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Tip Top Café Raisin Bread | Chewsday Review

Is it fruit bread or fruit toast? Either way, let's find out if Tip Top's Café style fruit bread is raisin the bar on the competition.

Ingredients

Wheat Flour, Mixed Fruits (30%) (Raisins (70% minimum), Sultanas, Vegetable Oils), Water, Baker’s Yeast, Wheat Gluten, Vegetable Oils, Sugar, Mixed Spices (0.7%), Iodised Salt, Soy Flour, Vinegar, Fermented Wheat Flour, Vegetable Emulsifiers (481, 472e), Vitamins (Thiamin, Folic Acid), Processing Aid (Wheat).
There’s nothing unusual to note here, a pretty standard ingredients list for a commercial bread product.
Allergens: Wheat, Gluten, Soy. May be present: Other Cereals (Barley, Oats, Rye), Sesame.

Positives

The loaf contains 30% fruit which works out to around 2 tablespoons per slice (they are big slices!).
Sodium comes in at 259mg per 100g which is within the guidelines. This is similar to other brands of fruit bread, like Tip Top Raisin Toast or fruit muffins like Tip Top Spicy Fruit English Muffins and actually, contains much less salt than regular commercial breads.
In 2 slices, you’ll surprisingly get 11.4g of protein. This is almost 100% of a toddler’s or just over half of a young child’s daily protein requirements. Most wholemeal and multigrain breads contain just as much, if not more protein, and most Aussie kiddos are meeting (or exceeding!) their protein needs, so it’s not really a major win.

Negatives

This bread comes in at nearly 70c per slice (65g), but a slice is equivalent to almost two slices of most other breads. Tip Top’s Raisin Toast and Wholemeal Raisin Toast is around 40c per slice (36g), Woolworths Bakery Fruit Loaf is 44c per slice (37g) and Baker’s Delight Chia and Fruit Bread is around 60c per slice (56g). Unless you find them on special, a six pack of Tip Top Spicy Fruit English Muffins will cost you around $1 per muffin (67g) so the Café style loaf is a bit cheaper than these.
I spy added sugar. This loaf does contain more fruit than Tip Top Raisin Toast, however, it also contains added sugar not found in the raisin toast variety. Overall, it’s likely to contain less than 1g of added sugar per slice so it’s not a big deal.
Fibre is lower than I’d like to see with only 2.4g per serve which is under a fifth of a toddler’s daily fibre intake. Tip Top Raisin Toast is almost on par with 2.7g of fibre per serve, so if you’re looking for more you could choose from Tip Top’s Wholemeal Raisin Toast (double the fibre and no added sugar) or Baker’s Delight Chia and Fruit High Tin Loaf (more than triple the fibre).
This loaf isn’t iron fortified (many fruit loaves aren’t) however Tip Top have added iron into their ‘The One’ bread range… I’d love to see it added to their raisin toast varieties too. Thanks to the chia seeds, Baker’s Delight Chia and Fruit Bread does contain iron.

Marketing

There’s no real marketing spin with this product other than stating that it contains 30% fruit, which is true.
The Café style branding alludes to the thick cut raisin toast you’d find on a breakfast menu. This could be a positive or negative depending on how you like your fruit toast – Café style is super thick and contains only 10 slices (including crusts) per loaf compared to 14 slices (including crusts) in Tip Top Raisin Toast.

Alternatives

This product is on the expensive side and nutritionally there are products out there that offer more value for money, less sugar and more iron such as Tip Top’s Raisin Toast, Woolworths Bakery Fruit Loaf or Baker’s Delight Chia and Fruit Bread (this one contains added iron).
If this is your go to, you can also add some tasty toppings to mix it up. I suggest toppings like ricotta, cream cheese, fruit puree, yoghurt or chia jam (bonus iron!).