Delectable and good for you

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More and more Canadians pay careful attention to the health impact – and the ingredients – of their meals, yet they often don’t expand the same scrutiny to their treats. No wonder the word “candy” typically conjures up an image of a sugary concoction, delectable but bad for you, with a list of complicated ingredients and synthetic additives.

SourCran is different. Recently released by the local organic brand Patience Fruit & Co, it allows Canadians to indulge their sweet tooth in a healthy way since it simply relies on delicious dried organic fruit that taste like candy.

While this product is new, it follows Patience Fruit & Co’s tried-and-true approach that starts with carefully nurtured Quebec-grown cranberries. “Certain things cannot be rushed if you want to do them right,” says Marie-Michèle Le Moine, the company’s vice-president, Retail and Marketing. “To harvest the best of what nature has to offer, we have to have patience.”

That’s why the team at Patience, Fruit & Co showers the cranberry fields with care and attention – and tends to the berries every step of the way, from seed to shrub to dried fruit, she explains. Berries are grown to full ripeness and then gently dried so they retain as much flavour and nutrition as possible.

“We don’t use any chemical fertilizers or pesticides; we even remove weeds by hand,” says Ms. Le Moine. “Our fruit look and taste so good and our fields are in such great shape because of organic farming.”

Patience Fruit & Co continues a legacy that was started over two decades ago by its parent company Fruit d’Or, a pioneer in organic berry farming in Quebec. “Sustainability and innovation have been at the heart of our processes for generations,” says Ms. Le Moine. “We’re proud to pass along our values of harmony with nature, healthy eating and sound environmental practices.”

With the potential of supporting such great goals by indulging in a snack that tastes like a candy (where each bag contains 28 grams of fibre, only eight grams of sugar and no artificial colours and flavours, gelatin or GMO), why fight the craving?

SourCran comes in three different flavours – peach, cherry and strawberry – and is available at Patience Fruit & Co’s online store (http://www.patiencefruitco.com/nos-produits/) in natural food stores, at Sobeys National and will come to Metro and LCL in the fall.

Advertising feature produced by Randall Anthony Communications with Canada Organic Trade Association (COTA). The Globe’s editorial department was not involved.