Product Review: Apple Snapz's Crunchy Apple Chips

I'm always on the lookout for healthy gluten free snacks that taste good; it's an even a bigger challenge than it sounds. Trying to find healthy foods that taste good is hard enough, but when you add on the need for the product to be gluten free - it's a real test of your endurance and a test of the extent of your determination. The gluten free lifestyle isn't for sissies. If you need to know more about the gluten free diet, then watch my video called "Gluten Free Lifestyle: An Introduction," or read Barbara Lee's article called "Celiac Disease Diagnosis: Gluten Free Living: Tips for Starting a Gluten-free Lifestyle." Just click on the title to read her article or watch my video.

Sometimes I luck upon something, which is what happened this summer, when I was shopping in the health food section of Kroger's. It was there that I came across Apple Snapz, which is sliced, dried apple slices in a variety flavors, packaged in a foil bag that reminds me of a smaller version of a potato chip bag. Kroger's sales four flavors of crunchy apple chips: plain, banana, cinnamon and strawberry. I originally got the plain just to see what it tasted like, at $1.59 a bag didn't want to waste money if the apple chips weren't any good.

Since it is a bag of dried apple slices, I expected that they would be hard. Instead, the apple chips are some where between soft and medium hard learning toward the soft side. I love the taste of apples and was not disappointed by the taste of these dried apple slices; they don't have the full bodied taste of fresh apples - it's a mellower flavor. After the taste test I went back and got all four flavors. I've taken them with me when I travel they are a wonderful snack. I do need to warn you that the bag flattens when store away with your other food. Even though the bag is a lot flatter the apple chips inside are not a crumbled up mess. It didn't matter if I put the bag on top or not, the bag shrinks like a popped balloon. I decided not to worry about it since it doesn't affect the snack itself.

Each bag weighs .7 ounces and is made from two or more apples. One bag is one serving size. The apple chips are fat free, have no added sugar, no salt, are baked not fried, nut free, gluten free and have no artificial flavors or artificial coloring. Each flavor has the following nutritional information: 75 Calories, 0 mg of cholesterol, sodium, protein, and fat, 18 grams of total carbohydrates (1 gram of fiber and 18 grams of sugars).

Whether you are on a gluten free diet or not, the Apple Snapz's apple chips are a wonderful healthy snack food