Assuming your problem is with the ugliness of the structure, and complexity of data entry, YAML may help.

Here is code that reverses what your code does: 

use strict;
use warnings;
use YAML;
use Data::Dumper;

my $stuff = <<YAML;
---
Baked Goods:
  - Cookies:
      - Chocolate Chip
      - Oreo

Fruits:
  - Apples:
      - Fuji
      - Granny Smith
  - Oranges:
      - Tangerine
      - Navel
YAML

my $perl_structure = Load $stuff;

print Dumper \$perl_structure;

[download]
this prints: 
$VAR1 = \{
            'Baked Goods' => [
                               {
                                 'Cookies' => [
                                                'Chocolate Chip',
                                                'Oreo'
                                              ]
                               }
                             ],
            'Fruits' => [
                          {
                            'Apples' => [
                                          'Fuji',
                                          'Granny Smith'
                                        ]
                          },
                          {
                            'Oranges' => [
                                           'Tangerine',
                                           'Navel'
                                         ]
                          }
                        ]
          };

[download]
Update: You can use recursive printing to step through the structure, such as the code below: 
printit ($perl_structure);

sub printit{
  my $this = shift;
  if (ref $this eq ""){
     print " $this ";
     return;
  }
  for my $k (keys %$this){
     print "$k\t:";
     printit($_) for @{$this->{$k}};
     print "\n";
  }
  print "\n";
}

[download]

            “PHP is a minor evil perpetrated and created by incompetent amateurs, whereas Perl is a great and insidious evil perpetrated by skilled but perverted professionals.”
        ― Jon Ribbens

In reply to Re: AoHoAoH... am I delusional? by NetWallah
in thread AoHoAoH... am I delusional? by jaydstein

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.