Manufacturer: Clif Bar & Company

Manufacturer URL: www.clifbar.com

Flavors Available: Peanut Butter, Berry Almond, Cashew, Chocolate Almond Coconut

Flavors Tested: Peanut Butter, Berry Almond, Cashew, Chocolate Almond Coconut

Serving Size: 1 bar

Ingredients, Peanut Butter: Organic dates, organic peanuts, organic almonds, sea salt.

Ingredients, Berry Almond: Organic dates, organic almonds, organic barberries, organic bilberries, sea salt.

Ingredients, Cashew: Organic dates, organic cashews, organic almonds, sea salt.

Ingredients, Chocolate Almond Coconut: Organic dates, organic almonds, organic unsweetened chocolate, organic coconut, organic virgin coconut oil, sea salt.

MSRP: $17.99 per box of 12 bars

The Clif Kit's Organic Fruit and Nut Bars (hereafter the bars or the bar as is grammatically appropriate) are gluten free, soy free, and dairy free trail bars distributed by Clif Bar & Company. I received all four flavors, six bars apiece

I note that the first ingredient on each bar is organic dates. I'm not very fond of dates, but I do usually like the flavors listed on the wrappers of the bars. So I peeled open an almond chocolate coconut bar and tried it. My first impression - yum! The bar has a nice texture and doesn't feel on the tongue like it's over-processed into a paste. I enjoyed eating my first bar.

I'm appreciative of the simplicity of the ingredients - just a few, and I can taste each. And I note that in the allergen statement Clif Bar assures me that they source ingredients that are not genetically engineered.

I am very much looking forward to taking these bars out over the next couple of months to use them on the trail.

Long Term Report

Field Data

I took some of the bars with me to the Wild Run, a fundraiser for my local Search and Rescue team, for which I volunteer. Temperatures were mild, ranging from 50 to 70 F (10 - 21 C) during the day. I carried a couple with me to snack on while working as trail crew, manning a drink stand, and cleaning up after the event.

I took some of the bars to a huge group campout at Montana de Oro, a small California state park on the coast. I did some hiking and horseback riding. I ate the bars at breakfast and used them to snack on during the day. Again, temperatures were mild and the weather fair.

I took a few bars with me on a 15 mile (24 kilometer) day hike along the Pohono Trail on the south rim of Yosemite Valley, in Yosemite National Park, California. The weather was clear and temperatures ranged from about 60 - 70 F (16 - 21 C) over the course of the hike. I ate one midmorning and another with lunch.

I took some of the bars on an overnight trip with students of a backpacking class I taught for the adult school, to Dinkey Lakes Wilderness in Sierra National Forest, California. I had them with lunch and with breakfast. We hiked about 12 miles (19 kilometers) and had good weather, day temperatures in the 60 - 70 F (16 - 21 C) range.

I packed three in my bear canister for an overnight at Moose Lake in Sequoia National Park, California. They made a good snack and I ate one at breakfast with my hot cereal. This was a cross country trip of about 22 miles (35 kilometers).

I took some of the bars to the Little Kern River, an overnight trip started in Mineral King and venturing into the Golden Trout Wilderness, Sequoia National Forest, California. The weather was wonderful and we had temperatures around 60 - 65 F (15 - 18 C). I ate a Cashew bar at Farewell Gap and had a Berry for breakfast.

Some of the bars were consumed on a difficult (I had a head cold) two night trip to Pat Springs. It was very cold at night, and we woke to hard frost, ice in the water bottles, and watching our breath clouding in front of us as we fought with canister stoves to the sounds of chattering teeth. Lows at night were 22 - 28 F (-5 to -2 C) and day temperatures 40 - 55 F (4 - 13 C).

Some of the bars came with me to visit Pine Valley in the Ventana Wilderness, in the Los Padres National Forest, California. I had two for snacks and had the last one for breakfast. We hiked about 12 miles (19 kilometers) total. The nighttime low temperature was approximately 45 F (7 C)

Observations

These are now my favorite bars - I enjoyed them on every trip. I also took a bar on some of the shorter day hikes I haven't mentioned above, and ate a few for breakfast when I was in a hurry to get to work.

Berry - This flavor is my favorite. I love berries in general, and while I have a sweet tooth, I also like a good tart berry - the berry bar made a great companion to hot cereal or trail mix.

Cashew - It was a toss up between this and the chocolate almond coconut for second place. I thought this was another great alternative to sweeter trail treats. It made a good snack between meals, and a great addition to lunch, usually as a dessert.

Chocolate Almond Coconut - I liked this flavor a lot. Just enough chocolate to satisfy the chocolate freak in me, and I also enjoy almonds and coconut on their own. I wish there had been a bit more coconut in this bar, maybe a powdering of coconut shreds on the top. I had this one for dessert at lunch and dinner a few times.

Peanut Butter - I burned out on peanut butter a long time ago, and while I still eat it from time to time, it's never my first choice. I had a lot of this bar left after all the others were gone. I have to say that it was a more tolerable way to eat peanut butter, and even though I haven't taken peanut butter sandwiches in years, I did eat and enjoy all these bars. Usually they were a lunch or snack item.

Most of the trips I was not eating the bars in extreme temperatures. The exception was my backpacking trip to Pat Springs. The bars were hung in the food bag at night, and eaten for lunch on the second and third day. They were only a little cold to the touch - as was everything else at that point - and didn't seem to be frozen or affected by the below-freezing night temperature.

Overall, the process of reviewing Kit's Organic Fruit and Nut Bars was, in a word, yummy. I'm likely to be looking for my favorites by the box soon.

Thanks to Clif Bar and BackpackGearTest.org for the opportunity to test Kit's Organic Fruit and Nut Bars.

Read more gear reviews by Lori Pontious

Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Clif Bar Kits Organic Bars > Test Report by Lori Pontious