Meet The Brand That Makes Snacking Healthy

Here at THE FIND, we are committed to working with innovative, like-minded brands who champion our belief in sustainability. So, we are proud to present to you our most recent collaboration with SOUL FRUIT, the most crave-able superfruit snacks made from 100% fruit.

We spoke to Dan & Nat, the founders of the healthy yet delicious snack company, about the importance of sustainability, their favourite recipes, and the journey of the business so far. Plus, for a limited time, you can claim 20% off your order at Soul Fruit with the code: ALITTLEFIND.*

Thanks for taking the time to chat with us! Tell us a bit about Soul Fruit and how the idea for the business came about?

Neither of us actually come from a Food & beverage background – we are just 2 snackaholics who have tried most of the sweet snacks under the sun! We both used to eat a lot of artificial snacks & sweets, but we realised that we had to start making healthier choices. Living in Hong Kong & Australia we were spoiled for choice with amazing exotic fruit and it really made us wonder – with SO MANY tropical fruits out there, why were so few of them available as dried fruit snacks?

Dried Fruit is such a perfect choice for healthy snacking as it's naturally sweet and filled with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants & fibre, which gives a natural sustained energy boost. It’s also much easier & much more convenient to eat on the go than fresh fruit. Our mission was to create a range of fruit based snacks which gave you all the satisfaction of an unhealthy snack, but which were positively healthy for you.

The importance of texture is often missed however it plays a huge role in how we enjoy our snacks. So that’s why we dry our fruit in 2 ways; Chewy Soft Dried Fruit & Crunchy Fruit Chips - for whether you fancy a crisp crunch or a sweet chew – we have a superfruit snack that's right for you.

All the flavours taste really great – are there any other health or wellbeing benefits to these snacks?

Yes - there are so many! All our fruit snacks are 100% fruit, with nothing ever added - no added sugar, sulphites or oils. The drying methods we use ensure we retain all the nutrition of the fresh fruit - meaning that every bag is one of your 5 a day. Packed with naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and carotenoids all our fruit snacks help boost the immune system, aids digestion and helps maintain healthy hair & skin.

Dragon Fruit in particular is a real superfruit with so many health benefits associated with it.

There are hundreds of tiny black seeds within the fruit, which contain Omega 3 & 6 fatty acids, prebiotics to aid digestion & plant protein. Whilst the flesh is filled with vitamins, minerals & Antioxidants - giving it a wide range of health benefits. Both Dragon Fruit & Jackfruit are actually recommended to be eaten by Diabetics, as they help the body regulate blood sugar levels and avoid spikes.

Each bag of our fruit snacks is packed full of fibre which is super important for gut health & keeping the digestive system working smoothly and there are even links between a healthy gut and good mental health.

Each bag gives a a clean & healthy energy boost for pre- and post- work out, or to help get through long days at work or school.

We love that sustainability is one of your core values. What steps have you taken to ensure that your business has a low environmental impact?

We look to implement sustainable practices throughout our business and this starts on the fruit farms. We source all of our fruit from Organic & Global GAP certified farms - which use non intensive farming practices and never any artificial chemicals or pesticides. This allows future generations to still farm the land sustainably.

Next, all of our fruit is dried in our solar powered drying factory, which uses 100% renewable energy to dry our fruits into both the crunchy & chewy snacks. Once the fruit is dried, it has a much longer shelf life and can be transported by Sea, which emits up to 3 times less carbon than flying in fresh tropical fruit.

We are also certified members of 1% for the planet means we actively support environmental non-profits to help create a healthier planet.

Our next big sustainability goal is implementing our compostable packaging. This is not easy for a long shelf life product like ours, but were committed to finding a solution and hope to have this on the shelves for next year.

Why do you consider it so important?

Sustainability has always been quite important to us. As an engineer, it formed a huge amount of my studies and work life. But aside from doing my recycling at home and cycling to work, we never really felt the direct impact of it whilst living in the UK. Whist living & travelling around Asia we started to see just how serious a problem this was in less developed countries with unbelievable natural resource devastation & plastic waste. Whilst in the UK we are quite good and committed to sustainability - we all share the same planet. So as individuals we wanted to limit our impact - but as a business we want to try and drive positive change in both diet and behaviour.

Have you had any big surprises in launching your own business?

As this is our first business & first time working in snacks there are too many to count! From being surprised just how many varieties of Mango there are (over 500 globally!) to trying to launch a business during the pandemic - we are getting quite used to it now!

But I think the biggest surprise for both of us is just how much you learn about yourself when you start a business together with your partner. There are so many new challenges we have to face on a daily basis, it's amazing to see how resolute & creative we can both still be.

In between snacking, do you have a favourite go-to dish you can share with us?

Absolutely! Our favourite recipes are smoothie bowls because you can get really creative and include so many different flavours and textures! We love to include some chewy soft dried fruit in the bowl and also top it off with some crunchy fruit chips for a real fruit sensation!

We think there are a few important parts to always include in any bowl, but also love the freedom to try new things! We always include 1 frozen banana into the blended fruit base, but an even more pro tip is to include frozen avocado too! It makes the whole bowl even more creamy & delicious!

You can then experiment with your own favourite toppings but just a few of our favourites are: Cacao nibs, Chia seeds, fruit chips, homemade granola & skin on Kiwi.

*limited time offer only.