No added sugar, no artificial colours or flavours and no preservatives.
And at $2.99 for 550g, this is also very reasonable for those on a budget. If you're in a hurry, a slop of this into your porridge or cereal is as easy as opening the can. Or you can dollop it on ice-cream for a dessert or, as the can suggests, make a pie.
You will still get some sugar - 11g or about 2.5 teaspoons in each 125g serve - but it is naturally occurring in the fruit and hasn't been added.
Canned fruit may not have the fresh flavour or texture of fresh fruit, but it does provide fibre, carbohydrates and essential minerals. Although fruit may lose some of its vitamin content during the canning process, its basic nutritional profile is similar to fresh fruit.
This product does look a bit ... well ... brown in the can, which hardly compares to the bright colours of fresh fruit, but it tastes great.
The next product, Select Frozen Fresh Mango, was brought to my attention by my daughter who, with her friends, is eating these by the packet-full.
This is fresh mango, chopped and frozen in Chile then sent to your supermarket freezers.
Again, nothing is added and you can use the mango for smoothies, or defrost it and add it to cereals, desserts or salsas.
I quite like it eaten frozen from the packet and I have made a mean daquiri with it.
My experience of buying mango is a bit like buying avocados. Will it be ripe and if so when? You cut into it only to find it isn't. Then you wait and go to the trouble of cutting it all up and it tastes, well, overripe.
This bag sells for $6 for 500g which is about two mangos, which when sold fresh at the moment cost $2.49. So you are getting quite a good deal considering it is already cut up and guaranteed to be fresh.
Nutritionally, frozen fruit is a great nutritional choice. Studies have shown that frozen fruit is harvested when it's fully ripe, rather than being harvested early and allowed to ripen during transport to supermarkets.
Vegetables and fruits provide the most nutrition when they are ripe. Fresh produce will have been picked weeks ago, especially the mangos we get from tropical islands, the Philippines, Mexico and Australia, which will have travelled some distance. Fresh food starts losing nutritional value as soon as it is picked and after travel and storage in your fridge it can be quite depleted.
Also many of the fresh mangoes we get here are irradiated to protect our environment.
According to Food Standards NZ: "The food is exposed to ionising radiation, either from gamma rays or a high-energy electron beam or powerful x-rays. Gamma rays and x-rays are a form of radiation that share some characteristics with microwaves, but with much higher energy and penetration.
"The rays pass through the food just like microwaves in a microwave oven, but the food does not heat up to any significant extent ... organisms that are responsible for spoiling foods, such as insects, moulds and bacteria can be killed."
Some environmental groups believe that while the process kills insects, mould and bacteria, it also damages the chemical structure of the fruit, making it inedible.
Recently some mangos from Australia which were irradiated developed black blemishes. And last month weevils were found in irradiated mangos from Australia.
Food which has been irradiated must be labelled as such. I could not find any reference to it on this packet.
So all in all, this frozen packet is great for nutrition and convenience.
Highlights
• Frozen and canned fruit as nutritionally good as fresh.
• No artificial flavours, colours or preservatives.
• No added sugar.
