Posts Tagged ‘Almond’

Protein Bar Review #20: Squarebar Cocoa Crunch

Posted: August 3, 2015 in Bike Culture, Cooking, Science
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Post 20 - Squarebar Cocoa Almond

 

Brand: Squarebar

Product: Cocoa Almond Organic Protein Bar

Weight: 1.7oz / 48g

Cost: $2.49/per from manufacturer

Stats

Calories: 210

Total Fat: 10g, Sat. Fat 7g

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 40mg

Potassium: 230mg

Total Carb: 21g

Fiber: 2g

Sugars: 14g

Protein: 12g

Protein per ounce: 7.06g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.21

Carb to Protein Ratio: 1.83-1

Vit A: 0% DV

Vit C: 2% DV

Calcium: 4% DV

Iron: 15% DV

Phosphorous: 4% DV

Magnesium: 6% DV

Zinc: 2% DV

Organic, gluten free, non-GMO, soy free, vegan.

Not made in a gluten-free facility, but good manufacturing practices are used.

Flavor:

The last Squarebar I reviewed in post 8 is still one of the best I have had up to this point, in terms of overall nutritional value and taste; it kicked ass in both categories. I had very high hopes for this Squarebar, perhaps too high, as it was definitely not as good on the flavor-side. Despite that, it was still a big winner in terms of nutrients. Just like the other Squarebar, the protein is all plant based with no whey or soy as filler. The mouth feel of this bar was also not as good as the Cocoa Crunch, but it was still pleasant. All things considered, I would opt for the Cocoa Crunch over the Cocoa Almond Squarebar, but if I wanted some variety I would still eat the Almond one. Speaking of variety, I have two more Squarebar reviews to come (new flavors I found more recently). Like the last Squarebar, I left the Burning Man tag off this post for obvious chocolatey reasons, this is another example of the type of bar that will melt into a gooey mess in high heat.

One extra plus for Bay Area residents like me is that they are local, made in Alameda. If I wanted to I could bike to them and pick up the bars in person creating no greenhouse gas emissions in shipping; this is the processed food equivalent to going to the farmers market. I just made a run to Whole Foods to get some more protein bars for review, up until now they all came from my local Pharmaca here in Oakland. The Squarebar is the first out of the Whole Foods bars I am reviewing.

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Protein Bar Review #16: Amazing Grass Green Superfood Chocolate Cherry Almond

Posted: July 7, 2015 in Bike Culture, Cooking, Science
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Post 16 - Amazing Grass Chocolate Cherry

Brand: Amazing Grass (Yup, they still don’t have a website)

Product: Green Superfood Chocolate Cherry Almond

Weight: 2.1oz / 60g

Cost: $2.49/per, online (not from manufacturer)

Stats

Calories: 240

Total Fat: 8g, Sat. Fat 3g

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 50mg

Potassium: 190mg

Total Carb: 33g

Fiber: 4g

Sugars: 20g

Protein: 10g

Protein per ounce: 4.76g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.25

Carb to Protein Ratio: 3.3-1

Vit A: 30% DV

Vit B12: 6% DV

Vit C: 10% DV

Vit K: 10% DV

Calcium: 4% DV

Iron: 10% DV

Organic, alkaline, gluten free, fair trade, non-GMO, and vegan.

Not made in a gluten-free facility.

Flavor:

I’m not sure if ‘Amazing Grass’ is meant to be a punny play-on-words for Amazing Grace, but there is absolutely nothing amazing or graceful about this bar. This thing tasted like stale spirulina covered in chocolate; at least it was covered in chocolate but that’s like putting a new paint job on the Titanic and calling it good. That is not going to cut when much better options exist for the same cost, or even lower cost per gram of protein, and when there are bars with a much better flavor. On that note, this bar had the most sugar out of any of the bars I have reviewed and still managed to taste awful; a lose-lose. If you’re going to have lots of sugar at least taste decent. Seriously, this bar is 7 grams of sugar away from a Snickers bar (Fun Fact: Snickers is the “protein bar” of candy bars, clocking in at 4 grams and 2.16g of protein per ounce). At least the last Amazing Grass bar I reviewed was merely “nothing spectacular or memorable,” if this one came even close to that I would be happy, instead I just want the bad taste out of my mouth.

