The Insect Edition: The Original Cricket Bar Chapul Aztec Bar

Variety is the spice of my life. At the beginning of the year, I was sincere in my offer that if you suggest a food I will try it, based on availability of course. Justin Steele was kind enough to bring to my attention these Chapul Cricket Bars and since he’s the world’s best pen pal, I was all too excited to see them arrive in my mailbox a few days later. Rock on Justin. Thank you!

I’m breaking these flavors down into three reviews, because not only are they interesting, but because I want more adventure in my life. Nothing screams adventure like crickets in your mouth. Today’s flavor was the Aztec Bar, which in addition to cricket flour features dark chocolate, coffee and cayenne. Below are the nutritionals for this bar as requested by Jason Zinn. This bar impressed me with its high fiber count and I tried not to think that it was based on the bodies of the crickets themselves.

When Justin first told me about this, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was terrified that there would be cricket wings and bodies broken up in large chunks throughout this bar, but terrified in the way that I wanted to know more. You can see from the texture that this bar wasn’t entirely smooth. My first and last bite did have a chunk in it, and in giving one of my coworkers a piece there was an appearance of a leg. With the exception of what I just mentioned, the cricket flour was relatively well ground.

Based on weight, the first ingredient in this bar is dates and I found that to be the strongest flavor that I tasted. Not being a big fruit fan, I just counted my blessings that it wasn’t bugs. If you were blindfolded, you wouldn’t even know that crickets were an ingredient here. I could taste strong hints of the cayenne and chocolate, but I was unable to detect the coffee. Two other taste testers mentioned that there was a very strong coffee flavor, so most likely there is some type of presence. I drink 5 cups of coffee a day, so I’m most likely immune to the stuff.

This bar had some awesome heat. Pepperidge farm could learn something here. Probably the most interesting feature of this bar was the texture. It was particularly grainy and I am certain that was the cricket flour. To be fair, this far exceeding my expectations and really spiced up both my and the people around me’s work day. There was nothing about this that was gross besides the idea of it. For anyone looking for a non-offensive thrill, this bar might just be it.