The first gift: Betty Lou’s Strawberry Fruit Bar
This is what started it all. I had knee surgery on June 17, and my friend Meredith was going to be away that weekend, so she stopped by a few days before with a gift bag of snacks. At my previous job I’d had a Slack channel named #adams-lunch where I posted reviews of cookies and other snacks we had in the office, so I figured, as a joke, I’d share reviews of Meredith’s snacks as I worked my way through the bag. And maybe, deep down inside, I hoped it would encourage other friends to send me food.
I am neither vegan nor gluten-intolerant, so those check marks on the front of the wrapper were a bit of a warning to me. I am glad these snack options exist for those who need them! But if they are not a necessary dietary restriction, they rarely lead to the best tasting options.
What I didn’t realize is that there is a real Betty Lou, and she started by making homemade snacks for her kids, one of whom has a wheat allergy:
Our story begins in Betty Lou’s home kitchen over 40 years ago in the small town of McMinnville, Oregon. As a single-mom wanting to improve her kids’ diet, Betty Lou began creating wholesome snacks replacing refined sugar with natural sweeteners like honey and brown rice syrup.
With one of her young son’s having a wheat allergy, her recipes were crafted without gluten, long before gluten-free products were popular. Her first taste-testers were her young sons and their friends who loved these delicious and healthy snacks! Soon Betty Lou became the most popular mom in the neighborhood.
Knowing that, I feel a little bad saying what I’m about to say but I need to be honest: these things are dry. I blame that on the vegan and gluten-freeness. Not every vegan and gluten-free food is dry, but many are, and Betty Lou’s is not the exception.
How Does It Taste?
The flavor is pretty good! You definitely get a lot of fruit flavor in there with the strawberry variety. I wouldn’t call it out clearly as strawberry, but without the packaging I would say, “fruit!” and there is definitely a tartiness to it. The crust (we’ll call it a crust since this is supposed to be pie-like) is smooth, but still tastes good and grainy even if there is no wheat. And despite the overall dryness when chewing and swallowing, the crust itself is not crumbly and dry. Have you had a Fig Newton? This tastes a lot like a higher quality Fig Newton.
Appearance and Expectations
I mentioned Fig Newtons above and I’m going to call them out again — this looks like a big, unfinished, Fig Newton. The outside crust is smooth and squashed, with the ends rounded over a bit. And the pie image on the front of the package definitely does some improper expectation setting. Though the packaging calls it a fruit “bar,” with that pie image right on the front, I couldn’t help but be ready for a slice of pie. This is not a slice of pie. A friend watched the video and called them a pre-squashed sandwich to put in your jacket pocket on a ski day, and that feels pretty accurate.
Overall Opinion
Not bad, decent flavor, but did I mention they are dry? If I had dietary restrictions limiting my gluten and/or dairy, I would definitely gravitate towards these. In addition, these were bought for me from an outdoors store, so it’s worth thinking nothing they have 200 calories per bar, plus a little bit of fat and protein, and would be a filling snack. But that dryness. You’re going to need water to get a whole bar down.
Rating
2/5 Adam Heart Eyes. I feel bad. This was my first ever snack gift, and the family’s story is nice. But can’t escape that dryness.