Here's a Blog entry from Peeled Snacks Summer Intern Extraordinaire, Amanda Arrington....

Before I started my internship at Peeled Snacks, I had no idea what to expect. In fact, I wasn’t even sure how much I liked dried fruit and nuts. I guess for a long time, I had a very poor misconception of what dried fruit is. I had no idea that most fruit could be dried and preserved in various ways to maintain its flavor for easier snacking. My experience of it was limited with hard, crunchy banana chips and malodorous prunes. I was, in fact, basically ignorant about all of the wonderful ways in which dried fruit could be quite satisfying.

Let’s just say ever since my first day at Peeled Snacks, I have had the opportunity to try almost every kind of dried fruit possible, including sugar coated, dried potatoes -Yuck! Let me assure you that dried potatoes are not a Peeled Snacks product, simply an endeavor for us to experiment with the many possibilities of dried produce. However, I have become a huge Bing Bing Cherry fan. Who knew dried apples, cherries, and peaches were so good? I guess Noha and Ian did, but I plead ignorance or I would have been eating this stuff a long time ago. 

My time at Peeled Snacks, however, has consisted of a lot more than just eating the countless varieties of dried fruit. Last week the duties of a Peeled Snacks’ intern took me to the Fancy Food Show, where eating became a new kind of sport. I had the opportunity to walk around and the taste the infinite assortment of specialty food from premium olive oil to what can be described as designer marshmallows. Even amid all these choices, finding good food remained a challenge. And by good food, I mean something equally nutritious, satisfying, and flavorful. Every variety of cheese ever made from just about every country made an appearance at the show. There was soup, sugary beverages, chocolates, more chocolates, cakes, sugar free cakes, pickles, cookies, salsa, and pastry puffs. Anything you can imagine seemed to find its way to the Fancy Food Show. The event was spectacle for entrepreneurs, retailers, distributors, and just general foodies. 

The Peeled Snacks team debuted its new line of 100% natural, single serving dried fruit and nuts, Fruit Picks + Nut Picks, at the Fancy Food Show. I can assure you the pine-4-Pineapple, my favorite Picks flavor, as well as the other Picks varieties, are just as tasty as the Bing Bing Cherry. By the time most people stopped at the Peeled Snacks booth, they felt so over laden with sugary indulgences and sinful pleasures. “Finally something healthy!” they would exclaim. I loved watching peoples’ skeptical faces light up with delight after they tasted the Peeled Snacks’ new pineapple from the Picks line. I guess I am not the only uninformed one when it comes to dried fruit. “This actually tastes like pineapple and its sooo juicy!” most people would exclaim surprised, quickly picking up another piece to munch on.

Even a week later, I am still recovering from the massive quantities of food I consumed at the show. Things have been crazy at the Peeled Snacks’ World Headquarters, as we have been following up after the show and making big things happen. As my time at Peeled Snacks begins to culminate, I realize I have gained a lot of knowledge about the food industry in general, as well a liking of dried fruit – besides sweetened, dried potato that is!