This bar doesn’t even have the saving grace of being good for Burning Man; by being covered in chocolate it is the enemy in those kind of high-heat environments. By all measures, this bar is an utter failure. Save yourself $2.49 and pass on this one.

Protein Bar Review #10: NuGo Organic Dark Chocolate Almond

Posted: June 29, 2015 in Bike Culture, Cooking, Science
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Brand: NuGo Organic

Product: Dark Chocolate Almond

Weight: 1.76oz / 50g

Cost: $1.83/per  from manufacturer

Stats

Calories: 190

Total Fat: 5g, Sat. Fat 3.5g

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 60mg

Total Carb: 26g

Fiber: 3g

Sugars: 13g

Protein: 10g

Protein per ounce: 5.68g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.18

Carb to Protein Ratio: 2.6-1

Calcium: 2% DV

Iron: 4% DV

Organic, low fat, non-GMO, and vegan.

Not made in a gluten-free facility.

Flavor:

It had chocolate and almonds and was kind of chewy, but mostly a mess of nuts inside of a chocolate shell. It should have been tasty, it had potential, but it was really quite dry and that was rather unfortunate. It could be that this particular bar just wasn’t that good, which is why I have another flavor of NuGo bar picked out for another review later on down the road. It was low fat, which is nice if that is a concern for you. It also was pretty high in protein compared to most other bars I have reviewed so far, but it didn’t come close to the Squarebar Cocoa Crunch in terms of protein per ounce. The only saving grace was that this had the cheapest protein cost out of any bar reviewed so far, making this the budget option. Otherwise, it was mediocre compared to the Squarebar and 22Days in all ways possible. Outside of protein, the NuGo Organic bar had pretty much no nutrients; no vitamins, and only trace amounts of calcium and iron (on par with a bottle of mineral water). I doubt I will ever get this brand again after this review, but perhaps the second NuGo bar will wow me.

Protein Bar Review #9: Amazing Grass Green Superfood Sweet and Savory Almond

Posted: June 22, 2015 in Bike Culture, Burning Man, Cooking, Science
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Post 9 - Amazing Grass Savory Almond

Brand: Amazing Grass (They don’t have a website)

Product: Green Superfood Sweet and Savory Almond

Weight: 1.6oz / 45g

Cost: $2.49/per, online (not from manufacturer)

Stats

Calories: 220

Total Fat: 13g, Sat. Fat 2.5g

Cholesterol: 0g

Sodium: 120mg

Potassium: 260mg

Total Carb: 21g

Fiber: 3g

Sugars: 12g

Protein: 6g

Protein per ounce: 3.75g

Protein, Cost per gram: $0.42

Carb to Protein Ratio: 3.5-1

Vit A: 10% DV

Vit B12: 2% DV

Vit C: 6% DV

Vit K: 6% DV

Calcium: 4% DV

Iron: 10% DV

Organic, cold processed, gluten free, non-GMO, and vegan.

Not made in a gluten-free facility.

Flavor:

Pretty tasty, better than most protein bars but nothing spectacular or memorable. The bar is a mass of nuts and chocolate chips mashed together with a superfood greens blend, it’s got rose hips, maca, acai, spirulina, and tons of other really healthy and tasty things in it…albeit in very small amounts. While this advertises being a superfood bar the only benefit it has over anything else I have reviewed so far is being cold processed. There really wasn’t anything remarkable about this bar but it would be pretty good for Burning Man since it isn’t a chocolate-heavy bar. I was pretty impressed that the company that makes this bar has no website of any sort for any of their products, it is all sold through third parties. Maybe I am weird but that makes me a bit skeptical of Amazing Grass and any other company that doesn’t have a website to provide information about them and their products.