Imprisioned behind cereal bars? (Cereal Bars in General)

Member Name: rlcross

Product:	Cereal Bars in General
Date:	17/09/02 (1296 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fibre, ease of eating

Disadvantages: sugar/fat content

This is a summary review of the bars I've been treated to in the past couple of weeks, in no specific order. I'm not keen on the "crunchy" ones, (they hurt my gums), so it's only 'soft' ones, and I'm not a nutritionist so the nutrition comments are just comparing the manufacturers figures:

1. Jordans Wild Berry
You'd think from the name that this would be very sweet - nope! This is really quite nice, being sweet but not sickly and very predominantly raspberry tasting. The cereal component of this bar is quite finely textured which means less bits dropped when you eat it. Comparatively low sodium content, and very informative wrapper - good one Jordans!

2. Jordans Raisin and Hazlenut
Compared to it's Wild Berry cousin, this one is not only very coarsely textured but also disconcertingly shiny (glucose syrup perhaps?). I would suggest that this, along with the Alpen bar, is most obviously "muesli in a bar". Nice taste balance, again not too sweet and good raisin taste. Highish protein and energy values, the latter appearing to come from monosaturated fat. Again, good wrapper information. I would easily recommend this bar over the Alpen one, and actually prefer it slightly to the Jordans Wild Berry.

3. Traidcraft Geobar - Apricot
Traidcraft are one of the "business with a conscience" organisations, where the farmers get a more equitable pricing from the manufacturer. The wrapper is not that impressive to look at and, worst still, damnably difficult to get into when you're peckish! The bar itself looks quite small and is quite soft, with a fine texture. Tastewise, you know you're eating an apricot bar due to the pronounced taste. The bar itself is very succulent and moist, perhaps due in some part to the raisins in the mixture. High sugar content and lowish sodium content. Bars are expensive, with reasonable wrapper labelling.

4. Traidcraft Geobar - Cho
colate
I hate these wrappers - they're so hard to get into!! The bar is the same size and general consistancy as the Apricot variety, so the comments above apply. This bar is, as expected, quite soft, succulent and sweet. Best analogy I can come up with is that this bar tastes a little like the "Rice Crispy" cakes that children make. Very high carbohydrate content and sodium level, suprisingly also quite high fibre content too. Again, well labelled and expensive bars. Maybe use these as a slightly less unhealthy alternative to a choccy bar?

5. Kelloggs Nutrigrain - Blueberry
Very fine textured with a core of fruit puree surrounded by the cereal component. Not too sweet, with a good "fruity" taste. Biggest bar of the ones here. Pack labelling okay, but not nearly as good as the others. I actually prefer the Asda own brand to these, as they have a very similar taste but are cheaper. Pretty average on the nutrition stakes, apart from a high carbohydrate content.

6. Alpen - Fruit & Nut with Chocolate
Very coarse textured, basically like a bowl of Alpen cereal mix loosely bound together. Bar is very crunchy for a bar that doesn't claim to be a 'crunchy' one, and I find it tasteless when compared to the others here - definitely one I wouldn't recommend. High protein content and highish energy rating. Pack and wrapper labelling rubbish - very little information given. I'd place this one last of the seven here.

7. Sainsbury's Chewy & Crisp - Apricot and Coconut
Noticably dual layered, with cereal at the bottom and the flavour ingredients at the top. Topping is quite soft, with an almost toffee-like quality which is unexpected. Both major flavour ingredients, (apricot and coconut), are obvious in the taste, yet neither is overpowering, well balanced in fact. Bar is low sodium and high energy rating, the latter unfortunately appearing to come from a stratospherically high saturated fat
content, (as in more than 4x the second rated bar). No nutritional wrapper labelling, but pack information is very good, up to the standards of Jordan's wrappers. Children seem to like the combination of flavours and textures, and it's actually my favourite too.

Apologies for the weak pun in the title!

Summary: