Pure Organic Raw Fruit & Nut Bars (Pack of 12) Review

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(More customer reviews)I struggled with rating this bar a 3 or a 4. Taste is only about a 3, but quality of ingredients in providing a healthy and edible alternative to a candy bar rates it a solid 4. Below is the gist a a review I wrote for Larabar Fruit & Nut Food Bar, Cherry Pie comparing it with the PURE Wild Blueberry Bar.
When I was searching for a healthier between meal afternoon snack I read a lot of reviews for a lot of products. I wanted something with few ingredients, not "fortified" and with some nuts in it. I settled on the Larabar Fruit & Nut Cherry Pie bars and the PURE Bar Organic Wild Blueberry Living Food Bar. I love cherries and I love blueberries so they seemed like good choices.
The stats of the bars are very similar, weight (both 1.7oz, not 1.8), calories, fat, sugars, etc. The PURE has more protein at 6g vs 4g. The Larabar has no sodium while the PURE has just a bit at 5mg. The Larabar is thicker, the PURE bar is wider. Visually the Larabar appears to have more nuts in it, which doesn't seem to jive with the protein stats. The PURE bar has a grittier texture while chewing so maybe more of the nuts are finely ground.
1st ingredient is dates for both followed by almonds and then cherries for the Larabar and followed by blueberries and various nuts, organic agave nectar, rice protein and lemon juice for the PURE bar. One would think with the extra ingredients in the PURE bar they were added to tweak the flavor or give it a fresher taste, but the flavor of the Larabar is better than the PURE by a pretty good margin. It has a much fresher and lively taste. I have to say the PURE bar is a bit cardboardy tasting to me and has a drier mouth feel. It is not bad, in fact my 2 youngest kids eat them readily, just not nearly as good as the Larabar. I think the tartness of the cherries in the Larabar kick up the flavor vs the milder blueberry flavor of the PURE (maybe the lemon juice add as an attempt to kick up the PURE bar flavor and tartness?). In fairness I should probably review the PURE Cherry Cashew bar but I much prefer almonds over cashews so don't plan on ordering any from Amazon. If I stumble on the PURE cherry in a regular store I will give one a try though. I still get both auto shipped from Amazon for variety sake, but am looking for a better tasting blueberry bar w/ basic ingredients including nuts.
For grins here is a comparison of the Larabar, PURE, Snickers, Hershey's and Maruchan Chicken Ramen noodles in a few categories. Stats are listed in the order I listed them in the previous sentence.
Calories: 190, 190, 280, 210, 380
Total Fat: 8g, 9, 14, 13, 14 Saturated Fat: 0.5g, 1, 5, 8, 7
Sugars: 21g, 20, 30, 24, 0
Protein: 4g, 6, 4, 3, 10
Sodium: 0mg, 5, 140, 35, 1540 !!!
UPDATE Nov 11, 2009 PURE has changed this bar.
I got my regular shipment and noticed the bars came in a newly shaped box and new packaging. Total fat went from 9g to 8g and they eliminated all sodium. Total carbs edged up to 26g from 25g. Protein remains 6g and calories at 190.
The BIG CHANGE is that "Organic Wild Blueberries" drops from the 2nd item listed on the ingredients list to the 5th! Blueberries are now after not only dates but walnuts, cashews and rice proein concentrate. Bumping up the nut content would not be a bad thing, but since the total fat actually decreased and carbs increased, I think the nut quantity actually decreased along with the blueberries, but the date quantity increased. This seems to basically be a date bar w/ nuts now and some minor blueberry content. I'd love to see the actually quantity of blueberries in this bar. Ironically, I can actually see blueberries scattered in the new bar, whereas the old bar was more of a dense blended mush. The bar is noticeably lighter in color now (and density)...more tan than blue. The new packaging implies a longer slimmer bar shape, but oddly the actual bar is shorter, wider and a tad thicker...package marketing? The total weight is unchanged at 1.7oz. I'm still looking for an alternative blueberry bar...I imagine cost is a big factor in blueberry content. My 2 kids will still eat these but they noticed the change right away and are not impressed.

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