Rapunzel and Other Disney Princesses Make a Tasty Treat

When I was a kid, fruit snacks were pretty common inclusions in my school lunches. I don’t often eat them anymore, but every once in a while I’ll feel nostalgic for these little pouches of tasty whimsy. On the latest grocery excursion, I picked up a box of Kellogg’s Tangled fruit snacks, and while the form has changed, the basic gist of these treats remains the same.

The Tangled fruit snacks come in a box containing ten pouches. Each pouch contains several of the small, chewy snacks, which the box proclaims are fat free and made with real fruit, making them a source of Vitamin C. Every pouch will set you back 70 calories. Aside from nutritional information, the box features three simple games on the back. There’s a seek and find, a matching challenge and a small trivia section. It’s quite a lot squeezed into a small space, and it works well aside from the very poorly worded question, “What does Gaston say to Belle to free her father?”

Wait, Belle? I thought this was Rapunzel. Yeah, so did I. The front of the box boldly declares “Disney Tangled,” but that’s really a misnomer. Of the six fruit snack designs, only two – purple Rapunzel (grape) and the orange hairbrush (orange) – relate specifically to Disney’s 50th animated feature. A third, a yellow tiara, is pretty much a Disney princess staple.

Yellow, with lemon flavoring, is also the color of Belle. Like Rapunzel, she’s just a head, and the color works much better for her. Every time I look at a Rapunzel snack, I briefly forget and think I’m looking at Pocahontas. The red enchanted rose looks quite nice too; I think it’s cherry, though the flavor isn’t that strong and I can’t quite tell. Finally, Tiana is green and lime-flavored. Hence, we have three different princesses and three props. The front of the box shows Rapunzel’s pet chameleon and Flynn, but neither of them is inside any of the pouches, which are more accurately labeled Disney Princess.

I prefer fruit snacks that have an unmistakable firmness to them. Super-soft ones don’t do much for me. These ones are a little softer than I’d like, but they’re still fairly firm. While some fruit snacks have different coloring but no real difference in flavors, these are distinct from each other, which makes them a lot more fun to eat. For an occasional snack, they’re pretty good, even though they don’t reflect the movie as much as a quick glance at the front of the box implies.