It is always a bit of a gamble when you try a food that is new to you. Will it taste good? Will you like it? Or, will it be a waste of money? If you just learned that you have a gluten-allergy, then you are in for a “food adventure” for a while. Here is my review of the gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars made by Bakery on Main.
It is pretty difficult to find a granola bar that doesn’t include wheat, or some other ingredient that has gluten in it. This is unfortunate, because granola bars are easily portable, which makes them a great choice for a snack to pack into a lunch. Before I figured out that I had gluten allergy, granola bars were my “go-to” breakfast.
I was rather happy when I discovered that there are some companies that make gluten-free granola bars. The grocery store I shop at had two different flavors of granola bar made by a company called Bakery On Main.
I selected their Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars. My hope was that they would be as tasty as the granola bars that contain gluten that I used to eat. I am not a huge fan of peanut butter, but I was very interested in the chocolate chips that were sprinkled across the top of the granola bars.
The gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Granola Bars from Bakery On Main have the following ingredients: rice syrup, crisp rice (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt), corn flakes (corn, water), sunflower seeds, chocolate chips (sugar, chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), peanut butter (peanuts), evaporated cane juice, sesame seeds, flax seeds, rice flour, expeller pressed canola oil, natural flavors, sea salt.
The package warns that this food contains tree nuts, soy, and peanuts. It also warns that the food may contain nut shell fragments, and was made in a facility that processes tree nuts and peanuts. The front of the box says that this food is gluten-free, trans fat free, dairy and casein free, wheat and gluten free, cholesterol free, low in sodium, low in saturated fat, all natural, and non GMO.
Oh, and the package is made from 100% recycled materials (and it suggest that you recycle the package when you are done with it). This company might be defined as “crunchy” by some people.
You get six individually wrapped bars in one package. When I opened the first granola bar, I immediately noticed a plastic smell. I believe this is simply due to the material that the granola bar was sealed inside of.
The granola bars are crunchy, but not crisp. They are not something I would call “chewy”. Although I realized that sunflower seeds were one of the ingredients, I did not expect that the first flavor I noticed after taking a bite of the granola bar would be that of sunflower seeds. It was unexpected. I was hoping for a chocolate taste, or, at least, a peanut butter taste. These are not my favorite gluten-free foods.
Image by queenofhaiku on Flickr