What would you do if you got an email from your favorite cricket bar company telling you that they’ve made some new flavors that have less sugar, are more savory and still have tons of crickets? You order a whole box of course. Well, I’m not sure you would do that but that’s what I did. Now I’ve already written a bunch about these bars in the past and even compared them to other protein bars so this review won’t be as in depth because these bars still contain all the goodness of their original flavors, nutritionally speaking, but have slightly different ingredients. You can read my other review here.
I do love that Exo went down this road because it really was the only way to improve an already amazing protein bar. In the past we already discovered that they had a good amount of fat, which is great, a good amount of protein, which is also great, but they still had about as much carbs as a banana – which isn’t bad but if you’re looking for a low carb protein bar solution for your morning, their existing flavors might of not suited you. Well, these new savory flavors should suit any person following a Paleo low carb diet. With only 5g–6g of sugar, these bars fit the bill perfectly. Now let’s get into the 3 categories: Nutritional Profile, Affordability and Taste.
Nutritional Profile
Let’s just take a look at my favorite of their new flavors: Mango Curry. All of their new flavors only have 5g–6g of sugar and 11g of protein. They are all more or less the same fat/carb/protein ratios.
Exo Mango Curry
Total Fat: 17g
Total Carbohydrate: 22g (Dietary Fiber 12g, Sugars 6g)
Protein: 11g
Ingredients: Almonds, Chicory Root Fiber, Cricket Flour (Acheta Domestics, Gryllodes sigillatus), Tahini, Coconut, Mango, Prunes, Puffed Rice, Coconut Milk Powder, Tamarind, Sea Salt, Natural Mango Flavor, Spices.
As we can see there is still a good amount of fat and protein and they slimmed down the sugar from 13g (Cocoa Nut) to 6g. This is great especially if you’re trying to avoid a glucose spike after one of these bars, though I doubt the alternative of 16g sugar will give that to you. Nevertheless it’s nice to have an option of less sugar in one of these bars especially when their competitor Chapul has 25g sugar!
This bar is the only one of their new flavors that has puffed rice, which isn’t a problem for me digestive wise. I occasionally eat white rice so rice isn’t a problem. The puffed rice does add a slight crunch to the bar which is a nice texture addition.
Affordability
Right now you can get a variety pack for $36 that contains 12 bars, 4 of each new flavor.
Exo Savory Variety Box
Price per bar: $3
Price per 12 bar box: $36.00
These bars are still brand new and they may be refining the flavors before they put these in their regular store. So there is no subscription option yet. I’m sure there will be a subscription option when they nail these down as final flavors. But even at $3 a bar, that’s not that bad for a whole food bar that’s low in sugar and high in fat. Perfect for sustaining you through a day at Disneyland or picking you up in the morning after or before a workout.
Taste
Now this is where things went a little south for me. I wanted to love every one of these bars because by nature I love salty things over sweet things. So the idea of these bars sounded really good. As I kept trying each flavor though, I began to dislike each one and always compared it to the one I actually did like which was the Mango Curry. Let me explain.
Mango Curry
This was the first one I tried and I loved it. The texture was great and the saltiness and slight sweetness was spot on. It had a very distinct meaty flavor. I don’t know how else to describe it other than that. It was just a taste that was almost beef jerky like in taste. This bar was a win in my book.
Mediterranean
This was the next bar I tried and I didn’t love it as much as the Mango Curry. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t bad tasting or anything – It just wasn’t as good as the Mango Curry. It was almost too subtle in flavor. Still contained that meaty flavor but lacked the texture and slight spiciness of the Mango Curry.
Barbecue
This was the last one I ate, and I have to be honest – It was terrible. Not because of the crickets, but because of the actual barbecue flavor. It was almost overwhelmingly barbecued flavored. It was a nice flavor of barbecue but it was just too much of it. I literally had a hard time finishing the bar, which was a bummer because this was the one bar that I wanted to love. It just sounded so perfect – barbecue crickets. Hopefully they can dial in this flavor before it hits prime time.
Conclusion
So I know I didn’t love all the bars, but that’s ok because all I needed to love was just one flavor, like how I love the Cocoa Nut one so much. Now I have the perfect low sugar companion to my Cocoa Nut bar – Mango Curry. Once again, thank you Exo for making great protein bars with real food.
Buy some for yourself:
Exo Savory Variety Box
