Recently, I was lucky enough to receive a selection of various snacks from Kiddylicious for my toddler to try out. Amongst the goodies were some of these Pineapple Snacks. These are dried pineapple slices which come conveniently packaged in individual snack sized bags, aimed at toddlers and young children.

My youngest son has never tried anything as exotic as fresh pineapple as yet, the poor deprived little boy. Despite being an unfamiliar fruit and taste for him, he devoured these dried pineapple snacks eagerly and finished the entire packet within a few minutes. The snacks are a good size for small mouths and fingers to manage independently without any stickiness or mess. The texture is also interesting as the slices start off fairly crunchy but then start to disintegrate as soon as they reach the mouth, giving an unusual crunchy to chewy consistency. Personally, I found these a little strange tasting as the slices had both a natural sweetness as well as almost a savoury crisp-like flavour but my kids certainly enjoyed the taste.

Like other products in the range, I feel the recommended age of 12 months onwards is a fairly accurate guide, given the initial crunchy texture and the need to chew these snacks. At the upper age range, however, I don't see why these should be restricted to just toddlers as these are an ideal healthier alternative to crisps or sweets for an older child's lunchbox. Each bag counts as one of a child's '5 a day' and contains no added salt or any other artificial additives or nasties of any kind, although this variety does include some added maltose (natural sugar) presumably to counteract the natural bitterness of pineapple.

This kind of easily portable snacks are a godsend for busy parents whilst out and about, as they can be kept in the changing bag to appease a hungry or bored toddler. They also have a long shelf life so can be kept as a fruity option for those days when the fruit bowl is looking a bit sparse! The only issue with this particular variety is that I found the snacks crumbled easily, particularly when the bag has been mauled by a clumsy toddler, leaving lots of tiny crushed pieces wasted at the bottom of the bag.

This variety of Kiddylicious toddler snack, alongside the apple variety, are widely available in most major supermarkets, as well as larger branches of Boots. They can be purchased in handy individual 12g bags for around 59p each or in a multi-pack of four bags which tends to work out slightly better value for money at just under £2.

Although I'm not likely to be stealing these from my hungry toddler, they are a healthy and appetising snack that I'm happy to continue purchasing for my kids to enjoy. Thanks to Kiddylicious for sending us these products to review.