REVIEW – TorqSnaq Cold-pressed Luxury Snack Bars

Flavours:

Dark chocolate and orange zest
Dark chocolate and banana chip
White chocolate and raspberry fizzBar weight: 60g

Treats for the trail? Oh yes. Because everyone knows we only go riding to justify a diet of Sprite, Snickers and Greggs. Don’t they?

All three flavours include cocoa nibs, sunflower seeds and dried fruit

Maybe not the good folk at Torq. These are indeed luxury ‘snaq’ bars, presented in subtly gleaming matte foil packaging that hints at rich pickings. But they are, resolutely, good for you. These bars are formulated with care and high quality ingredients. Whilst they claim to be an indulgence; ‘treats for the trail’ rather than performance food, they are still cold pressed, contain 7g protein per 100g, no refined sugars and entirely free of gluten containing ingredients if you happen to be intolerant.

Here’s our intrepid test team doing some live trials out on the hills

(Can’t see the video? Try this link)

All three flavours include cocoa nibs, sunflower seeds and dried fruit. The cold pressed raw food process means that you’re basically eating unprocessed foods that have been whisked up and squidged back into bars without any cooking, keeping them all natural and free from saturated fats, refined sugars and other undesirables. With this in mind, they’re definitely on the worthy side of the luxury line, a quality bar not a sugar rush in a wrapper. They’re also made with fair trade ingredients so are wholesome on all levels.

So, with all these decidedly worthy ingredients, how do they taste? Well, it’s all a matter of your approach to food – if you exist on a Paleolithic diet (or practically any other random food fad) these are going to be very heady fare. They contain actual sugars (even if derived entirely from squished dates) and you may have to nibble them a crumb at a time just in case you explode with fructose. But if you fuel your ride with pies and jelly babies, you may not recognise these as a known food group. For anyone in between, these bars are not too chocolaty (which for some people will be not chocolaty enough) but they are tasty in a substantial way and they are much much easier to down than the ultra healthy performance optimised (and a tad chewy) Torq bars.

The fizz is somewhat surprising but not overwhelming.

Of the three, the orange bar is probably the most intense and rich. Bitter notes from the dark chocolate and the citrus combine and are offset by the sweetness of the other ingredients. It’s a deep flavour reminiscent of Christmas pudding (with chocolate and oranges).

Raspberry fizz is a much lighter bar overall. It has a definite raspberry flavour. The fizz is somewhat surprising but not overwhelming. This is slightly crumblier and crunchier than the other bars, with a very satisfying bite. This bar is really easy to eat.

The banana and dark chocolate bar is sweet and rich but with overtones of health food shop circa 1980 in its strong generic dried fruit flavour. Is it fig? Is it date? Whichever, it’s definitely got banana in there. If you like dried fruit, you will like this. The combination with dark chocolate gives the bar depth and a bitter edge to round out the dried fruit sweetness. The chocolate seems to make the other flavours richer rather then being particularly chocolaty.

Although the Torqsnaqs are not claiming to be performance foods – and specifically say that they’re not intended for high intensity work outs – they’re thoughtfully put together. They are carb rich but not so sugary that they’ll spike your blood sugar and with under 8g of fat per 100g neither are they so fatty that your calorie absorption and utilisation will be seriously impaired.

These are a good long day out food – I see them as not just a snack to nosh on when the going is good, but something that will actually cheer you up when dog tired and over hungry (without the temporary sugar spike that sweets give you). They’re easy to eat, sensible, sustaining trail food which will help put back the calories you use with plenty of vitamin and mineral rich ingredients and without processed sugars or fats – nice bars for the physically active and diet aware.

As with most things though, it’s a matter of taste. If you’re concerned about budget, nakd bars are made with similar ingredients and are also raw pressed and are cheaper per gram.

If you’re not that sophisticated, just go and buy yourself a bag of Tangfastics and take the consequences.