Pick Up This Freeze-Dried Fruit For A Sweet Snack That's Loaded With Fiber

People tend to have strong opinions on freeze-dried fruits, ranging from love-em to hate-em and incremental levels of so-so shrugs. But there's one red rascal that whizzes above the fruity fray, landing on taste buds with a wondrous wealth of tarty-sweet flavor and airy, crisp texture. It's the naturally juicy red raspberry, which undergoes a total transformation when the water gets removed. But the truly remarkable thing is that the newly dried sweet snack somehow retains an exceptional amount of its original dietary fiber.

When fresh off the vine, raspberries harbor notably high levels of nutrition inside their tiny, bumpy drupelets. That includes vitamin C, potent antioxidants, and loads of fiber: 8 grams in a single cup, which isn't hard to devour in a single go. Freeze-drying essentially eliminates the moisture content, changing the raspberries' texture and shelf stability while leaving their original nutrition profile intact, including the fiber content. The snappy sweet flavor also gets concentrated, making raspberries one of the most snack-able of all healthy treats. 

Keep in mind that the accepted nutrition guidance is to consume 14 grams of fiber per 1,000 calories in your daily diet. If you can get a lot of those grams by snacking on crunchy little freeze-dried raspberries, it's a win on all fronts. However, it's important to note that although the fiber in fresh raspberries remains, the berries are now concentrated, so the fiber amounts will be different. 

When gauging how much fiber you're actually getting from freeze-dried raspberries, look at the number of grams per ounce, since that's how most packages of freeze-dried fruits list nutrition info. Fortunately, some major grocers carry this form of raspberry in the snack aisle, including Trader Joe's. 

TJs makes the fiber info very clear, labeling its 1.2-ounce bag of freeze-dried raspberries as harboring a striking 15 grams of dietary fiber. It contains no added sugars, just the fruit sugars occurring naturally in fresh raspberries. They easily made our Tasting Table list of the 15 best high-fiber items at Trader Joe's. Target's Good & Gather brand offers a very similar 1.25-ounce bag of freeze-dried raspberries with 16 grams of fiber. 

As snack-worthy as these whimsical little crunchies are, they can make even larger footprints through the maze of healthy eating. Trader Joe's suggests using them in things like baked goods, smoothies, and toppers for yogurt or oatmeal. It's also possible to float them over summer cocktails for a sweet, tangy twist, or grind into powder and stir into frostings, batters, and salad dressings. Some folks have been known to spritz them with water for partial rehydration, then spread over toast, fold into jams, or create drizzly syrups. For a double-duo of luscious goodness, try our recipe for dark chocolate raspberry fudge, which features crushed freeze-dried raspberries as the grand-finale topping.