All The Tru Fru Chocolates, Ranked From Worst To Best

Few luxury treats feature fresh fruit elegantly adorned in first-rate chocolate coatings, which gives a company like Tru Fru a singular niche in the snack sector. Not content to simply take up space in the upscale candy aisle, the brand also offers frozen versions of its dipped confections in addition to its hyper-dried shelf-stable creations, made from bananas and berries noted as "natures" fruit on the label, as if there were any other kind. Effectively, Tru Fru provides a more thoughtful sweet with two distinctive personalities to choose from. With bags priced between $5.40 and $18.00 depending on quantity and style, they're also sold at prices that reflect the upper echelon of confectionary commerce.

But how much difference does frozen fruit make versus freeze-dried when it all ends up locked inside a chocolate shell? And which options from both vegetarian snacks are worth the higher-ticket spend and which are you best off forgetting about? I scooped up the array of flavors stocked in stores near me and tore into the bags to see what the whole Tru Fru to-do is all about and determine how the frou-frou Tru Fru flavors rank amongst one another. Beyond establishing a hierarchy of available flavors, I can confirm that sampling one chocolate-covered fruit-based candy after another isn't the worst way to spend an afternoon. 

There's nothing novel about the idea of merging raspberries with chocolate. But coating frozen raspberries in a thin shell of white chocolate beneath a sheath of dark chocolate? Now that's maximizing potential. Tru Fru tries its hand at this taste-filled triple-up with icy raspberries at the center and delicate dips of each chocolate coating. The presumed intention is to keep any of the flavors from overpowering the combination, allowing each layer to speak for itself before the blend kicks in. It's a valiant effort to create a unique take on dipped fruit, with clever engineering that forgoes the easy path of a one-chocolate covering.

Unfortunately, the too-modest chocolate spoils the raspberries by hanging out backstage while the super-tart berry steals the show. It was a shock to my system, which had already been primed by the tasting of a few of the sweeter options on the list. The candy on these berries isn't strong enough to temper the tanginess, though if it had been applied a little more generously it might have risen to the occasion. In their current state, these berry-based bon-bons end up being a Tru Fru boo-boo that needs a redesign if they're going to pull their weight in the collection.

Tru Fru calls its raspberries in frozen yogurt with granola bits included Parfait Poppers, which sounds more texturally exciting than they actually are. Though the whole collection is more of a dessert dish than an early morning nibble, the use of yogurt and granola make this selection feel like the company is taking a stab at capturing the breakfast market, too. And why wouldn't that work, considering these bite-size orbs can be kept on hand, grabbed on the way out the door, and kept cold until you have a chance to pop them into your mouth? If you don't have time for a full-blown parfait, could these mighty minis fill the gap?

Maybe they could if they tasted better. But the raspberry stomps across your taste buds with a sour clamor that pushes the sweetness to the side, and the yogurt is Greek, which adds to the tangy pile-on. The combination is supposed to include granola, but I couldn't detect any of that among the crunchy, cold fruit and crisp chocolate coating. If you're going to pay top prices to have an upmarket breakfast gem in your freezer, they should be far more flavorful than this. At best, you might throw some in your blender and add some milk to make a shake, but even that would work better with fresh berries and better granola.

The thought of Tru Fru's frozen blueberries wrapped in white and dark chocolate reminded me of yogurt-covered blueberry raisins, usually sold in bulk specialty stores near the nuts and oats. That tangy-sweet-chewy mash-up is one of my favorites, different enough to feel a step or two above anything else in the candy rack. With dark chocolate added to the deal, it seemed like there was little this Tru Fru could do to veer off the path toward frozen treat success. 

I wish this bag would have lived up to my overambitious dream. The blueberry at the center is too mild to assert its flavor under the coating, though I tasted an icy liquid essence that felt oddly out of place in its own treat. The white and dark chocolate make a nice taste pinwheel. But the hint of fruit told me that if these berries were just a little bolder, this combination could have been one of Tru Fru's true-blue victories. Instead, there are others in the mix that show off their flavors with more confidence, leaving the frozen blueberry Tru Fru iteration in the arctic dust. It just goes to show you that even the most fanciful concoctions in the candy world can go awry if the formula isn't flawless. 

