At some point, one would think I would run out of nutrition bars to test drive. I must be getting close, right? There’s a finite number of protein bars out there, and certainly after I slog my way through a new bar every week, I would hit the bottom? One can only hope, because I am starting to get a little freaked out by the weird brown covering that is supposed to serve as chocolate on these nutrition bars. It’s not chocolate. Perhaps it is ChockOlat, or perhaps it’s a carefully concocted delusion of wonderful Belgian goodness, but no matter, I have eaten chocolate and you, Sir, are no chocolate. Thus, when I picked up the Balance Nutrition Bar for a Taste Test, I was happy that my standard baseline flavor of Peanut Butter came without the pseudo Reese’s touch of a chocolate covering.

Perhaps this lack of Shockolate means that it’s a touch lower in fat (25% of total calories) than most of these bars (the thinkThin version hits 33%, and the Atkins versions are higher still). The nutrition list is full of lots of impressive vitamins and nutrients (like Molybdenum, which apparently is good for you, but until I read the wrapper, never knew existed) and it claims to be high protein and I might have been impressed by the 14 grams in the Peanut Butter version had I not been spoiled by the 20 grams in the thinkThin offering. But what’s important is the taste.

And the taste of the Balance Peanut Butter Nutrition Bar? Pretty damn good. My first thought upon sinking my teeth into the bar was of a church bake sale, something concocted by a little blue-haired old lady and placed on a festively wrapped Chinet dish. Oh, the best things come from bake sales, one cannot deny that, and while I wouldn’t say that the image stuck, upon finishing the bar, I am left with the impression a grittier protein-ified peanut butter fudge. And if you don't like fudge,then perhaps you should look deeply into your heart and figure out why you hate your inner child so much.

What’s more, while it’s smaller than most protein bars, it’s a pretty damn filling, to the point that I ate it slowly and actually got full before I had finished the final bite. FULL! On a little protein bar that is only 200 calories! Amazing! This proves once again that while the veritable wilderness of protein bars on the market is frightening, there are more than a few delicious offerings that you can stash in your purse or carryon to keep the stomach rumblies at bay. —Weetabix