Product Review: Solely
Disclosure: I was given these products in exchange for this post. All opinions here are my own.
Most people strive to eat 2–3 meals per day, but my math is a little different. I’ll eat three meals a day, but will add lots of snacks in between. That being said, I aim for healthy snacks, such as raw baby carrots or a handful of blueberries.
Enter Solely, a brand that creates dried fruit and organic fruit jerky without the added preservatives, sugar, and superfluous ingredients. In fact, most products have three ingredients at most! They are also sustainable by using regenerative practices and “imperfect” produce for their snacks. Solely’s methods have helped to avoid roughly 20 million pounds of food waste. Additionally, their production facilities are located near Costa Rica and Mexico farms in order to cut down on fuels used in transportation.
I tried twelve different Solely snacks and each one has a special place in my heart (and stomach). Read on to see which ones were my favorite.
Organic Pineapple Rings Drizzled with 100% Cacao
These were citrusy with a nice chocolate undertone. Those sensitive to citrus in pineapple (like me) need not worry — these won’t burn your tongue. Warning: very addictive.
Organic Mango Strips Drizzled with 100% Cacao
These strips were harder to chew than the pineapple rings, but I loved the cacao! However, I prefer the pineapple variation.
Organic Mango Strips
This snack was hard and chewy but subtly sweet. It also smells quite lovely.
Organic Pineapple Rings with Chili & Salt
Although the chili flavor is very prominent, this snack is not spicy. As well, I barely detected the pineapple taste. I prefer the cacao pineapple rings to this snack.
Organic Mango Strips with Chili & Salt
The fruit taste is more prominent in this variation. I did like this version better than the pineapple one. However, the chili taste was not as noticeable.
Fruit Jerkies
I was gifted 11 different flavors of fruit jerkies: three plain fruits (1 Whole Organic Banana, 1 Whole Organic Mango, 1/2 of an Organic Pineapple), two spicy fruits (1 Whole Organic Mango with Chili & Salt, 1/2 of an Organic Pineapple with Chili & Salt), three drizzled (1 Whole Organic Mango Drizzled with 100% Cacao, 1/2 of an Organic Pineapple Drizzled with 100% Cacao, 1/2 of an Organic Pineapple with Coconut Drizzled with 100% Cacao) and three pairings (1 Whole Organic Banana with Cacao, 1/2 of an Organic Pineapple with Coconut, 1 Whole Organic Banana with Pecans).
These are a bit high in natural sugar, so maybe don’t eat so many in one sitting. Since I was gifted so many and didn’t want to bombard my body with so much sugar at once (lol), I tried one for the purpose of this review:
1/2 of an Organic Pineapple with Coconut
This was soft, unlike meat jerkies. It had a nice citrusy flavor with subtle coconut. The texture was also quite smooth, with no traces of fruit pieces. There was a fun message when I peeled the wrapper back: “You just ate one half of a whole pineapple with coconut!” accompanied by a thumbs-up icon.
Dried Organic Mango Pieces:
These smelled amazing, like ripe mango. It was my least favorite snack but by no means was it horrible. Truth be told, I was not a fan of the dried-out texture.
Organic Banana Bitecoins
This was my favorite smelling snack. I love bananas, so obviously I loved eating this. It tasted sweet and not dried up. I would describe it as an overripe banana without the squishiness.
Organic Pineapple Rings
These smelled DELICIOUS. Although it was very sweet, I like it more than I thought I would. Truth be told, I’m not a huge pineapple person which is why I was so pleasantly surprised.
Organic Mango & Guava Whole Fruit Gummies
These were not as sweet as expected and I tasted the mango more than the guava. Plus, one pouch is only 6 grams of sugar. This snack also gets extra points for being not as sticky or chewy as standard gummies.
Organic Mango Whole Fruit Gummies
These were sweeter than the guava ones and very juicy. One pouch is 7 grams of sugar, which is one more than the mango and guava variation.
Organic Mango & Orange Whole Fruit Gummies
I tasted the orange more than mango in this one but really enjoyed the citrusy flavor. This one also has 7 grams of sugar per package.
I’m now a huge fan of Solely, and hope to snag a few more bags. They are available in stores such as Sprouts, Whole Foods, CVS, and more. These snacks are great for everyday eating, but I am looking forward to packing these with me for my next flight or road trip. Visit solely.com.
