Bonnie: GoGo squeeZ is a new single-serve applesauce modeled on Yoplait’s pioneering Go-GURT squeezable yogurt in a tube. Go-GURT contains artificially Day-Glo colored, artificially flavored yogurt that’s sweetened with both sugar and high fructose corn syrup in a flimsy tube. (Read: Can be messy.)

GoGo is 100 percent fruit, sweetened with apple-juice concentrate, in a GoGo-squeeZ_cinnamonsturdy pouch with a recloseable top. This means GoGo squeeZ is less likely to be messy and, if your youngster doesn’t finish the whole serving, it can be refrigerated for later eating. Just don’t leave its small cap alone with a child young enough to mistake it for something tasty.

The only other caveat I have with this product is its probably environmentally unfriendly packaging. Interestingly, these pouches were originally designed for NASA astronauts.

That said, applecinnamon is my favorite, as it’s the least sweet, with only 9.3 grams natural apple sugar or about the same as Mott’s Healthy Harvest single serves. I recommend either of these lines for your kids’ or your own lunches.

Bryan: Europeans dunk their French fries in mayonnaise; Americans use ketchup. It might seem like a small thing, but I’ve always found this divergence in toppings for one of the Western World’s most-often consumed side dishes was indicative of the differences between European food culture and US food culture. It’s not that one way is better than the other — actually, mixing the two together to form ketchum is the best topping! It’s just that there are subtle differences that permeate all aspects of eating. Today, I’m excited to show you a bit of the other side of the pond: France’s favorite fruit snack brand!

GoGo squeeZ is an applesauce pouch. You might not have heard of it, as it was just launched in the US last year, but its French counterpart, Pom’Potes, has been around since 1998. Pom’Potes, as foreign to Americans as mayo on French fries, is a household name in France. The product has more than 50 percent of the market share for children’s applesauce, and has sold more than a billion pouches all told across Europe. Pom’Potes can even be found in a regular rotation in French Happy Meals. Though US recognition has been a bit slow coming since the product’s launch here in June 2008, the pouches are now starting to take off, and with good cause.

GoGo squeeZ is a fun, truly tasty snack, perfect for kids and a proper bit of nutrition compared to most lunch-box additions. GoGo squeeZ actually uses packaging originally designed for NASA, a kid-familiar Capri-Sun style resealable pouch that contains 100 percent fruit, with no added sugar. GoGo squeeZ comes in five flavors: appleapple, applecinnamon, applepeach, applebanana and applestrawberry. I’m always partial to cinnamon, but also found the strawberry to have wonderful fruit flavors. The consistency was a bit more liquidy than I’m used to, but I didn’t really mind because I wasn’t using a spoon…. It reminded me a bit of Dan’Up, a French drinkable yogurt, not in flavor, but in the slightly altered manner in which you can consume yogurt — just a little more liquidy and it’s a new sensation.

GoGo squeeZ has quite a pedigree; made by Materne, a French company that has been crafting applesauce since the 19th century, it has absolutely no additives, no preservatives and no sugar. It’s ideally suited for snacks and lunch boxes. Each pouch contains a full serving of fruit and is additionally gluten-free, dairy-free and kosher-certified.

Eric: My love affair with applesauce was rekindled during my first month overseas after I finished an order of rotisserie chicken. Odd as it seemed to me, the chicken was not only accompanied by traditional French fries (pommes frites), but also contained a side of applesauce (or applemoes, as the Dutch refer to it). The applesauce added a sweet, refreshing flavor to the meal, and I soon found myself experimenting with the Dutch applesauce in a variety of food.

I feel as though the apple is neglected in our food culture, and cast aside as the “fruit without a cause.” Apples are not only a great snack for children, they are a nutritious snack for all age groups. Apples are a source of potassium, beta-carotene and vitamin C, and they contain B vitamins, iron, magnesium and zinc. For the Baby Boomers they have antioxidants that improve immune function, prevent heart disease and some cancers, and aid in the reduction of high cholesterol and blood sugar.

Although the Materne GoGo squeeZ applesauce pouches are designed for children, they are a great for anyone looking to carry around a quick, nutritious, convenient snack. I’m sure if Johnny Appleseed were still spreading his seeds (if not already sued by Monsanto for patent infringement), he’d be a spokesman for Materne, promoting its devotion to pure products.

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