I’ve been meaning to give these Raw Revolution bars a shot for a very long time. I happen to love “green superfoods” like spirulina and chlorella so long as they’re not too aggressively bitter, so I thought that I might like this one if it actually tasted like banana, but there’s always that chance that it could end up tasting like a freshly mowed lawn.

I love it when companies make an effort to listen to the dietary needs and wants of consumers by making their products as inoffensive as possible. This one is gluten free, dairy free, soy free, peanut free, vegan, kosher, and contains no artificial preservatives or ingredients to speak of. While I may not necessarily need all of those things, I feel better knowing that this is an extremely “clean” product free of any crap that I don’t need to put in my body.

It clocks in at 170 calories. Not bad, but I tend to feel like 200 to 250 is best for a snack that actually satisfies your hunger for more than a minute. 18 grams of sugar is a little high, but most of the sugars are fruit sugars and the rest is agave nectar, not the worst sweeteners out there. Those are the two things I look at most often when selecting these bars, calorie content and sugar.

Appearance: Darker than expected, definitely from the dates. Looks smooth and ingredients are evenly distributed.

Taste: Mmm! I expected this to taste like banana bread as many banana-based bars do, but it actually tastes like a pina colada! A very present and natural-tasting banana flavor with a twinge of what tastes like pineapple, though there is no pineapple in the bar. And though it’s packed to the gills with green stuff, there really isn’t any bitter or grassy flavor to speak of, just tastes like delicious bananas and dates.

Texture: Smooth and pasty like a Larabar but with little bits of nuts mixed in.

Overall, I loved this one! It’s a really original flavor that I haven’t come across elsewhere. I like that I can take in some healthy green stuff without my mouth tasting like it’s packed full of lawn clippings soaked in algae. And while it has the similar smooth and pasty texture of a Larabar that I love so much, it’s a bit larger and therefore more satisfying than a Larabar. WIN!

Do you prefer smooth or crunchy bars?

July 10, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments

Let me start by saying that I am not on a diet and I do not normally purchase “diet products.” I bought this think Thin bar solely because I flipped out that it was chocolate covered strawberry flavored. Sounded delicious to me, so I ignored the capitalized “Thin” and the various other blurbs about how now you can have your dessert and eat it too and other marketing bullet points that alluded to real pleasure suppression as the avenue to weight loss.

:::Steps off soap box:::

If I’d have seen this ingredient list before I tossed it in my shopping basket I would have probably put it back on the shelf. Very little real food in there. There are 0 grams of sugar and 15 grams of protein and the bar clocks in a 200 calories. Those are pretty good stats…as long as it tastes good. (I think you know where this is going.)

Appearance: A nice size. Covered in a chocolate coating that appears a bit waxy and fake but nothing too alarming.

Texture: Soft, pasty, and homogenous. Reminds me a bit of marzipan with the smooth but subtle grittiness.

Taste: Oh. My. GAD. GROSS!! This is the single worst bar I’ve ever tasted so far in my life. It’s like a giant squishy metallic-tasting vitamin paste covered in colored beeswax. But what about the strawberry flavor, you ask? Nearly non-existant. It tastes a bit like if they took that thick gluey strawberry glaze you get on top of diner cheesecakes, mixed it with cherry cough syrup, diluted and aerosolized it, and then misted it around the room that the bars were made in. Faint but distinctly gross.

Overall, the one word I would have to use to describe this bar is OFFENSIVE. Not just offensive in flavor, but I am genuinely offended that anyone would have the gall to market this a satisfying and healthy dessert replacement. At 200 calories, you could probably eat 2 or even 3 real chocolate covered strawberries and be putting healthier things in your body than this fake crap. It saddens me to imagine that some poor woman might choke down this awful concoction in lieu of a real dessert because she thinks this is all she can have.

This bar was pretty cheap and I still feel like I got ripped off.

July 1, 2011 Alayna Discussion 6 comments

I LOVE ginger. I love it in soup, in tea, in applesauce, in ice cream, pickled, raw, any way you can dream it I will love it.

So when I was shopping for bars to review on the site and I came across this lemon ginger Flavor & Fiber bar by Gnu Foods, I was like “Oooo! That’s definitely for me!” In the excitement of finding such a zesty flavor that so perfectly tingled my tastebuds, I failed to realize that this was a bar being marketed as a regularity helper. Oh well. I really just do not get how trendy fiber is right now, but if the bar tastes good then I guess I don’t care.

This is certainly the best-looking ingredient list out of the bars I’ve reviewed so far. Lots of fibery stuff followed by some fruits and of course ginger. I got a little worried that with ginger so low on the list that it might not taste very gingery after all.

It has 130 calories, so it won’t hold off your hunger for too long. With only 10 grams of sugar and all of it coming from fruit sources, this bar is definitely a good choice for a snack and doesn’t edge into the “dessert replacement” category. Since this bar is touting itself as a fiber source, I’ll tell you that it has 12 grams of the stuff.

The bar is definitely a substantial size, no misleading packaging here.

Appearance: Nice golden brown color and plenty of visible textural stuffs. The flax and millet grains are in-your-face and the ingredients look pretty evenly distributed overall. Smells heavily of spicy ginger with a mellow rather than sour lemon aroma.

Taste: Any fears I had that this would not be gingery enough were cast away at first bite! It had a very fresh and real ginger flavor, not fake or faint. It was mildly tingly and warming and with the hint of zesty citrus it really reminded me of a hot cup of ginger-lemon tea with honey. So, so tasty.

Texture: Lightly chewy with firm whole oats and lots of tiny seeds that pop in the mouth without being hard or crunchy. Very enjoyable.

Overall I really enjoyed this rather unusual bar. I think it’s a great break from all the same ole flavors you see everywhere like peanut butter or apple cinnamon. I really feel like a lot of people would pass this up if they’re not looking exclusively for a fiber supplement, which is a shame because it doesn’t taste “fibery” at all. This one might become a repeat for me.

Are you a ginger fan?

June 26, 2011 Alayna Discussion 3 comments