Want advanced access to my weekly Chewsday Reviews?

Every Tuesday morning receive the latest Chewsday Review delivered directly to your inbox.

Only Organic Banana Biscotti | Chewsday Review

Italian-made biscotti, this sounds delicious! A bit fancy and a bit fruity, are these the ultimate toddler snack? Read this Chewsday Review to find out.

Ingredients

Wheat flour, apple juice concentrate, rice flour, sunflower oil, wheat starch, low-fat milk powder, banana puree (4%), raising agent (sodium carbonates), mineral (iron), natural banana flavour.
The second ingredient, apple juice concentrate, is a sneaky way of sweetening the product without adding sugar.
Although these are named banana biscotti, there is more apple juice concentrate in here than banana.
Allergens: Gluten, milk.
May contain: Soy.

Positives

Negatives

With a total fat content of 12g per 100g, these biscuits are high in fat due to the sunflower oil. However, as the saturated fat is low at 1.1g per 100g, the total fat content is not a huge concern.
The sugar content is quite high for a baby biscuit (14g per 100g), falling within the acceptable range, but only just!
The biscotti are very low in fibre (0.16 g per serve). It would have been nice to see some wholemeal flour in there, especially since flour is the most abundant ingredient.
At $5 for 12 small biscuits, these aren’t cheap. This works out at $50 per kilo, about 10 times more expensive than bananas ($5 per kilo), or three times more expensive than Corn Thins ($15 per kilo).

Marketing

“Naturally sweetened with fruit”: Kind of true, because it’s fruit concentrate that sweetens the biscuits, not fruit. The actual fruit content is negligible at only 4%.
“Iron enriched”: Yep! Although they calculate the recommended dietary intake (RDI) incorrectly on the nutrition information panel.
“No artificial flavours or colours”: Likely true, however, chemically there is no difference between natural and artificial flavours.
“Certified organic”: They are trying to make this product sound healthier, however this doesn’t tell us anything about the nutrition,
“10+ months”: This is a guide only, as all babies develop at a different rate.
These don’t look or taste anything like “biscotti”, more like a mini scotch finger!

Alternatives

Apart from their iron content, these biscotti are really just a sweet biscuit marketed as a healthy-sounding fruity product.
If you’re after a packaged snack option for older babies or young toddlers, you could also check out Little Bellies Organic Strawberry Pick Up Sticks, or Baby Bellies Puffs or Softcorn varieties options that are iron-fortified but lower in sugar.
A plain rice or corn cake with an added topping are cheaper and healthier savoury options, although without the iron.
You could also make your own iron rich bickies, like my chickpea cookies from the Baby and Toddler Mealtimes memberships.