As you've no doubt noticed if you're a regular reader, I have been on a bit of a hiatus from reviews as of late.
It's not that I don't love you guys. It's not that I have burned out. And it's certainly not for lack of items to review. It is because due to some new medications I have to take, my taste buds haven't been up to snuff lately.
Oh, I can still taste. But the more subtle flavor notes are currently lost on me, and some things just have weird metallic notes to them -- and I know it's not the food, it's me. So with that in mind, I have felt that it would not be fair to review much, since I could risk giving a good product a bad review -- or, maybe worse, recommending something that is less than good.
But standing in line at Trader Joe's this afternoon, I noticed a new product that I thought might actually benefit from my lack of fully functional taste buds. I am quite the fan of TJ's dried fruit bars, and when I saw a new green and blue label I got quite excited. Well, it turns out this bar is indeed new, and it is a combination fruit and veggie bar. Sort of a chewable Green Machine.
The bar has carrots, apples, pumpkin, beets, broccoli, celery, and lots of fiber. And, in a very uncharacteristic turn of events, the Trader Joe's cashier gave the bar the old side-eye and implied that I was being rather brave for buying it. I will grant you that I like all of those ingredients -- yes, I even like beets -- it's just that I am not sure I like the thought of them all together at once. And honestly, maybe, just maybe, the lack of nuanced tasting ability might be to my advantage here.
In appearance, the bar is typical TJ's fruit leather. It's a long and decently thick slab. It's a neutral brownish color and smells vaguely like apples.
Taste wise? The strongest single taste seemed to be the celery. There is a sweetness, too -- kind of like apples, but mostly it as if like someone took vegetable stock and made leather out of it. I will grant you that is probably not the most appealing description, but I found it oddly tasty. I kept hoping it would be a little saltier -- again, so it would be more like a solid, chewy vegetable soup.
I can't say I will probably ever start buying these en masse, but there was something about it that was just so bad it was actually good.
I am not comfortable putting a rating number on this because of my current taste bud situation, so take my words with a grain of salt when trying it yourself. I might be missing out on the best or worst parts of the flavor. (Chris tried a piece, and he was -- to put it kindly -- not impressed.)
PURCHASED FROM:
Trader Joe's
PRICE:
$.89
CALORIES:
70 calories per bar.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
traderjoes.com
4 comments:
I really like the entire new 'Fiber' dried fruit line..the apricot is my favorite, nothing really stood out to me about the green one though..it sort of just tasted 'healthy' or 'green'.
... it's like those dried seaweed chips from Japan. Salty, sweet, fishy?... but, somehow, addictive. that said, I'm deeply unsure about the "celery"...
ADermos: I like the rest of the line myself. Even this flavor really wasn't bad, it just reminded me of soup in bar form.
Hellrac: No, these are not at all like the seaweed snacks. The texture and thickness is all like standard fruit leather. I think they actually could have benefited from a little salt-- but again my taste buds were off while eating these so maybe it is saltier then I could pick up at the time.
The celery notes weren't bad, just different.
I like the Fiberful line, and my new fav is the green one. maybe it's my craving for soup lately?! It's a different taste, I think everyone should give it a try.
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