Happy Village Organic Whole Dried Strawberries, 18 OZ Resealable Pack- Soft & Juicy, Kosher, Non-GMO, No Refined Sugar, Apple Juice Infused Dried Strawberry

how was the item, you ask?--healthy and delicious. and shipped quickly so i could begin enjoying them in lieu of processed sweets.

These are amazing! My family used to buy some just like this when I was a kid from Sam’s Club and I’ve been looking for something similar for years. Everything I find is either freeze dried and crunchy or candied with sugar.These are so soft and taste like strawberries, not sugar!! I adore them. I only wish they sold them in larger quantities.

Nutritious and rich taste.

**UPDATE April of 2025- I have tried the new product with an expiration date of 2026. They are better than the 2024 and 2025 bags, but still not up to the level of quality that would equal or even exceed that of my original review, so I don't recommend the brand at this time.**UPDATE for bags with expiration dates of 2024 or 2025** Unfortunately there seems to have been two years of bad fig crops. Every bag I've recieved in the past two years has been 40% moldy, 40% sour, and 20% okay. I would avoid this brand until the quality comes up. I will update when it does.Old review:I have tried four brands of organic figs available on Amazon, and these are the best. They are the most reliably sweet. The figs all look good- no mold or bad spots. I haven't got a sour one or a bad one yet. I can't say the same for other brands. Happy Village is the best. The outer appearance, color, and size of the figs are consistent. The only complaint for some might be that they are too sweet! They are almost like candy. For those that are wondering, here is my ranking of the brands I've tried. First place: Happy Village Organic Figs. Second place: Made in Nature Organic Figs. Tie for last place (don't bother with these): Sunny Fruit Organic Figs and Terra Soul Superfoods Organic Figs.

Excellent,!

We use the 32 oz. containers of unsweetened Greek yogurt to make large (famly-size/week's worth) batches of various flavors and flavor combinations of yogurt for a light lunch. In my case, it's usually plain Greek yogurt with peeled and sliced bananas, still a bit green at the stem and without freckling, and dried tart cherries (which I pre-soak in a container in the 'fridge for several days using ordinary apple cider and a touch of concentrated cold-processed tart cherry juice) with about 1/4 C. Anthony's organic cocoa powder, plus a total of no more than 30 ml. of NuNaturals stevia syrup. I use a combination of liquid vanilla syrup (roughly 20 ml.) and chocolate stevia syrup (10 ml.) for a little sweetness and flavor enhancement. In my husband's case, I use a combination of one scoop each Naturelo's Raw Greens powder in both the plain unsweetened and mixed berries flavor (NOTE: the latter is sweetened with monk fruit, etc.). I add fresh blueberries to the yogurt, and recently added Happy Village dried strawberries as well. I use less of the liquid stevia (about 25 ml) combining simple syrup and vanilla syrup, due to the sweetness of the mixed berry flavored powder. Recently I tried adding Happy Vilage dried strawberries to dried blueberries instead. Due to a miscommunication, I thought my spouse had forgotten to buy fresh blueberries (acttually, he had forgotten to put them away). I added roughly 8 oz. (volume) dried blueberries to 8 oz. (volume) dried strawberries. I had already added vanilla stevia to the yogurt, so it was too late to adjust for the extra sweetness. It took a couple of days for the fruit to partly re-hydrate in the yogurt, and I discovered that it made the yogurt very thick, which is good, but made the whole thing very, very sweet. I had no idea the newly purchased wild dried blueberries, which are naturally sweet, wouldn't have any tartness at all. The strawberries from "Happy Village" had been infused with concentrated apple juice, so the taste I associate with natural strawberries wasn't there, either. My husband like the results anyway, but as he points out, he is a gourmand, not a gourmet. We both liked the continued "chewiness" of the dried strawberries in the yogurt. Next time, I pre-soaked the strawberries with a little lemon-infused filtered water and just a bit of apple cider to bring back some of the true strawberry flavor and help balance the sweetness. Please note that unless one really likes a super-sweet (dessert?) yogurt, it is best to use fresh blueberries with the dried strawberries and the other ingredients I mentioned, and adjust the stevia liquid accordingly. The batch I made a few days after the overly sweet version had 16 oz. of fresh blueberries plus Happy Village dried strawberries that I had soaked as described above, but also had the powders and stevia added. I may skip the cider for soaking the strawberries and stick to the lemon-infused filtered water, but I keep apple cider on hand for soaking dried tart cherries anyway. All of the products other than the yogurt were purchased through Amazon. True confession time: That excludes the "RealLemon" brand lemon juice concentrate I sometimes dilute for use in making lemonade or as part of my recipe for tuna salad, and now as part of the pre-soak for dried strawberries. I get the juice from the local grocery store, having reached an age where life is too short for slicing and/or squeezing lemons unless a recipe really requires it.

We love these sprinkled on cereal or just as a sweet snack by themselves but I also use to make a delicious Dark Chocolate snack that my family loves. It's so easy to make and everyone loves it even if they are not into vegan or dairy free sweets.-Melt 20oz (usually two bags) of lightly sweetened (cane sugar) vegan dark chocolate chunks or chips with 1/4 cup organic coconut oil.-Pour into a 8.5x12 baking dish "buttered" with coconut oil.-Sprinkle evenly across the melted chocolate one half a bag of Happy Village Organic Whole Dried Strawberries (We chop up the larger chunks to match the size of the smaller berries).-Roughly chop up 6 oz or 2/3 cup of toasted pistachios and scatter evenly over the chocolate with the strawberries.-Sprinkle lightly with Sea Salt flakes and refrigerate until firmed up. (approx 1hour)-Once firm but into squares with a sharp knife and put in a separate container for snacking.Keep in the refrigerator to keep from softening too much at room temp.A rich chocolate snack that is delicious and without any unnecessary "garbage" ingredients.

The figs were fresh and soft. Very sweet and tasty. repeat order.