"bagged apples" news and stories

Though it may seem as though the food processing industry is constantly trying to improve on nature, twisting it into new and more appealing forms, sometimes it turns out that they are not trying to improve on it as much as they are trying to help it compete with the ever growing range of packaged products. With consumers asking for more natural and more organic products, it would seem that they would turn back to old standbys, like nature's single-serving snack: the apple. The problem with the apple is that it is not as easy to eat as a bag of chips, there's a low "munchability" factor that would drive you to reach for more. Today's consumers are used to having a product go straight from the package to their mouth, without having to pick it apart - or bite off pieces a bit at a time. Packaging Nature's finest into a convenient, ready to eat form takes more work that you would think, despite the fact that apples come off the tree ready to eat. The New York Times Magazine did a great job chronicling the fascinating development of the prepackaged, non-browning apple slice. No longer will modern snackers have to contend with slicing, disposing of cores or trying to avoid the previously inevitable browning of their flesh because almost every store now carries the fruits, perfectly preserved and ready to finally be eaten.

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