Healthy Hippo – Low Sugar Swedish Hippos
Don’t be fooled by my taste and interest in weird, esoteric things. Yes, many may think I’m a hipster because of my preferences, but I like popular and common things too. Swedish Berries for one, are a childhood favourite for me and to this day I can’t say no to them. Unless their the nasty jelly bean version. I know, not exactly a hot take. Those things are engineered to make you love them, so it’s weirder if you don’t. I do feel like it’s one of those things where it’s much easier to be brainwashed into loving them if you start at a younger age. Though truth be told, I’m not sure I could say no to them even now with the decades of experience under my belt. The only reason I don’t eat them more often is because I am cognizant of how damaging they are.
It’s because of that fact, that my brain gets on high alert when I am made aware of a “healthy” alternative to them. I’m almost certain they won’t be as good, as the thing that makes Swedish Berries good is the same thing that kills you, but I like to keep an open mind and an open tongue.
These adorable little hippos smell really fruity. Like those mixed berry fruit snacks you would get as a kid. It’s worth noting that they are sweetened with monk sugar, and in a 50g pouch there’s only 2g of sugar. That’s substantially less than anything else out there, so while I don’t care too much about healthy snacks, these are still noteworthy for that.
The flavour is quite mild as you would expect, but it’s still pleasant on the tongue. The flavour is some sort of mixed berry concoction, with notes of strawberry, raspberry and what I imagine is blueberry. The best way to describe the experience is like drinking a sparkling water that’s lightly flavoured with some sort of essence of fruit and berry. You know what it’s going for, but it’s mild.
The texture is like a really firm fruit snack or fruit jelly. There’s not much bounce to them and they are on the stickier side. They remind me of other vegan fruit snacks, largely because they use pectin instead of gelatin. Pectin based candies just don’t have that same bounce most times. Because they are so sticky, it found it more enjoyable to let it sit in my mouth and let the flavour dissolve on the tongue.
Honestly, these aren’t bad for what you get. They have a very pleasant flavour that doesn’t carry as well due to lack of ample sugar, but they definitely get the job done for the most part. The texture is a bit off in comparison to gelatin based snacks, but I think with a bit of adjusting you could come to love these adorable little guys. Unlike the actual animal these aren’t likely to be hazardous to you, so I would say give these fellas a try.
