When I was a kid, no one knew anything about gluten (or it seemed like at least most people didn't). Now gluten seems to be what everyone is talking about and gluten free products are invading all the stores, which I think I've mentioned before. There's gluten free sections, aisles, etc. It's kind of wild when you really think about it. Anyway, I mention this because I was in my local Meijer recently and I happened upon the subject of today's review while walking through the gluten free section (on my way to the dessert section, of course). As I passed through I noticed this EcoTrek Fitness Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Whole Food Bar on clearance for $1.99 and since I love clearance and I also need sources for reviews, I snatched this one up. This gluten and dairy free bar is 1.76 ounces with 195 calories and ten grams of protein.
Prior to me taking this out of the wrapper, my expectation for this bar was that it would look like a soft and grainy oatmeal bar. Instead, I got what looked like a candy bar from the outside due to the external dark chocolate coating. That was honestly a surprise to me. Not good or bad, just unexpected. When I opened the bar, it was just boring. The interior was a dark chocolate and peanut "paste" (that's what the ingredient list called it) that also included some sot crisps. The wrapper promised fruits and veggies in this bar and while none of them were particularly visible, the wrapper let me know that this bar also included a superfood blend acai berries, blueberries and pomegranates, as well as spinach (in case you want to be Popeye) and parsley. Also within the mix were barley and wheat grasses, so there were definitely some unique components of this. All in all, the bar had a mild peanut smell, but it was mostly a whole lot of nothing.
When I bit into this bar, it was soft and chewy, leaning toward gummy, with an occasional airy crunch from the soy crisps in the interior. As for the flavor, the peanut paste (butter) flavor was definitely present, but it wasn't particularly noticeable until the bar kind of lingered in my mouth for a while. It was just mild flavor, but it was nice. As for the fruit portion of the bar, the power of that flavor surprised me as brought a lot of tartness to the bar, which is not something I expected since based on the name of the bar, I kind of expected decadence. Speaking of decadence, or lack thereof, the dark chocolate coating didn't really do much in terms of flavor. Being that it was dark chocolate, I didn't expect any sweetness, but I'm not sure I could taste it at all. It really just coated the gummy interior of the bar and that's about it.
Buy It or Fly By It? I'm kind of on the fence about this one. It was an odd mix and kind of scary at first (especially after reviewing the ingredient list), but the more I ate this, the more affinity I developed for it. Because of that, I'll give this a BUY IT rating. It was certainly weird, but it ended up being tasty in the end and I think that's because the peanut paste (butter) just lingered and since I'm a peanut butter freak, that is what won me over when it was all said and done.
BUY IT!! |
Hey Crazy Food Dude... glad we ended up with a "BUY IT" in the end, thanks! ~cari, EcoTrek Fitness Whole Food Bar | http://EcoTrekBars.com
ReplyDelete