Reef Bars, NZ

A while back, I flew on Air New Zealand to Sydney (via Aukland).  On one of my flights, they had a snack basket with REEF Bars.  I grabbed one, just in case I got peckish at some point.  You never know when you need a snack bar ...

I wasn't able to find out much about the manufacturer, which seems to be Bite Me Foods, located in New Zealand.  The bars are made for sports and recovery, not exactly what most airline flyers need at the time.

"The Reef Bar is the perfect combination of proteins, carbohydrates and essential fats your body needs for energy and recovery before, during and after sports or exercise.  They are healthy, nutritious, balanced and they really taste amazing. Reef Bars don't contain any fillers like oats of peanuts. There is only 0.4g of brown sugar used in each Reef Bar."

I found this pretty amusing, because, really, how often are folks on a plane "before, during, or after sports or exercise"?  Still, it was nice to have a balanced bar like this available.

Tropical Fruit & Nut.

This was a delightful mix of fruit, nuts, and seeds smashed together, with very few random filler ingredients or binding agents.

I tried the tropical flavor, which included papaya and pineapple, along with standard dates and raisins.  I really liked the bits of fruit, quite sweet, and flavorful.  I appreciated the ratios in this bar, with 19% each devoted to the star ingredients of papaya and pineapple, and only 7% and 5% to the raisins and dates, respectively.  I hate it when bars are overwhelmed by dates!

The nuts used were brasil nuts, making up 10% of the bar, plus almonds (only 4%).  The seeds were sunflower (like the dried fruit, 19% of the bar).  I loved the nuts, as brasil nuts are always a favorite of mine. The seeds were not my favorite, a bit bitter.  I'd like to swap the percentages of these.

The final elements were bits of crystallized ginger and fruit peel, which both added zing, but I didn't really like.  The binders were just egg, potato starch, soy flour, rice flour, and maize flour,  making it gluten-free, but I didn't detect them in the bar at all.  A little brown sugar and vanilla round it out.

I actually quite enjoyed this.  Great crunch from the nuts (and nuts that I like!), and sweetness from the fruit.  The texture was great, the flavors were good, for a bar, it was quite enjoyable.  I appreciated the slightly chewy, sticky nature to it as well.

I don't often have the need for items like this, but, if I were looking for a snack, I'd certainly get another.