As awful as ever! (Ryvita Fruit Crunch)

Member Name: i_am_joy

Product:	Ryvita Fruit Crunch
Date:	28/07/09 (56 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: A bit different

Disadvantages: Still rather tasteless, dull texture, expensive

I don't know why I bother buying Ryvita, after all these years I should know better really. I don't like them at all, yet every time the brand brings out a new product I convince myself to buy them as surely they must be better than previous versions. I'm sure many of you will agree that they never are, Ryvita to a lot of people (including me) are simply the most awful food in the world.

The latest one to catch my eye in Sainsbury's was the Ryvita Fruit Crunch, a different take on the humble Ryvita which has been designed to be dunked into a cup of tea like a biscuit. The packet also advised that these can be eaten without spread and this also swayed my decision as omitting the butter on the Ryvitas would help lower my overall daily fat content.

Gosh, Ryvita have had me again. They are the same tasteless and dull rectangles of paper mâché as they have always been, these just have irritating seeds all over them.

I really don't like them and cannot understand why anyone would want to dip them in tea; I have forced myself to eat most of the packet over the past week and while they are the dullest food imaginable, they are not so appalling that I can justify crumbling them up for the birds just yet!

Yes, I did dip one in my tea - and then I binned it, poured the tea into the sink and made myself a fresh one. The main problem was that a lot of the smaller seeds dropped off into my cup and this immediately put me off my otherwise lovely drink. Also the Ryvita seemed to swell as the hot tea got to it and that just put me in mind of a cardboard box that has been left out in the rain!

There are lots of currants in each Ryvita, only they are flat and rather tasteless. They add a touch of fruitiness to the crisp bread (I refuse to call it a biscuit!) but if plumper currants had been used then perhaps they would have given it a moister and more appetising texture. Because they are very dry, just like other Ryvita varieties I have been disgusted with in the past. Eating them with no spread or topping is not a good experience in my opinion, although I'm sure crisp bread lovers would disagree with me.

I had some with butter and they are marginally better like this. When buttered they have a vague flavour of malt loaf, of course the boring texture stops them really being anything like malt loaf but the butter seems to bring out the fruitiness a little. I also tried some with soft cheese and cucumber, this livened the Ryvita up nicely but the seeds still irritated me and seemed to loosen when the cheese moistened the crisp bread a little. I felt like I was picking them out of my teeth for hours afterwards!

I've just had a couple for my breakfast with scrambled eggs and smoked salmon. Like this they are actually excellent and it's unfortunate that I cannot eat this every morning as I could easily finish the packet, the problem is I tend to add so much butter to my scrambled egg that it would certainly defeat the object of serving it on Ryvita!

Each Ryvita Fruit Crunch contains 57 calories and 1g of fat, which is rather higher than the normal plain Ryvita and to be fair although these are rather tasteless at least they do have more a much nicer flavour than the plain ones which are just plain ridiculous in their total lack of anything.

I can attest to the fact that they keep well. I store mine in an air tight tin and even now, seven days later, they have the same level of crunch as the day I opened them which indicates that they are still fresh. Part of the reason I have decided to stick with them is the fact that this pack cost me £1.32, which is almost double the price of a packet of the original Ryvita.

Summary: I will NEVER buy Ryvita again! I swear it!