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.
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 fruit and nut bar is by far the best tasting of the three that I tried by Weil (the others are Goji Moji and Chia Razz); the taste of pistachios is strong and great, one of my favourite nuts. Like the other bars, the main ingredient in this bar is dates (all ingredients are Organic), followed by cashews, pistachios, dried unsweetened coconut, flavour and lemon juice concentrate. I think I would buy this bar again.
This protein and fruit energy bar from PROSnack Natural Foods Inc. I liked better than the Cocoa Coconut Cluster I tried earlier, it has the taste of coffee beans, or espresso, paired with the chocolate. The ingredient listing of the two are almost identical, this one's is whey protein isolate, dates, raisins (Organic), apples, almonds, cranberries (cranberries, cane sugar and sunflower oil), cacao (Fair Trade and Organic) and coffee beans (Fair Trade and Organic). I'm still not convinced of the wonderfulness of coffee and chocolate as a flavour pair, but this bar was pretty good, despite its high price.
This protein and fruit energy bar from PROSnack Natural Foods Inc. I've seen in several health food stores, at various prices (and I bought this one on sale at one place, and later found it at regular price for less at another - go figure), and it intrigued me, because of the combination of cacao and coconut. The bar contains 16 g protein (which it gets from whey protein isolate), 6 g of fiber and is a raw bar (not baked). The ingredient listing is as follows, whey protein isolate, dates, raisins (Organic), apples, cranberries (cranberries, cane sugar and sunflower oil), almonds, coconut (Organic) and cacao (Fair Trade and Organic).
How does it taste? I was pleased to see that, despite the two featured ingredients were also at the bottom of the list, the bar did taste of both, and less like the dates. There are 3 pieces in the bar. I would say, that if I was interested in increasing the amount of protein in my diet, and I wanted to pay the premium price for these kinds of bars, that this would be a good one.
This is the second of the pure fruit and nut bars from Andrew Weil (made by Nature's Gate). This one features chia seed (an ancient grain, and something I have incorporated into my diet), with raspberries and cashews. The main ingredient in this bar is dates (all ingredients save the chia seeds are Organic), followed by raisins, cashews, apples, raspberries, chia seeds, flavour and lemon juice concentrate.
How did it taste? Pretty good, though I tasted more of the dates, the raspberries were an underlying flavour. One thinks that one could make something like this at home.
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.
Andrew Weil is a physician and author; he is a well known proponent of integrative medicine (using both mainstream and alternative medicine to achieve health). He also advocates a healthy lifestyle, including avoiding sugar, starch, refined carbohydrates, and trans-fat. To aid individuals in this endeavour, he offers for sale health products, including vitamins, minerals, herbs, foods, and health bars. He has collaborated with Nature's Path to make pure vegan fruit and nut bars, in five flavours. This one is called Goji Moji, and features cranberry and goji berry (a high antioxidant berry from Asia). This is a pure fruit and nut bar, so the ingredients are such, and all organic; dates, fig paste, cashews, dried sweetened cranberries (with sugar cane juice and sunflower oil), goji berries, orange peel, lemon juice concentrate and orange oil.
How did it taste? I found the orange peel taste (or perhaps it is the orange oil) to be very strong, and could not really individually distinguish the other ingredients (I do like goji berries, and cranberries, and dates and figs). I don't think that I enjoyed this bar, and doubt that I would try this again.
