Awhile back, I wrote of a brightly colored fruit snack that Spliggle enjoyed personalizing. The Cat enjoyed personalizing it on the computer, but we wouldn't dare give him the artificial color. While Spliggle happily handed out his "Happy 4th Birthday!" concoctions, I ended up throwing out the extras because the dye affected him, too - not to the extent of the Cat, but enough for me to worry. Plus, do I really want him ingesting those chemicals, anyway? As I said in my review of that product, I recall they had some Feingold-safe varieties in my day. I wish they'd bring them back.

Well, luckily, the fine folks at FruitaBü noticed my struggle: love the concept of fruit snacks, but don't love the artificial stuff.

FruitaBü is organic and additive-free. Whew! No artificial colors. No artificial flavors. No BHA. No BHT. No TBHQ. Rather, the flavor involves concentrates made from the actual fruits and the color is from... the actual fruits.

My boys were excited about both the Flats and the Twirls.

The Flats are rectangle-shaped pieces of flat fruit. They are easy to pack in a lunch, and quick to eat. The Twirls involve a skinny piece of fruit rolled up (with a paper backing for easy removal) like one of those bubble-gum twirls. These are much more fun, but since the fruit is sticky, it isn't a good idea to unroll the whole thing and then try to whip your brother with it. Just sayin'. Seriously, both varieties are great for school lunches (Eeek! Yes it is back to school time!) I think the Flats are probably easier, but now that the Cat has experienced the Twirls I am pretty sure he'll never go back.

Now technically, we avoid apple and grape for the Cat, so trying these "Stage II" foods together was a treat. (To clarify: Feingold eliminates all those extra petroleum-based additives like BHA, but also initially limits foods with particular salycilate qualities. Those foods can slowly be added back in "Stage II" since they are healthful foods, but some kids may not be able to tolerate them.) We've found that the Cat is particularly salycilate-sensitive, so have tried the "Stage II" foods sparingly.

We allowed the Cat to try the Smooshed Grape Fruit Twirls and Flats. He didn't have a reaction. Whew! And he loved them. Double-whew! The Grape variety includes apple, as many fruit snacks and products do. It also includes soy lethicin. Since we avoid too much soy for the Cat, I don't think the Twirls will be an every day snack in his lunch, but we can certainly use them as a once-a-week treat.

Meanwhile, Spliggle is not salycilate-sensitive to our knowledge. The FruitaBü Flats and Twirls are a perfect lunchtime snack for him. Ever since we've gotten FruitaBü in our house, he's stopped asking for those birthday roll-ups.

Truth be told, the FruitaBü website drives me a little nuts because it is so interactive and flash-heavy. But for those of you looking for an adventure, click away. Otherwise, look for FruitaBü in your grocery store. It absolutely beats the artificial stuff. I feel much better giving my kids these organic, additive-free varieties. They are still tasty. They are still fun. But they aren't artificial. Whew, no "Boo!"