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Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Clif Mojo Bars > Owner Review by Ray Estrella

Clif Mojo Bars
By Raymond Estrella
OWNER REVIEW
August 04, 2008

TESTER INFORMATION

NAME: Raymond Estrella
EMAIL: rayestrellaAThotmailDOTcom
AGE: 47
LOCATION: Orange County, California, USA
GENDER: M
HEIGHT: 6' 3" (1.91 m)
WEIGHT: 200 lb (90.70 kg)

I have been backpacking for over 30 years, all over California, and in many of the western states and Minnesota. I hike year-round, and average 500+ miles (800+ km) per year. I have made a move to lightweight gear, and smaller volume packs. I start early and hike hard so as to enjoy the afternoons exploring. I usually take a freestanding tent and enjoy hot meals at night. If not hiking solo I am usually with my wife Jenn or brother-in-law Dave.

The Product

So many bars, so little time


Manufacturer: Clif Bar & Company
Web site: www.clifbar.com
Product: Mojo Bars
Year manufactured: 2008
MSRP: N/A
Size: 2 x 5 x 3/8 in (51 x 157 x 8 mm)
Weight listed, all flavors: 1.59 oz (45 g)
Actual weight: 1.59 - 1.8 oz (45 - 51 g)
Flavors reviewed: Honey Roasted Peanut, Mountain Mix, Mixed Nuts and Peanut Butter Pretzel
Other flavor available: Fruit Nut Crunch

Product Description

Hey Honey...


The Clif Mojo bars are one of the newest offerings from Clif. They call them "the sweet and salty trail mix bar".

The bars all have a lot of nuts in them and look like nut brittle. They all fall in the 200 calorie range with a pretty decent ratio of fats-to-carbs-to-protein. They average 25% fats, 50% carbs, and 25% protein. To me this ratio allows them to be used over a wide range of my hiking day, either to eat on the trail as meals, or in camp later for carb replacement.

I'm so mixed up


The bars have no trans fats and, of great interest to me, no processed sugars. They instead rely on organic rice syrup for sweetness. Speaking of organic, Clif claims that 70% of all the ingredients in the Mojo bars are organic. I like that as my normal bars are 100% organic.

Fit for a Mountain Man


The potassium levels are pretty good, averaging 210 g per bar, or about equal to half a medium sized banana.

While Clif describes them as salty they are not heavy on the sodium levels. At an average of 210 mg per bar they are equal to or lower than many other bars on the market.

Jenn's fav


They come packaged in a Mylar-type wrapper. They are fairly easy to open by tearing along the flap that joins the wrapper together. The bars are not hard, but have some give to them. In hot weather they soften even more. All the bars are sticky. They like to stick to the wrapper a bit, and to my fingers a lot. Once opened the bar looks like brittle with all the ingredients on display. Here is a picture of the Mountain Mix flavor.

Mojo uncovered

Field Data

I ate these bars on four trips in the beginning of summer. I first purchased 10 bars, and then went back to the store twice for more. I ended up buying 17 bars.

The first trip was a 25 mi (40 km) day-hike on the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) at the south border of San Gorgonio Wilderness. The temperature got up to 86 F (30 C).

The next was a two-day 30 mi (48 km) trip just north of the previous hike. The temps ranged from 57 to 86 F (14 to 30 C).

Then came a two-day trip with Jenn to Limber Pine Bench in the San Gorgonio Wilderness. The temps were from 67 F to 40 F (20 to 4 C).

Last was a monster of a day-hike that saw us put in 42.5 miles (68 km) on the PCT with 8600 ft (2621 m) of elevation gain in temps that reached 80 F (27 C).

Observations

I bought the Clif Mojo bars when my local store started carrying the new product. The thought of a slightly sweet and salty bar appealed to me as I love nuts and do not like heavy sweets. They seemed like they might work well on the hot sections of the PCT I had planned so I bought all the flavors available to me to try them out. (I have never been able to find the Fruit flavor.)

One of the things I really liked right off the bat was the texture. I like crunchy stuff. Between the nuts, seeds, soy nuts and soy rice crisps these bars are very crunchy.

One thing I did not care for right away was the stickiness of them. As I was hiking in areas with little (some times no) water along the trail it is a bummer to get sticky hands with nothing to wash them with. I learned quickly to keep the bar in the wrapper while eating it. And once finished, I carefully fold the wrapper back over itself to keep the residual rice syrup that is on the inside of the wrapper from getting spread around my pocket or pack.

The Mixed Nuts flavor was my favorite. I could really taste the almonds and cashews. I ended up buying this flavor the most when I went back for more.

The Mountain Mix is very good too. It is just like eating a bar made out of the gorp I used to make and carry on every trip in the 70s and 80s.

My second favorite (and my wife's number one) is the Peanut Butter Pretzel that is made with peanut butter filled pretzel pieces scattered throughout the bar.

My least favorite was the Honey Roasted Peanut flavor. For some reason it just comes across as much sweeter than all the other flavors and I found it to be too sweet for me. But please note that I am notorious for not having a sweet tooth. I gave one of this flavor away to a PCT through-hiker I met on the trail, and he thought it was just great. (Hello Isaac)

They seem to fill me up and leave me feeling satisfied. I would plan to eat two per meal, but not both at the same time. So if I was having the Mojo for lunch I would eat one at 11:00 AM and then the second one around 1:00 PM. Breakfast with the Mojos was handled the same way, an hour or two apart.

I like the Mojo bars enough to keep a few of them in the drawer that I store hiking food in so that I can add them to my normal selection. They make a nice crunchy addition, but only one or two per trip now. I do like them better than any of Clif's other bar products.

This report was created with the BackpackGearTest.org Report Writer Version 1. Copyright 2008. All rights reserved.
Read more gear reviews by Ray Estrella

Reviews > Food > Energy Bars and Drinks > Clif Mojo Bars > Owner Review by Ray Estrella



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