Early in motherhood I was advised to give my children whole fruit instead of juices, to ensure they get the vitamins and fiber that fresh fruit has to offer. I embraced that.

The only hitch proved to be the winter of 1994, when my oldest, then 18 months old and addicted to fresh peaches, demanded I continue providing them. I gave him "lite" canned peaches. I can still see him slurping up peach after peach. I may have screwed up everything else with parenting but at least my children love all kinds of fruit (vegetables are another matter). And we did not go broke buying juice or juice boxes.

Comes now an interesting product called Froose, with a Bullwinkle-y mascot named Milton the moose. Developed by Denise L. Devine, a former Campbell's Soup executive and mother of three in Media, Delaware County, who also was concerned about juice while raising her children.

Froose is a "juice alternative" that embraces the idea that whole grains and fruits are best.

It is one in a budding line of snacks and beverages Ms. Devine is developing to address nutrition needs of young children while offering convenience and shelf life.

Remember that combination: Froose is not in itself a nutritional wonder but as someone who has packed zillions of kids' lunches and struggled mightily to find a beverage that didn't feed the sugar beast, I was intrigued by this product.

Geared for the youngest children -- up to kindergarten age -- Froose comes in three flavors: Playful Peach, Cheerful Cherry and Perfect Pear.

Ms. Devine's son, now a college student, was a toddler before the American Academy of Pediatrics issued warnings on children's excessive intake of juice, she says, and "happened to be a very thirsty kid" who wouldn't drink much milk or water. But, he "loved juice. Just loved it."

She started to see the deleterious affects. "I started seeing him being kind of a finicky eater, wanting to drink juice and fill up on it and gaining weight.

"I was very frustrated. Here I am working for a major food company" and yet she couldn't find much in the way of a substitute.

She was also "just passionate about young children's health, because it's very clear that taste preferences and eating habits develop very early in life. "

Applying her business and financial know-how, Ms. Devine, a certified public accountant, worked with chemists and nutritionists to come up with a product that is "right-sized, convenient and shelf-stable" and offered whole grains and fruit in a format that already existed and was familiar to kids -- the juice box.

Her company developed and patented a "way to use whole grain or whole vegetables ... in a non-solid form without particulates, without grit, with a nice, smooth palatable texture."

Ingredients in Froose that add nutrition include fruit juice concentrate (peach, cherry or pear), organic apple juice concentrate and organic brown rice flour, which, with inulin, adds fiber (3 grams in a 4.23-ounce juice box, 12 percent of the USDA).

It uses brown rice syrup as a sweetener, "which means no sugar highs and no empty calories," literature says. Sugar content ranges from 5 to 7 grams per serving, compared to 14 grams in an all-juice product. Froose provides 25 percent of a day's vitamin C and is also kosher-certified and allergen- and dairy-free.

It is about 85 percent organic but that will increase once production and supplies of organic fruits jibe better in the future, Ms. Devine says .

Froose originally contained oats and barley, instead of brown rice, but Ms. Devine has twin nephews who are autistic. So, after test-marketing, she used rice to make the product gluten-free (some parents of autistic children remove gluten from their diets).

We had a half-dozen children, ages 3 through 17, taste-test Froose and the product seems to hit its mark. The older the child, the less he or she liked it. Smaller children thought it was good; most older children didn't like it (although Ms. Devine says the feedback her company gets indicates many do.)

I tried it and liked it. It is not soda-pop or conventional-juice-box sweet, and I like that very young children don't get those tastes in Froose.

But, America being what it is, I don't hold out hope that by the time they're 10, those kids won't have a palate more attuned to eating 20 gumdrops at a time.

Read the American Academy of Pediatrics statement on juice at aap.org. Search on juice.

Ms. Devine is searching for a retail outlet in Pittsburgh. Her product is now sold in Acme supermarkets near Philadelphia and online (froose.com). $9 for sample pack of 12; a carton is $30 for 40 boxes.

The Presentation of Christ Greek Orthodox Church gets its annual food festival under way today at Olympia Hall, Electric Avenue, East Pittsburgh. The festival runs through Sunday from 11 a.m to 10 p.m. daily, featuring, besides Greek specialties, dancing, jewelry and music. Call 412-824-9188 or go to greekburgh.com.

Elixir Ultra Lounge, 1500 E. Carson St., South Side, will hold a Sophisticated Wine and Sorbet Tasting from 7 to 9 p.m. tonight. Red and white wines will be served with quality sorbets. Cost $30. Call 412-481-1811 or e-mail lvitalbo@gmail.com.

Mrs. T's Pierogies wants to name the Capital of the Pierogy Pocket, defining that as the Northeast and parts of the Midwest where more pierogies are eaten than anywhere else.

ities, towns and nonprofits can enter; be a Sister City of the Pierogy Pocket if your folks don't eat as many. Deadline: Sept. 15. Details: pierogypocket.com.

Crate, 1960 Greentree Road, Scott, has posted its fall and winter class schedule online at cratecook.com.

To celebrate the store's 30th anniversary, it is having a daily drawing until Aug. 31 for a $30 gift certificate, drawn from class registrations.