Roll up, roll up for your easy sugar overdose!

Take a good, long look at those fruit roll-ups your kids love to eat.  From the fun, cartoony packaging to the brightly coloured contents inside, they are a hugely popular must-have in school lunches.  They represent ‘cool currency’ and your child might even trade them for lamingtons, potato chips or sugar-loaded juice drinks.  You can be pretty sure that no red-blooded kid would trade a fruit roll-up for an apple or a ham sandwich!

But do you really know what’s in these devils in angel’s clothing?

Choice Magazine released a report entitled “Foods That Make Kids Fatter Faster”, a listing of the top 10 high profile food items marketed at children that are super-laden with kilojoules.  Number 4 on the list was Uncle Toby’s Roll-Ups.  Uncle Toby’s is usually seen as a family-friendly company that produces wholesome foods for active, healthy consumers.  Recently, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission banned Uncle Toby’s from claiming that their roll-ups are “made with 65% real fruit” on the grounds that it was misleading.

Report from Choice consumer website, 22 January 07:

"Uncle Tobys was recently hauled over the coals by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for claiming Roll-Ups are “made with 65% real fruit”. The label now limits itself to “made with real fruit”, but even this claim seems over the top for a product whose major ingredient certainly isn’t fruit (it’s maize maltodextrin, a form of starch) and which contains 30% sugars.

Another ingredient that’s listed is hydrogenated canola oil, so Roll-Ups also contain some artery-clogging trans fats that don’t have to be declared on the label. But we fully endorse one claim you’ll see on the label — Roll-Ups are definitely a “good source of energy” — that’s kilojoules, don’t forget."

What do commercially-made roll-ups really contain?

• Major ingredient – maize maltodextrin, a form of starch.  Maltodextrin is a vital ingredient in fruit roll-ups because it provides a soft texture and flexibility required.
• Sugar – 30% sugar content either in refined sugar form or as corn syrup.
• Fats – yes, fats.  Specifically, hydrogenated oils that are not, by any means, healthy fats.  These are the artery-clogging trans fats that can cause serious heart disease later in life, and what’s more, they don’t have to be declared on a product’s label.

So my child has to go without these popular treats?

Absolutely not!  It may never have occurred to you but you can certainly make your own fruit roll-ups in your own home with an EziDri food dehydrator.  There are many advantages to this:

• 100% fruit content.
• If you must add sugar, you get to control the amount.
• No mysterious additives with names you can barely pronounce.
• No artificial colours.
• Way cheaper!
• Choose your own flavour combinations.
• Add nuts or coconut if you like.
• Zero fat content.
• So easy to make.
• Children can participate, and take pride, in making them.

All you need, to make fruit roll-ups at home, is a food dehydrator.  You simply puree the fruit you’d like to use, strain if you wish – recommended for some fruits such as kiwi, raspberry and strawberry – pour into solid sheets in the dehydrator trays and switch the unit on.  About 8 hours later, you’ll have lovely, fresh, additive-free, tasty fruit roll-ups.  Remember, once the water is dehydrated out of the fruit, you’re left with intense flavour, something kids – and grownups – enjoy a great deal.

If you like, you can even involve the kids in making cut-outs in interesting shapes using cookie cutters or even scissors.  Instead of roll-ups, try making letters of the alphabet, numbers, shapes and flowers.

Fruit roll-ups for grownups
Even ‘big kids’ love roll-ups and you can customise the flavourings accordingly.  Try adding cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mint, citrus juice, citrus zest, flavoured essences, vanilla extract or even pepper or chilli!

One final thing; even homemade fruit roll-ups are sugary, although there is no added sugar.  Given as a treat in moderation, the homemade version is way better than the who-knows-what’s-in-them commercial varieties.