Energy bar company develops new squeezable pouches

 Working with outdoors athletes and its in-house chefs, Clif Bar & Company developed a new kind of energy food that departs from traditional candy-like stuff for ingredients such as tomato puree, olive oil, beets, bananas yeast flakes and potatoes.

They come in pouches used by baby-food companies. Screw off the cap and squeeze in your mouth.

The Pizza Margherita flavor is a puree with ingredients like quinoa, garlic powder, oregano and sunflower seed butter. It offers 160 calories in a 4-ounce pouch.

 Pizza goo tastes like a strong, slightly spiced tomato paste. Its texture is more like marinara sauce than yogurt, and it has a distinct nutty finish.

 Banana Beet with Ginger might sound disgusting. But its flavor is overwhelmingly banana, and it has a feel in the mouth much like a smoothie. A hint of beet in the background adds a savory zing.

 Banana Mango with Coconut tastes sweet and tropical but not overpowering. 

 The sweet potato product was not as palatable. I grabbed a glass of water immediately after eating the orange goo. Very salty. The flavor shifted hard to an overwhelming tangy yam taste.

I love that Clif is pushing boundaries (and taste buds) in its quest toward a perfect eat-outdoors food.  

On the Web: gearjunkie.com.