A small revolution in the German food regulations: Applesauce can now be sold without added sugar. But even without the obligation to sweeten, the pulp from the fruit is usually the better choice, as established by Öko-Test.
Applesauce always works. Whether pure or as a side dish. Lately you can theoretically enjoy this with less regret. Because the “sugar compulsion” of a whopping 16.5 percent minimum portion in apple sauce has been lifted. Absurdly, the puree had to contain additional sweetness in addition to the sugar in the apples before it could be called apple puree.
Therefore, apple pulp was the better choice in the past, because it only contains the fruit’s own sugar. On average, it brought with it a third less sugar than the puree.
Öko-Test has now tested 15 times applesauce and 11 times apple puree under the new German specifications for food for taste and ingredients. All apple pulp products and two made from puree come from controlled organic cultivation.
The testers soon find out that products called applesauce still come with what they consider to be unnecessary added sugar. But still only 10 out of 15 examined products. In total, apple sauce can be recommended three times and apple puree eleven times with “very good”.
The “Globus Golden Delicious Apple Sauce” and the “Apple Sauce Every Day” did not fare as well. Here, the commissioned laboratory detected the growth regulator mepiquat. The spray poison is banned in European fruit growing. Both were penalized with “insufficient”. Which names the test losers.
Öko-Test is also critical of a mix of several traces of pesticides. Even if the levels are low and some of the substances are not considered to be of particular concern. In “Hak applesauce 0% sugar additive” (“sufficient”) there are a total of six, in some other applesauce four different individual substances. Possible interactions of several substances in the human body and the environment have not yet been researched. In the test, all conventional products contained residues of pesticides. However, the laboratory did not find any spray poisons in the organic products.
Organic apple pulp was once again convincing all round: All products are “very good” and contain no added sugar. For example, the “Alnatura apple brandy, Bioland” for 1.93 euros per 700g, the “Dennree apple brandy, Bioland” for 1.49 euros, the “DM Bio apple brandy” (1.85 euros) or the “Ener Bio apple brandy” from Rossmann (1.93 euros) and the “K-Bio apple brandy” (1.45 euros) or the “Rewe Bio apple brandy, Naturland” for 1.85 euros.
With apple sauce, the “Good
