Peanut and Cricket flour & Cocao and Cricket flour.

This Picture, Although blurry shows the colour and texutre better.

They’re energy bars so they’re made up of sweet fruits and fatty nuts, of course in balanced quantities and well-sourced healthy fats, which make them better than the sugar and fat fueled alternatives.
The bars are similar in ingredients, being a balance of nuts, seeds and fruits, the Cocoa is made up of a mix of interesting ingredients: 
Cashews (20.4%), Sunflower Seeds (15.5%), Sultanas (11.6%), Dates (11.6%), Chia Seeds (6.5%), Cricket Flour (6%), Cacao Powder (5.6%), Goji Berries (3.7%), Cacao Nibs (3.7%),  Natural Flavouring

The Taste

So, I’ve spoken above about how amazing they are in the start up and what they’re promising us, this is crunch time, literally..I was nervous at first as I think anyone else would be, expecting for some reason to see cricket legs popping out and having an earthy flavour and odd texture,Why do we have such strong feelings on these things?

Firstly, I tried the cocoa, gotta love a bit-a chocolate.
Opening the bar there was a blast of a chocolatey scent and it looked like a chocolate brownie,
Off to a good start!
I initially tried them with my parents as I do with most of my products, we all had a 3rd of it and I just explained it as “A gluten-free energy bar, low sugar but with real cacao” I know they’d judge it before trying so really wanted neutral ground.

All positive, all round…for a second, for me at least It took a while for me to get the ‘after taste’ but  my parents loved them until I explained what was inside them and then of course the moans and groans came.

The chocolatey ones went down well with them, overall though, they said they could get used to the ‘gluten free’ flavour and natural flavour of the fruits within them For me though? I just couldn’t, I really wanted to like this bar so I was devastated that all I could taste was petrol.

Winter lighting! Hope you can still see it.

Peanutty goodness though,
Everyone liked the peanut flavour, even me. All be it It still had that odd flavour no-one else minded as much as me. It seemed to me that is was something they’d not choose to eat but if one was going and they were hungry, they’d eat it. I hope that doesn’t sound too bad?

I asked my brother his opinion too on both flavours.., not giving anything away as to what I thought, he said “something doesn’t taste right, it tastes like chemicals.” So, it wasn’t just me, I looked at the ingredients and found out that there’s a high percentage of dates.
Convinced it’s just the lack or sugar and the date-ey flavour I don’t like, so perhaps that’s just something to think about in the future?.

The problems we had:
Like I mentioned in the tasting, they moaned a bit after they found out what was inside them..
I don’t blame them, It’s unusual to eat an insect (for brits) however, 2 million people around the world regularly eat them! So we really should try it,at the very least.
I just didn’t like the flavour of ‘natural’ (read above) I think because I eat so cleanly I can taste flavours really strongly, so the date and cashews tasted really strong.

Good for you, Good for the world?
The reason this product is so good..Firstly, I’m so eco-friendly, growing my own produce and going organic if I can (except when on a budget, sorry!)

Remember they’re only 6% cricket so it’s not like you’re just eating a bar of crickets.

They’re environmentally friendly:
In 2013, The Food & Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations released areport, urging people to start intensive farming of insects to feed our growing global population. In fact, the European Union is investing more than $4 million to research the use of insects as a protein source for humans. Because crickets are cold- blooded and more efficient at keeping themselves warm than e.g. cattle, they require 12 x less food. They also require less land, as they actually prefer to be confined to smaller spaces. Insects can furthermore live on organic side- streams, to help reduce environmental waste.

Overview:
Really? Do you really want to know?.. Ugh,
I don’t like them.
Runs and hides! I absolutely hate being negative but as a ‘reviewer’ I’m not paid to like them, I’m given the product to be honest about it and if it’s not my cup of tea then..well, that’s my opinion (I hate that they’re not though) .They have a weird taste for my taste buds and they’re just not something I’d go into a super market and buy.
They do however sell the cricket flour it’self, which seems much more like a product I’d be interested in, I’m glad I tasted these as I can decide what I do and don’t like in other products (Battle Oats GF Bars /Dark Choc Chip flavour,Vegan Snack Bars that are similar on the market, vegan and gluten-free etc.

If snacks aren’t really your thing then I’d encourage you to go for Protein Shakes, there are tonnes on the market so go out and taste some, make the best choice for you.

 I’ve sounded really negative about this one and I’m truly sorry because really, It’s something I really want everyone to try and the world to get on board with. They’re so brilliant in terms of using what we already have and my personal preference of flavour shouldn’t hinder what great work the company are doing to smash misconceptions and lower our carbon footprint.

Ugh, So much information, sorry! I just wanted to make sure it was a well-rounded review!

*I’m not paid to promote these, I’ve just been given some to try out..but as I always say, if it’s something worth shouting about then I bloody well will. However there are affiliate and sponsored links within my text, this helps generate a revenue for my free site!

All the best, Amy.