Purchasing Zee Zee’s Blue Raspberry Applesauce

I purchased the retail version of the Zee Zee’s Blue Raspberry Applesauce, a 4oz cup on Amazon. Be aware that if you obtain the same product from a foodservice entity, like a K-12 school, they use a 4.5oz cup.

I found a variety pack online here. I ordered the one that included the dreamscicle flavor, but they sent me the one with the “original” flavor instead, so just beware. They do have a 24-pack of just the blue raspberry flavor available here.

Zee Zee’s has a store locator that can help you tell what stores carry Zee Zee products, but it won’t tell you which flavors.

First Impressions

As a child, I loved anything blue raspberry (ok, honestly I still do!). There’s something about the color blue that kids are just drawn to. I mean, it cracks me up when kids refer to “blue” as a flavor. They think it’s a flavor of its own!

So when I first saw this as an option, I was initially excited. I could see this being a hit with kids, and since I work in school food service, I thought it would be a really popular option in the cafeteria.

However, I quickly noticed two things I wasn’t fond of about the product: the food dye and the added sugar. But we’ll get to that.

Zee Zee’s features a character on each of its product packages. These little characters are designed to attract children to the product. While there is certainly evidence that this is effective, at least one study found that it is only effective for healthy foods when the children are familiar with the character.

This product features the character Ozzy.

Taste & Texture

As soon as I peeled back the foil lid, I could smell the classic blue raspberry scent that took me back to getting slushies at Sheetz as a kid.

I also noted as soon as I opened it how BLUE it is. I mean, you expect it to be blue, but this is insanely blue.

The taste is sweet but does taste mostly of apples with a hint of blue raspberry. It’s not as strong of a flavor as I was expecting considering the strong scent and deep blue color.

The texture of the blue raspberry applesauce is very smooth. In fact, this flavor had the smoothest texture of all the Zee Zee’s applesauce flavors I tried. There are no lumps or course texture at all, which positions itself well as a product geared towards kids.

Ingredient Highlights

Sugar

I’m always an advocate of using unsweetened applesauce over sweetened versions. This one isn’t as sugar-laden as most sweetened applesauce cups on supermarket shelves, but I still would prefer to see no sugar added options served in schools.

Artificial Flavor

Pop quiz. Do blue raspberries exist?

No. Blue raspberries do not exist. 

So it’s no surprise this product uses artificial flavor to give it the classic blue raspberry essence. 

There’s no evidence that artificial flavors are harmful, but some people aren’t comfortable consuming them. This stems from the fact that companies don’t have to disclose information about the chemicals they use to provide the flavor.

Artificial Color (Blue #1)

The research on food dyes is mixed. Some studies suggest they cause cancer, and there’s mounting evidence that some contribute to hyperactivity in certain children. However Blue #1 doesn’t have much evidence against it. That doesn’t automatically mean it’s safe – it’s still unknown.

In fact, one member of the FDA’s Food Advisory Committee stated that blue 1 is the only food dye in the U.S. they are uncomfortable with, due to its ability to cross the blood brain barrier.

Blue is notoriously difficult to formulate with natural colors, so it’s no surprise they’re leaning on artificial dyes to create that bright blue shade. I have to wonder if the amount of food dye could be dialed back a bit without losing the “wow” factor. The safety of additives is always dependent on dosage, so lowering the amount they use could lower the risk of adverse effects.

Nutrition Facts

I’ll highlight just a couple nutrients here.

Sodium

This applesauce is sodium free! We often assume that anything that comes in a package is “highly processed” and therefore, full of salt. This isn’t the case with most canned fruits.

In fact, studies show that canned fruits often contain more nutrients than their fresh counterparts because they are preserved right after harvest. Therefore, they aren’t subject to the same nutrient loss that comes with aging produce.

Added Sugars

This applesauce only contains 3g of added sugars in a 4.5oz cup. Other sweetened applesauce cups contain 7-13g of added sugar in a 4oz cup, so this is a big difference.

I’m telling you, this product had me on an emotional rollercoaster: I was initially excited to see a unique flavor of applesauce, but I was quickly disappointed to see it was a sweetened applesauce. I actually didn’t discover that it’s a lower sugar option until doing research for this review.

That said, it’s important to remember that limiting the amount of added sugar we consume is a key recommendation in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans. Are those 3g of added sugar necessary when there are so many other unsweetened options out there?

School Uses

Since each 4.5 oz cup credits as a 1/2 cup fruit, this would be an option for the breakfast or lunch program.

Since it’s not at least 3/4 cup, it wouldn’t be a great pick for the afterschool snack program, unless you wanted to serve another 1/4 cup of fruit with it.

Being so uniquely blue, I could see this being used in schools for theme days where the color blue is highlighted, such as spirit weeks.

This product is commodity processable. So, if your state allows you to process apples, USDA code 110149, you could turn commodity apples into applesauce.

Recommendation

Zee Zee’s has so many unsweetened, dye-free applesauce options, so I would choose one of those as an everyday applesauce rather than this one. If you’re like me but really love this one, you could save it for special occasions.

Suggested Specifications for Zee Zee’s Blue Raspberry Applesauce

For school nutrition programs looking to procure the Zee Zee’s Blue Raspberry Applesauce, here is a suggested specification:

Applesauce, blue raspberry flavor, 4.5 oz cup

Comparable Products for “or Equal” Consideration

• Peterson Farm’s #ASA10008
  • Contains natural flavor instead of artificial flavor
  • Contains 7g of added sugar per serving
  • I’ve never tried this product, so I can’t speak to whether it’s good or not!

Additional Descriptors to Consider

If you have good reason to narrow down your options, you could add the following descriptor to your specification:

≤3g added sugar per serving

• • This will exclude the Peterson’s Farm product, but you need to be able to justify why this sugar limit is important to your program.

For more information on writing product specs, refer to my article Writing Product Specifications.