Consumers want to know what’s in the products they are buying. In fact, label reading has never been more popular. New Hope Network reported that almost half of consumers say they try to buy brands that are transparent about their food. A further 44% read product labels and avoid long ingredient lists.
Walnuts provide food bar lovers with a transparent, clean label, plant-based ingredient that delivers crunch and nutrition. They also can be used in bars for any eating occasion, including meal replacement, breakfast, snack-time and as an energy boost before or after a workout.
Bars can truly be everything to everyone, and with walnuts as a key whole food ingredient, manufacturers can formulate bars with great taste and guilt-free nutritional profiles. Walnuts carry a unique, subtle nutty flavor profile that combines wonderfully with chocolate, fruit, vanilla and more. Whether a product developer is formulating a sweet or savory bar, walnuts are the answer.
Walnuts also have the perfect bite, being neither too hard nor too soft. This is key in nut-dense bars that also require a binder to keep all of the ingredients together. A hard or overly chewy bar will turn off customers even if the flavor is perfect.
Nut-dense bars that include walnuts offer consumers nutritional value. One ounce of walnuts offers 18 grams of total fat, 2.5 grams of monounsaturated fat and 13 grams of polyunsaturated fat including 2.5 grams of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) – the plant-based omega-3.
As the food bar category expands, let’s take a look at some of our favorite new made-with-walnut bars:
Organic Oat & Fruit Bars – Apple Cinnamon, Ready. Set. Food!
Walnuts, apples and cinnamon are three of the key ingredients on the transparent label of this bar. Made with wholegrain oats and real fruit, this bar is great for on-the-go snacking and designed for both adults and kids.
Oatmeal Raisin, Bar-U-Eat
A bar that balances cravings with nutritional benefits. Smell the cookies and experience the mouthfeel of a soft bar with a crunch of walnuts. Other whole food, simple ingredients like honey, medjool dates and raisins add sweet flavor and clean, sustainable energy to this soy-free, dairy-free, all-natural bar.
Functional Mushroom Bar, UMBO
Mushrooms are certainly having their moment, and UMBO’s bar is capitalizing on it with the help of familiar ingredients like walnuts and honey. There are 2,500 milligrams of five functional mushrooms in this bar: lion’s mane, reishi, cordyceps, shiitake and turkey tail.
Apple Pie Date & Nut Bars, Good & Gather
Transparency defined, Good & Gather’s Apple Pie Date & Nut Bars list the bar’s six ingredients on the front. Walnuts lead the charge in this plant-based, vegan, kosher snack with no artificial flavors or sweeteners. The bar is truly a Target find.
Formulating the next great food bar and need the perfect nut? Email kseiz@walnuts.org for inspiration.
