Although my goal right now is to review a bunch of protein bars side by side, I'm going to start with the protein powder:
I wanted a vegan protein powder for my mad muscle aspiration and this powder was on sale at my local co-op so without trying it at all, I bought some... I regret it. The container is massive and of course I got chocolate because I thought "how can you go wrong with chocolate?" The answer to that question is apparently quite easily.
First off, be careful when going for chocolate protein powders (apparently). See chocolate doesn't actually mix in with much. If the protein powder doesn't taste good in it's own right then in plain water or soy-milk it isn't good and chocolate doesn't go great with smoothies. Vanilla would probably have been a far better choice as I could still mix it with the only thing chocolate does go well with (chocolate milk) and a variety of other things.
However I'm not going to risk buying vanilla now. I am only now running out of the massive amounts of chocolate and I'm not sure I want to keep stomaching more strange powder without trying it. I would probably be more willing to buy chocolate again at this point. After having consumed this much of it Stockholm syndrome is kicking in and I'm starting to like it.
The powder smells really good and mostly tastes how it smells but a good smell doesn't mean an appetizing smell. Mostly the problem is that it's such a light powder that it is very hydrophobic and wont mix in well with liquids. So you have to blend it and blend it well, or else you get gag worthy clumps of powder in each sip.
So after this far less than pleasant experience I of course decided to try their protein bars as well.
When I bit into each bar and found them startlingly good, I had to wonder; if I was so surprised, why I had risked it? My psychology aside, the most recent bar I ate was the Sea Salt Caramel bar.
This bar is far more sugary (8g) than the no cow bar (1g) and with way more calories. It doesn't taste sickeningly sweat though and there is no actual sugar in it. Although I think there is stevia or something which is almost as bad. Actually you know, I should probably just post all the nutrition facts at the bottom of my blog in case for some strange reason you're a salt hating heathen (drink more water) who has no issues with sugar.
So back to flavor. It tastes how I remember power bars tasting. Like the power bar brand power bar. Which, like fig newtons, I haven't eaten in more then fourteen years because they aren't vegan, so... warning given. It has that thick texture that I've missed and isn't too sweet but is slightly sweet. I liked it a lot. My rough estimate is less sweet than a peanut butter cliff bar but only slightly. Expensive though, which means I'm not sure it's entirely worth it. Better for hikes and long trips where you are actually looking for calories rather than trying to avoid them than the no cow bar.
The only other Garden of Life product that I've tried is the chocolate fudge bar. Which I wish I'd taken a picture of because it was odd for a bar. It had an actual layer of dark chocolate around it. Sweet but not overly so. Very chocolatey. Pretty much a super high protein chocolate covered cookie. Had a bit of a darkish-coffee-ish flavor, not that creamy milk flavor of chocolate. I might post about it again with a better picture when I try more flavors of Garden of Life, so I wont say too much now.
Now the nutrition facts for your own judgement.
P.S. for those of you who know me, I'm willing to give you a bit of chocolate protein powder to try (or just to smell). I even have some at my desk.
First off, be careful when going for chocolate protein powders (apparently). See chocolate doesn't actually mix in with much. If the protein powder doesn't taste good in it's own right then in plain water or soy-milk it isn't good and chocolate doesn't go great with smoothies. Vanilla would probably have been a far better choice as I could still mix it with the only thing chocolate does go well with (chocolate milk) and a variety of other things.
However I'm not going to risk buying vanilla now. I am only now running out of the massive amounts of chocolate and I'm not sure I want to keep stomaching more strange powder without trying it. I would probably be more willing to buy chocolate again at this point. After having consumed this much of it Stockholm syndrome is kicking in and I'm starting to like it.
The powder smells really good and mostly tastes how it smells but a good smell doesn't mean an appetizing smell. Mostly the problem is that it's such a light powder that it is very hydrophobic and wont mix in well with liquids. So you have to blend it and blend it well, or else you get gag worthy clumps of powder in each sip.
So after this far less than pleasant experience I of course decided to try their protein bars as well.
When I bit into each bar and found them startlingly good, I had to wonder; if I was so surprised, why I had risked it? My psychology aside, the most recent bar I ate was the Sea Salt Caramel bar.
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| At some point I'll learn to take good pictures. |
This bar is far more sugary (8g) than the no cow bar (1g) and with way more calories. It doesn't taste sickeningly sweat though and there is no actual sugar in it. Although I think there is stevia or something which is almost as bad. Actually you know, I should probably just post all the nutrition facts at the bottom of my blog in case for some strange reason you're a salt hating heathen (drink more water) who has no issues with sugar.
So back to flavor. It tastes how I remember power bars tasting. Like the power bar brand power bar. Which, like fig newtons, I haven't eaten in more then fourteen years because they aren't vegan, so... warning given. It has that thick texture that I've missed and isn't too sweet but is slightly sweet. I liked it a lot. My rough estimate is less sweet than a peanut butter cliff bar but only slightly. Expensive though, which means I'm not sure it's entirely worth it. Better for hikes and long trips where you are actually looking for calories rather than trying to avoid them than the no cow bar.
The only other Garden of Life product that I've tried is the chocolate fudge bar. Which I wish I'd taken a picture of because it was odd for a bar. It had an actual layer of dark chocolate around it. Sweet but not overly so. Very chocolatey. Pretty much a super high protein chocolate covered cookie. Had a bit of a darkish-coffee-ish flavor, not that creamy milk flavor of chocolate. I might post about it again with a better picture when I try more flavors of Garden of Life, so I wont say too much now.
Now the nutrition facts for your own judgement.
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| Chocolate Protein Powder |
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| Sea Salt Caramel Bar |
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| Chocolate Fudge Bar |
P.S. for those of you who know me, I'm willing to give you a bit of chocolate protein powder to try (or just to smell). I even have some at my desk.
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