Tasteless Puds (Fru Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Crumbles)

Member Name: sweetdaisy

Product:	Fru Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Crumbles
Date:	04/12/07 (454 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: the ceramic ramekins the crumbles come in

Disadvantages: compote is too sweet, small hint of ginger, crumble stayed soft

Having already written a review about Gu Choc & Vanilla Cheesecakes, which were absolutely gorgeous, I decided to try Gu's new range of Fru Fruity Puds. I do like crumbles (as you can see by one of my earlier reviews) and to be honest the only reason I bought the Fru crumbles was because it was on offer at Tesco. It is worth noting that the Fru crumbles are compotes and not the traditional crumbles which contain chunks of fruit.

Puddings in the Fru range include:
Zesty Lemon Cheesecake
Flirty Little Lemon Shots
Flirty Little Blackcurrant & Raspberry Shots
Plum & Pear Crumble

Fru Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Crumbles are 2 x 120g pots and cost £2.99. They can be found in the chilled 'yoghurt' section in a supermarket and the puddings are packaged in a White cardboard box which is recyclable and the 2 Rhubarb, Apple & Ginger Crumbles come in cream ceramic ramekins.

To cook these Crumble pots you will have to remove the plastic lids. Place the ramekins on a baking tray in a pre-heated oven at 190C (gas mark 5) and cook for 20 minutes. I have a fan assisted oven and had to cook for an extra 10 minutes as at 20 minutes the crumble topping was still gooey and undercooked. I have to add though that even leaving them cook for an extra 10 minutes, the topping had still not turned a golden brown and was still a little soft, however was cooked. You can also microwave these (one at a time) at 800W for 1 minute if you wish.

Each crumble contains 219 kcal, 5.6g of fat, a very high 29.6g of sugar, 76% compote, 33% rhubarb, 27% apple and 3% stem ginger.

I like crumbles served with custard rather than cream and unless you want to eat your crumble plain you will need to spoon it out of the ramekin. This is where the crumble becomes a gooey mess. As it is compote there are no pieces of fruit, the fruit is pureed and looks a pea-green colour (not very appetising). As for the taste, I have given these crumbles a poor rating as I am not overly fussed on them. A big disappointment for me is that the Rhubarb was very sweet. I like Rhubarb and in a crumble I prefer it to have a little bit of a bite. There was such a small amount of ginger which was hardly noticeable in taste; they may as well not have put it in as an ingredient. I also didn't like the fact that the crumble wasn't 'crumbly' and stayed quite soft, even though it had turned golden brown in colour. Also the 120g pots are too small as you only get around 3 table spoons of pudding, which isn't good value for money.

For me the best thing about the crumbles are the ramekins they come in. The ceramic ramekins have a plastic cover over the puds and have other uses. You could use them to make your own soufflés or crème brulee. I like to use them to keep sweets in; they can be used as candles or as jelly pots. With my ramekins I have planted a small cactus in each of the pots.

In my opinion, I would only buy these puddings (a different variety) if they are on special offer. Having tried Gu deserts and knowing that they are good quality, for me Fru puddings are a let down and I will probably not be buying anymore.

For more information go to www.frupuds.com
Address: Gu, Shepherd's Building, London, W14 0DA
Tel: 0800 6951660 (Monday to Friday 9am - 5pm)
www.frupuds.com

Thanks for reading xx

Summary: Tasteless fruit crumble from Fru