Funky Monkey Snacks Review + Giveaway!

I was recently given the opportunity to try out Funky Monkey Snacks for the first time and woooow these are super delicious! I was able to try out each of the 7 flavors which includes: Bananamon (banana with cinnamon), Carnaval Mix (banana, apple, pineapple and papaya), Jivealime (pineapple with lime), Purple Funk (banana with açai), Applemon (apple with cinnamon), MangOJ (mango with orange juice), and Pink Pineapple (pineapple with guava).

In addition to tasting great, Funky Monkey Snacks are:

• 100% natural
• 100% real fruit
  
• nothing added (no added colors, flavors, sugars, or preservatives)
• GMO free
• 100% organic (Pink Pineapple is 95% organic and Carnaval Mix is 70% organic)
• gluten free, vegan and certified kosher
• made with full, fresh fruit slices and pieces (not dices)
  
• made in Brazil using tropical fruits at the peak of freshness
• made using a special, proprietary manufacturing process provides for a crunchier texture vs. conventional freeze-drying techniques

Top row: Jivealime, Pink Pineapple, MangOJ
Bottom row: Applemon, Purple Funk, Bananamon

My general impressions:

Pineapple: The freeze dried pineapple was a nice surprise. Pineapple is one of my favorite fruits and I'm admittedly extremely picky about it. I love fresh pineapple, but hate canned and conventional dried pineapple. I'm happy to say that the flavor of the pineapple slices in Funky Monkey Snacks is closest to that of a fresh, juicy pineapple. The flavor is pleasant and not too overpoweringly sweet with a slight tartness. The crispiness from freeze drying gives a nice texture, similar to that of a honeycomb type candy. The lime in Jivealime was refreshing and gave the fruit an even more tartness which I absolutely loved, while the plain variety in the Carnaval Mix was a little bit sweeter (perfect for pineapple purists). Pink Pineapple had a nice grapefruit essence which imparted a slight bitterness (characteristic of grapefruit flavor) and a nice flavor complexity.

Apple: The freeze dried apple slices are very similar taste-wise and texture-wise to what you would find in your standard crispy apple chip- but conventional apple chips typically have preservatives, sugars and/or oils added to them. Funky Monkey uses only apple and cinnamon (no sugars, no oils, no preservatives) in their Applemon snacks so the better option is pretty clear! The cinnamon in the Applemon variety is mild and very nice despite the pieces looking pretty heavily coated. I loved both the plain (from the Carnaval Mix) and cinnamon coated flavors.

Banana: Banana is another one of those fruits that I'm super picky about. I typically like bananas in baked goods or in cereals but don't really care for either the dried or fresh varieties. I was pretty surprised that I actually did like the banana flavor in these snacks. Compared to conventionally dried banana slices, Funky Monkey's banana slices are not as overwhelmingly sweet and the texture is not as dense and hard. The texture of these snacks is light and airy and but when eaten they have a slight creaminess to them as well. My favorite was probably the Purple Funk. Despite being crazy about health foods, I've never actually had açai so I'm not really sure what its is supposed to taste like. What I do know is that they gave the banana slices a nice splash of color and a mild flavor that didn't impart any extra sweetness or tartness, but rather a nice complexity to the taste. The Bananamon pieces seemed a little more airy than the Purple Funk and the cinnamon taste was a little faint, but very pleasant.

Mango & Papaya: These were the only flavors that I didn't really care much for. The pieces were a bit more dense than the other fruits and the flavor of the mango was reminiscent more dried fruit than fresh. MangoOJ had a slight bitterness to it, giving it more of an "adult" flavor. This is the only flavor I think most children probably wouldn't really enjoy (although adults certainly would). The flavor of the papaya in the Carnaval Mix was good and very reminiscent of fresh papaya but in general not papaya is not one of my favorite fruits. If you like papaya this is great.

Funky Monkey Snacks can be purchased at a number of major retailers including Whole Foods, Super Target and Safeway and online at Amazon.com.

I'm super happy that I was given the opportunity to try out these great snacks and will definitely pick up some again when I'm in the mood for snacking. I'd also like to offer one of you the opportunity to try them out as well!

--------------------

Funky Monkey was generous enough to offer one of my readers a sampler pack of Funky Monkey Snacks (1 pack of each flavor), yum!

*To enter all you need to do is visit Funky Monkey Snacks and tell me something interesting you found on their website that hasn't been mentioned here.

For one extra entry each you can:

* Follow this blog via Google Friend Connect
* Subscribe to my blog via RSS or email (if subscribing by email your email must be confirmed, also list your email here)
* Post this giveaway in your blog and leave a link to your post
* Tweet about the giveaway and leave a link to your tweet (you may tweet once per day)
*Follow Funky Monkey Snacks on Twitter
*Follow Funky Monkey Snacks on Facebook

Please leave a separate comment for each entry! Also make sure to leave your email address in one of your comments or have your email address visible in your profile.

This giveaway will end on March 24, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. Open to US readers only. Good luck!

Giveaway winner: Redfuzzycow

**I was sent samples of Funky Monkey snacks to try for review purposes and allowed to post my thoughts at my discretion. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post. All opinions expressed here are mine.**