Clif Organic Trail Mix Bar: Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt
September 21, 2015
CLIF® Organic Trail Mix Bars are certified USDA organic. The Dark Chocolate Almond Sea Salt bar is also gluten free and low glycemic.
According to their website, this particular trail mix bar “is a great tasting snack made with wholesome, organic ingredients. These bars are bursting with organic fruit, roasted nuts and delicious dark chocolate”. (You can get a 12-pack here.)
That sounds really good, but I’ve fallen for well-written marketing fluff before. What I really want to know is, does it taste good?
The Good News About This Bar
I’m happy this bar has see-through window packaging because it’s easy on the eyes! The number of almonds and chocolate chucks stuffed into the bar is impressive. It looks delicious.
A lot of fruit and nut bars offer similar nutritional value, but not all are organic, which makes this Clif® bar a good snack for the body and the planet. Nice. Sounds good, looks good, IS good.
And yes, in my humble opinion, tastes good!
Taking in the entire flavor is a harmonious taste experience. The mouth feel is well-balanced in texture. The end of bite leaves you chewing the nuts the longest, but that’s a lingering taste sensation to love.
The chocolate chunks by themselves have a mild chocolatey flavor with a hint of vanilla. The sea salt makes the chocolate pop a little, but it’s still mild overall. The nutty flavor completely over powers the chocolate, but that’s okay since all the flavors blend so well together.
The Only Problem - It's Not All Dark Chocolate
A note of interest: I could immediately taste that the bottom layer of "chocolate" is really a chocolate flavored confectionery coating, not real chocolate. Eat some by itself and you’ll notice the difference. The label spells it out too, differentiating the organic dark chocolate chunks from the chocolaty organic coating:
INGREDIENTS: Organic Almonds, Organic Tapioca Syrup, Organic Pecans, Organic Dark Chocolate (Dried Cane Syrup*, Unsweetened Chocolate*, Cocoa Butter*, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla Extract*), Organic Coating (Dried Cane Syrup*, Palm Kernel Oil*, Cocoa*, Soy Lecithin*, Vanilla Extract*), Organic Cashews, Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Rice Crisps (Rice Flour*, Dried Cane Syrup*, Salt, Calcium Carbonate), Organic Inulin, Organic Almond Butter, Organic Sunflower Oil, Sea Salt, Mixed Tocopherols (Antioxidant).
The bottom coating is the only disappointment from this bar. In my opinion, it decreases the chocolate impact and messes with the whole yummy flavor profile. But hey, I’m picky. I like my chocolate to stand alone.
What do you think?
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