Ah, the classic pairing of banana and chocolate; what could possibly go wrong with a proven pair that's pleased fans of everything from banana splits to chocolate-banana s'mores? The creamy sweetness of banana is a natural complement for a dark chocolate component. Milk chocolate would be too sweet, especially if banana chips are at the center of these noshes; the vanilla of typical white candy coating just doesn't sound appealing next to the tasting notes banana offers. Of all the flavors on the list, this is the one I was the most excited about. How many picks in the candy shelf use bananas as a base? I fully expected this to be real Tru Fru "woo hoo!"

Sadly, it turned out to be more of a "boo hoo." The chocolate used here is thickly applied and very dark, bordering on bitter. The tang might have been mellowed by the sugar in the banana bit, but the dried fruit ingot inside is so small and shy, it offers only a scant trace of flavor and bestows more of a polite crisped rice crackle instead of a grander crunch. What minimal banana essence rose through gave the impression of a chocolate-covered frozen banana, but it was too faint to inspire the fist-pump moment I was waiting for.

What if you took a handful of Cap'n Crunch Berries and rolled them around in white and then dark chocolate and let them firm up in the fridge? You'd likely end up with something similar to Tru Fru dried strawberries dressed to the nines in a white and dark chocolate wardrobe, right down to the dusty crunch at the center. In fact, if you didn't know the hyper-dried berries (as the Tru Fru proprietors label them) at the heart of these marble-sized tidbits were actual fruit, you might believe they were sugary cereal instead. Food science sure is strange sometimes.

These flavorful crunchers, however, are a pleasure. Their speckled coating, superb shine and excellent texture create an all-around experience that would surprise any unsuspecting snacker who found them displayed on a dessert table. The one dimension that keeps them from rising higher in the rankings is the strawberry flavor, which is just shy of tasting authentic. It's a weird turn of events, considering the lengths Tru Fru goes to capturing actual fruit in its multi-layered sweets. But since most of us in the snacking community are used to the version of berry flavor purveyed by the Cap'n, it's not entirely unwelcome. I would just think a producer pushing pellets this pricey would be a little more on the ball. Still, I went back for seconds, so it's a win.

When it comes to keeping strawberries fresh, maybe surrounding a freeze-dried version in cocoa butter and sugar isn't the healthiest approach. But Tru Fru isn't doling out wheatgrass juice and broccoli sprouts in its effort to provide a more thoughtful version of fruit-based pleasures; dried strawberry-centered crème candy is perhaps as close as the company gets. That's fantastic news for confection aficionados who aren't looking at nutrition facts when tearing into a bag of sugar-laden decadence. And let's face it: You don't find these bags in the fruit stand, so pretty much everyone who seeks them out will be pleased as punch to make this punchy berry-flavored discovery.

The tangy dried strawberry core featured here is a tongue-tickler that gets only slightly overpowered by its buttery white chocolate cloak. The experience is similar to what you'd have if you shopped at a bougie candy shop, where the flavors all have gold-lettered cards in the display case to tell you what's inside. It's a more refined version of a yogurt-covered strawberry without the sticky chew to get stuck in your teeth. If the berry flavor were just a little more natural, this bag could have been a higher flyer in the round-up. As it stands, it's a fantastic option from the Tru Fru Xanadu that won't disappoint the discerning snacker.

What's even better than peanut butter and banana sharing top billing in a frozen confection? The addition of dark chocolate over the whole tasty nugget, of course! Tru Fru pulls out all the stops to create a frozen treat that's both nostalgic and novel, an icy chunk of gooey goodness that you could easily make on your own, but you wouldn't do it half as elegantly as this company does. There's no reason these bites shouldn't be a slam dunk that gets every aspect absolutely right. How could these three components not add up to a delicious delight?

