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Sunsweet Gets Into the Baking Business

Purple Country Bread from the new line of baked goods from Sunsweet.

 

Sunsweet Growers, Inc., whom you know for its dried fruit, is getting into the baking business with its new line of breads, cookies and pastries — all made with dried plums (otherwise known by their less fashionable moniker: prunes).

The products tout the healthfulness of prunes, which are higher in antioxidants and fiber, and lower in sugar, than raisins and dried cranberries.

What sets the baked goods apart, too, is their color. They’re made with purple wheat and purple corn, giving them eye-catching swirls of vividness.

Recently, I had a chance to sample the products, which are available at Costco in Southern California, and which will make their way to Northern California Costco locations in the near future.

The Sunsweet Bakery products retail for about $4.99.

The Plum Walnut Bites are individual pastries topped with crunchy sugar bits and vanilla glaze. One pastry has 140 calories, as well as 5g total fat and 4 percent of the recommended daily requirement of iron and 2 percent of the recommended amount of Vitamin A. The Plum Walnut Loaf cake, which comes already sliced, is strewn with cinnamon walnuts. One serving has 360 calories and 19g total fat, as well as 6 percent of the daily requirement of iron and 4 percent of the recommended amount of Vitamin A.

Plum Walnut Bites.

Plum Walnut Loaf cake.

They’re both quite sweet. They also have the overly squishy texture you may remember from supermarket packaged danish. They do improve when warmed in a toaster oven or microwave. But I admit that I like my baked goods to have more structure to them, with a crisp exterior that gives way to softness.

Of the three products I tried, the Purple Country Bread was the only one that really won me over. The texture is still quite soft and airy, but with its slight sweetness, it reminded me of Hawaiian bread, which I do have a fondness for. One slice has 90 calories and 2g of total fat; as well as 20 percent of the daily recommended amount of Vitamin A and 4 percent of the recommended amount of iron.