Wednesday 10 September 2014

Clearspring Organic Purees

Disclaimer - I was sent a selection of Clearspring organic purees for an honest review. The views expressed are entirely my own.

About Clearspring

From their website:-
Clearspring have been trading in the UK for over 20 years, last year (2013) Clearspring celebrated their twentieth birthday. Marketing "Authentic, wholesome, easy-to-prepare and great tasting Japanese and fine foods for optimum nutrition" Clearspring has a wide range of products to suit everyone.
  • All their products are 100% vegan with no artificial additives, MSG, colourings, preservatives or refined sugars and they subscribe to extremely high standards
  • Clearspring have won many awards, being Commended in the Free From Food Awards in 2014.
  • All Clearspring products are Dairy Free and refined Sugar Free.They also have a Gluten Free range and a Nut Free Range


Perfect for Us 

We at The Recipe Resource struggle with complex food allergies, and are always on the look-out for new products with single or few ingredients. Clearspring purees are perfect in this respect - but what *really* got us excited, beyond the obvious single ingredient, ease of use in cooking/baking, perfect weaning food options was their new range of pouched purees!

Clearspring "On the Go" Fruit Pouches


My eight+ year old twins have just gone into Year 4, and no longer is it deemed acceptable to take  fruit puree pouches in that have come from the baby food aisle of the supermarket. I have used such brands for years, but however good the contents are you are not going to persuade either of my two that they acceptable in their lunch anymore. Also, since both have swallowing issues and many allergies it can be tricky meeting their nutritional requirements each day, and with a few wobbly teeth to boot its impossible biting in to fruit however soft! So I'm thrilled about these pouches - as are they.

Clearspring Puree Range


Like many parents feeding children on exclusion diets, we avoid multiple proteins. All too often the food industry substitutes these proteins (which often add flavour) with processed fillers and excess sugar and sweeteners. This is one reason why I won't purchase cakes, biscuits etc for my children. I rely on fruit to give homemade treats a naturally sweet flavour, and purees are perfect on meringues, in cakes, on cereal, in fact they have so many uses I like to keep a stock of them all the time! 

Without a doubt Clearspring offer the best variety of purees I have ever seen. They offer are a variety of blends as well as pear on its own. Often, in strict exclusion diets pear is one of the first foods you are asked to try, as it is one of the least allergenic foods. (see this chart for a Food Allergen Scale.

Any banana puree can also be used as a raising agent, so the pear and banana puree is ideal for adding to muffins to help them rise - often a problem is you are excluding, and substituting egg. (See this chart for other egg alternatives.)

I used the pear and banana puree to make some fruit muffins:-




The basic banana muffin recipe is here and I made pear muffins here and added cocoa powder. This time I made the banana muffins with the puree, banana helps them rise and the pear was a lovely additional flavour. The texture was really velvety smooth too.

Lastly I wanted to make some fruit puree lollies but my lolly moulds split recently. Instead I used the strawberry and apple puree to make a lolly mixture, using this recipe but obviously the puree instead of the frozen fruit. It was delicious but would definitely be better as lollies in proper moulds, like these!



16 comments:

  1. We love these too, they're great for baking with, or adding on top of yogurt/rice pudding for desert

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  2. I like the sound of these, it is the term 'on the go' which always makes me want them x

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  3. Wow, I have never seen these before. They look ace and anything to make your life easier has to be good

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  4. I would never have thought of adding to baking. Great idea x

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  5. That's a great idea to use in baking.

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  6. I've not heard of these before. They would be handy in lunch boxes as fruit seems to get bashed about by lunchtime.

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  7. I love the idea of using to fruit purees to make fruity muffins. A healthy but tasty treat for kiddies (and adults!)

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  8. These sound great and I know my two would love them. Really like the idea of using them in baking too.

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  9. It must be so hard to find the foods that you family needs so glad you have had the chance to review a product that suits.

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    1. Thank you Joy - yes you are so right and we loved these. I've just placed a massive order as we were so pleased with them!

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  10. Never tried them but looks like the time has come to do so :) thank you for introducing us to them!

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  11. It's good that they do wheat, gluten and nut free ranges. Great idea to add puree to baking too.

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  12. I bet those muffins were delicious. I didn't know about banana being used a raising agent.

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  13. Oh I haven't heard of these before - they sound delicious though I will have to keep an eye out. x

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  14. These sound ideal for my little one who loves these cold from the fridge!

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  15. I've not seen these before but they look great! Those muffins look very tasty.

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Many thanks for taking the time to comment!

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