Well, they could contain a topsy-turvy combination of the ingredients, for starters. I was surprised to discover more peanut butter than chocolate flavor in this bag, with bananas showing up as a latecomer to the party. Once the whole bite gets going, it fulfills the promise of its legacy in the snack world. But a little less PB would allow the celebration to start from the first bite instead of waiting for the whole gang to make it onto the scene. Even with the heavy-handed application, this one still ends up a top-three choice; it turns out too much peanut butter may throw the formula out of whack, but the math still nets out to a delicious Tru Fru product.

With Tru Fru whipping up two different versions of frozen chocolate-dipped strawberries, there should be enough distinction between the two to justify the cloning. I'm one of the dark chocolate appreciators, though when it comes to strawberries dipped in melted candy, I could easily substitute milk for dark if it's all that's available. But is there really enough demand from dark-chocolate-only fans to produce a second creation so close to the first? Does the more-bitter-than-sweet coating choice add a posh sheen glossy enough to establish a higher standard in the Tru Fru universe?

It's a yes from me, but with a chocolate-coated caveat. While I was tempted to top the list with this take on the dance of strawberry and chocolate, I learned that frozen dark chocolate is slightly less enticing than frozen milk chocolate, especially when paired with cold fruit. Even with that slight point of contention, these dippers are dynamite, if not entirely up to the level of the milk-based brethren. A perfect dessert arrangement would include samples of both on the plate to let connoisseurs make their own decision about the two. And the flavor that comes through despite the dimming done by the coating's frozen state is still a sweet revelation.

Tru Fru does its food physics razzmatazz with blueberries, enrobing these little beauties in white chocolate cream candy to help them stand out from the standard chocolate scenario. With a blueberries and crème offering among the bags of pistachios and premium trail mixes, the brand creates a Tru Fru hullabaloo that tilts the scales in favor of a bag that may not adhere to the nutritious snack spirit as strongly as its shelf mates, but what it lacks in natural healthfulness it more than makes up for in sheer enjoyment.

Who knew dried blueberries could burst with so much vibrant jammy brightness? The elegance of a Tru Fru blueberries and crème orb is topped only by the flavor that came dancing through as soon as my teeth broke through the surface. It reminded me of Boo Berry Monster Cereal, but a far more natural version, with a creamy white chocolate smoothness wrapping around it in a perfectly logical partnership. In the realm of sweet temptations, maybe everything you need to know about blueberries is that they make superior bases for candy, especially in their freeze-dried form.

Could a candy lover possibly resist the temptation of having pre-dipped strawberries in dressed in a dual coating of white and milk chocolate? Sure, you could make them at home, as long as you can find fresh strawberries in your produce section ... and if you have the time and energy to do all the dipping. Instead, you could drift to the frozen dessert section of your grocery store and grab a bag of Tru Fru white and milk chocolate strawberries and treat yourself like the superstar you know you are.

The richness of the milk chocolate is a key player in this Tru Fru VIP, as is the sweetness of the strawberries buried beneath it. Unlike the frozen raspberries, these strawberries are very tasty and come across like a frosty Valentine's treat you can have anytime, regardless of the status of your situationship. Thaw a few and set them on a tray to enjoy with wine or champagne, or drop them in the blender and make a sorbet with a chocolate swirl that takes the basic Tru Fru into the realm of gourmet desserts. They're my top pick among the collection, and they're bound to be yours, too, no matter how you choose to enjoy them.

It was something of a treasure hunt to locate the various flavors, a snack adventure that required visits to three different stores. Target was the only retailer in my area that had the non-frozen true fruit selections; the freezer section had several flavors as well, but not a complete collection. I was able to locate more at my Kroger affiliate and Albertsons store, neither of which had an overlap in flavors. It would be interesting to know why the stock is so spread out through various retail outlets.

To taste the shelf-stable candies, I did the standard one at a time method, circling back for seconds for the ones that captured my attention the most. The frozen true packages require 15 minutes of thawing to allow the texture and flavors to come through properly, so I set the bags on the counter and tried them while they were cold, but soft enough to be bitten into without struggle or discomfort. As with the nonfrozen selections, I circled back for second tries of the ones that caused a bit of confusion, like the raspberry flavors, to make sure that I was tasting something improperly. It was like a day in a candy store for a sugar fiend like me, and I'm glad the shopping trip turned up such a trove of tasty treasure.