Jocalat, the sequel

A month or two ago, I wrote a review of various vegan energy bars. One of the bars I reviewed was Jocalat by Larabar. The good people at Larabar found my writeup, which was positive for Larabar but not for Jocalat, and offered to send me all varieties of Jocalat so I could give it another shot. That was an offer I couldn't refuse, so here is Jocalat revisited.

Chocolate flavor: my favorite of the bunch. There is some chance, however small, that you could mistake this for a real brownie. It is a satisfying dessert. If you're not a nut fan, you might want to stay away, since it contains a lot of nuts. I'd buy this again.

Chocolate Mint flavor: my second favorite. The mint is not too overpowering. It's no Thin Mint, but I'd buy it again.

Chocolate Orange flavor: this is the bar I originally tried and did not like. My second tasting supported my first opinion. I think the problem is that the orange flavor is just too strong. The pinnacle of chocolate-orange deliciousness is Terry's Chocolate Orange (whoa, I just had a mild shock to learn that Kraft makes them). TCO is one of my favorite candies ever, and here's why: the orange is very subtle, almost an afterthought. I'd compare it to the base note in a perfume. In the Jocalat version, the orange is too strong, and comes on as a top note instead of a finishing note. If the orange-ness was toned down to the Chocolate Mint flavor level, this Jocalat would be better. As it stands, I wouldn't buy this flavor again.

Chocolate Coffee flavor: my least favorite. Although I like mocha flavors, the coffee note was muddy and tasted more like coffee grounds than brewed coffee. I wouldn't buy this again.

I see Jocalat bars as dessert substitutes, not energy bars. Their calories and fat are not much better than candy bars. The Chocolate variety has 190 calories and 10g fat. However, I put a lot more emphasis on eating unprocessed, natural foods than on counting calories, and the ingredients in Jocalat pass muster for me. I don't believe that weight loss is as simple as calories in/ calories out, and more research is backing that up. Maybe I'll do a post on that idea later.