In a study of what consumers like most in energy bars, researchers from the University of Illinois found a few years ago that sweetness and flavor matter more than texture.
So it’s ironic that the texture of a home-baked energy bar was what our judges cited most in giving it higher marks than any of 10 store-bought brands in a recent informal taste test of chocolate-flavored bars.
The homemade entry – touted variously as fresh, soft and moist – was prepared with a mix purchased online from Matisse & Jack’s, a San Francisco vendor that sells its wares mostly through natural-food stores in the Bay Area (the firm is named for a niece and nephew of the owners).
The bake-it-yourself bars, among the first such products on the market, come in a chocolate-chip or cranberry-walnut version and can be packed in zipper-type bags – a selling point for consumers who object to the nonrecyclable wrapping used on most conventional bars. For details, go to matisseandjacks.com.
Among the more conventional bars we tested, the PowerBar Harvest “Double Chocolate Chip” came out on top, reflecting the brand’s continuing status as the industry leader.
Our panel of 10 judges – five men and five women, including a couple of distance runners, two food writers and a gaggle of chocolate aficionados – also liked the Luna “Nutz Over Chocolate” and the Balance Bar Gold Crunch “Chocolate-Chocolate!”
The 10 bars we sampled were selected from more than 30 brands available in a Denver King Soopers market. In general, those with more protein seemed more filling but weren’t as tasty as the others, and the highly fortified bars often had a noticeable medicinal flavor. Not one merited a score of 5 from any judge.
-Jack Cox
