My first "nutrition" bar review! I'm excited, are you? I'm not quite sure what a nutrition bar is...can it not decide whether it wants to be a protein bar, a snack bar or an energy bar, so it decides to be a nutrition bar? Kind of a funny name, but first up in the nutrition bar series is the Zone Perfect Chocolate Almond Raisin bar. Billing itself as all natural and clocking in at a respectable 1.76 ounces with 210 calories and 15 grams of protein, I picked this one up at Kroger on sale for $1.00.
When you take a look at the ingredients in the name and then at the picture, the composition of this bar is no great mystery. The interior of the bar consists of barely detectable (visually) raisins, decent sized almond chunks and a Rice Krispie-like treat binding to hold them together. The outside of the bar is then covered with a thin, rough layer of chocolate that is so thing in some spots that the interior of the bar protrudes out and shows itself in the physical appearance.
Biting into this one, the first thing I said was "Wow, grape!" While the raisins may not be detectable in the interior mix visually, they certainly overwhelm the taste of this one. Frankly, grape/raisin was pretty much the only thing I could taste in this bar. Occasionally, I would come across one of the large almonds and that mixed with the Rice Krispie-like treat mix would add a great crunch, but outside of that, it was all raisins, all the time. The chocolate while it did add some sticky texture to the bar and you could tell it was there, it was still barely noticeable. If this one had a thicker chocolate coating, that may have been different, but I can only work with what I am given.
Buy It or Fly Buy It? I'm a raisin lover and a crunchy junky, so I would definitely BUY IT. Honestly, I would almost go as far as to rate this bar as outstanding. I can't quite go there though because the chocolate flavor wasn't quite strong enough. If you amp that up enough, I could fairly rate this one as outstanding. The best part is that after eating this, I feel so healthy because of all the nutrition that I got from this all natural nutrition bar. I'm gonna have to eat more of these...
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| BUY IT!! |
the zone bars are really tasty, but they have some pretty crappy ingredients for a "health food bar". I'm not as wowed by them when I stop comparing them to other more nutrition bars.
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