’d be shocked to find meat in a bag of dried mango!
- Overall, the added sugar in these mango slices would not make them my first choice. If you are looking for dried mango specifically, I’d recommend choosing brands with no added sugar, such as Nibblish Gently Baked Mango or Tropical Harvest Dried Mango.
- If you are looking for a cheaper option, fresh mango costs a lot less than the dried variant. If you have a food dehydrator at home, you could even try making your own dried slices and experiment with different fruits!
The composition of food products changes regularly. The nutritional values of the products in this Chewsday Review were correct at the time of publishing.
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