Kashi makes a number of granola bars that I like, this is one of their new ones, which features, along with its signature seven whole grains and sesame blend, salted roasted almonds, dark chocolate and natural coffee extract. The mocha coffee flavour is not too strong, and the dark chocolate is good, while the almonds are crunchy. I would say that this is another granola bar that I like, and would buy again.
If you go to Kashi's Website, they are offering free samples of either their Honey Almond Flax cereal, or the one I chose, Toasted Berry Crisp. You get a very small sample in the mail, good enough for one breakfast. The cereal on the package looks way more tasty than what is inside the box, far more of the dried cranberries and wild blueberries than what you actually get. The cereal itself is tasty enough, there is a definite fruity flavour to it, and it is crunchy yet not hard (what I don't like about some granolas or mueslis). This cereal, like all of Kashi's products, contains their seven whole grains and sesame blend. Overall, I think that I would eat it, but do know that its goodness, as a health product, comes with a much higher price tag than the sugared cereals it intends to replace. Oddly enough, tonight I was in Walmart, and I saw a couple of people, one in front of me, one behind, in line buying this very cereal, so it might very well be good.
This is the other new flavour of granola bar by Kashi, this one features raspberry puree along with the dates mixed with chocolate layer. The bar, like the Dark Chocolate Coconut one, is shorter yet taller than the normal granola bars. This bar I liked better than the Dark Chocolate Coconut, the raspberry flavour is quite good and pairs well with the chocolate. My beautiful Bride agrees. I think I would buy this again.
Kashi makes some pretty good tasting granola bars with their sevn whole grain blend, this is one of their new flavours that I recently found at Loblaws. The bar is shorter than their previous versions (which my Beautiful Bride pointed out to me); on the other hand, it is taller, with the chocolate layer and the coconut and walnuts. I was a little disconcerted by the graininess of the chocolate, I thought it was badly tempered chocolate perhaps, but it appears that there are dates mixed in with the chocolate. The walnuts are small pieces and the coconut flakes on the top provide little if any added flavour. Overall, this is an okay bar, I still prefer their Dark Chocolate and Cherry one.
This is the second of the three new offerings from Kashi, the other one I tried is Ripe Strawberry. The main ingredient in this is the blackberry filling, which is a mixture of blackberry puree concentrate with some sugar, cornstarch and pear juice concentrate and apple powder and apple fiber; surrounding this is their signature seven whole grain and sesame blend. This, like the Ripe Strawberry one, reminds me very much of Voortman's turnover cookies, they were very soft and crumbly, and, small (still, 120 calories for a 35 g bar). The blackberry filling was sweet and, well, not that evocative of blackberries. I think I still prefer their granola bars.
I came across this new offering from Kashi (it's so new it's not on the Canadian website, I had to go to the US one to find out more about it) in Loblaws; I like their granola bars, so I thought I'd give this a try (six bars cost $3). They also had Apple Cinnamon and Blackberry ones. The main ingredient in this is the strawberry filling, which is a mixture of strawberry puree concentrate with some sugar, cornstarch and pear juice concentrate and apple powder; surrounding this is their signature seven whole grain and sesame blend. This reminds me very much of Voortman's turnover cookies, they were very soft and crumbly, and, well, small (still, 120 calories for a 35 g bar). The strawberry filling was sweet and strawberry, but it didn't evoke in me the sense of ripe strawberries. I think I still prefer their granola bars.
Here's your chance to try the Kashi granola bars that I've written about, go to Kashi's website and enter your shipping information to receive a coupon for a box of one of the four flavours, the newest, Trail Mix; Seven Whole Grains & Almonds; Peanut Peanut Butter; and my favourite Cherry Dark Chocolate. The idea behind this Contest, is that nutritious or health food is bound to taste like cardboard, like the box it came in, and that once you taste these granola bars, you will find that they don't. And so, you can Vote whether the bars were tasty (and thus Kashi's Laurie Timm doesn't have to eat the cardboard box), that the bars were not tasty (and he does have to eat the box), and, my favourite selection and what is leading right now, that the bars are tasty and you want him to eat the cardboard box anyways. Contest open till May 13, 2009, so there's still some time.
The newest of the Kashi Seven Whole Grain granola bars, this one features, along with the seven whole grains that are in all their products, crunchy, roasted almonds (very crunchy), sun-dried raisins and sweet, tangy cranberries (which I didn't really taste), along with roasted sunflower seeds. The other ingredients that make it a bar at least look healthy (evaporated cane juice and brown rice syrup and honey as sweeteners). This does contain nuts, even a small amount of peanut flour, for those with allergies. I still prefer their dark chocolate and cherry one, though this one was pretty good.
I've reviewed the Cherry Dark Chocolate granola bar from Kashi, which I like, this is one my beautiful Bride likes. The ingredient listing looks very similar in the two bars, and features Kashi's signature 7 whole grains combination (the seven are hard red winter wheat, oats, rye, barley, triticale, long grain brown rice, buckwheat); the difference, is that this one has whole roasted almonds. This bar also tastes pretty good, though I prefer the cherry dark chocolate one. A close second.
I've seen the brand Kashi in supermarkets, normally in the Organic or Health section, and Health Food stores, and also even Walmart and Shopper's DrugMart (though the latter is expensive; WalMart is apparently cheap), but have never tried their cereal (it seems to me that was all they made, at least that is what is primarily advertised) as, for one, it is expensive. Well, they also make granola bars, too, and this one in particular intrigued me, one because my sister had pointed out that it was available, though she thought it tasted "dry", and now I found my boss liking them, it's the best bar that he's tasted (we both ate one today - what a coincidence!); second because it contains dark chocolate; and lastly, because it contains cherries and chocolate, a combination I like very much, though I hope that they could add toffee to the mix, then I would really enjoy it. I do like it, it's not so dry-tasting, though I find it not to have so much of a chocolatey taste, the dark chocolate consists of small chips strewn over the top, the cherry taste is much more prevalent. A lot of granola bars in the market are glorified candy bars, with lots of sugar, this one seems to be better, with more natural ingredients, like cane sugar (though cane sugar in some form appears several times in the ingredient listing), the "granola" is made from a mixture of seven whole grains, the tagline of their company, (the seven are hard red winter wheat, oats, rye, barley, triticale, long grain brown rice, buckwheat), and sesame seeds. It also contains inulin, a polysaccharide that promotes the growth of good intestinal bacteria, for one, and also may increase the absorption of calcium and magnesium. The dark chocolate is probably just dark chocolate, in terms of its cacao content, as it has sugar as its main/first ingredient. I would say it's a good snack, a healthy snack, too, with good healthy ingredients, worth buying again.
