Does the Chocolate Match the Energy?

Energy Pods Box

Meal replacements tend to run the gambit from tolerable to horrible. Today we're going to see where Energy Pods Compact Meal Replacement in chocolate variety falls and hope that it will be on the good side of such foods. Their website and their founder who we interviewed last month, suggest that you use this food four different ways – as it is, refrigerated, frozen, and in recipes. We checked it out in the first three of those ways, so this article will present them to you one at a time. Let's get the legal matters out of the way. We received a free box of these items from KG Food Company to test out and write about here on The Chocolate Cult. No other form of compensation was received for honestly sharing our experiences with this product.

The pods are easy to open though there are three layers to get through – the golden edge wrapping, the top with the label, and then a final silver sealing. I used the "spoon" that is included and didn't find that it affected the flavor at all. What every form you use the chocolate energy pod in, the total calories are 260. These are made up of 23g of fat, 18g carbs (fiber at 5g, the bulk in alternative sweeteners), and 10g protein. As we should expect with chocolate, fat is the majority contributor to calories.  Cocoa Powder is the fourth ingredient on the list. In terms of allergens, almond, whey, and soy are ingredients plus alternative sweeteners Erythritol and Monk fruit extract if you have issues with those. Everything is fine for my body so let's check the contents of the pods out.

I used one pod as it came, tasting it on its own as well as drizzling it on a light, multigrain English muffin. This didn't have much of a scent to it, but it looks quite lush and shiny. The thickness is similar to a good quality chocolate syrup but the flavor was more average in terms of the chocolate. Each taste of it built up the cocoa essence which is good. For me, the Erythritol was the factor that really pushed down the flavor of the cocoa powder which is what we want most of all here on this blog. I spread some on one half of my English Muffin and drizzled more on the other half. The thickness made spreading it easy while making the drizzling more of a challenge as you see in the photo. Of the two ways I used it on the muffin halves, the drizzle pleased me best because the sweetness of this product didn't overwhelm both the muffin and the cocoa powder. I think a savory or tart item dipped in this would be your best option since the sweetness is strong.

When the box of Energy Pods came, I put one in the refrigerator and one in our freezer so I could try them as recommended. We'll start with the one from the fridge. This should be a "rich pudding" according to KG Food Company notes on using the pods this way. The texture is thicker and I can see someone calling this "pudding" but I wouldn't call it "rich" in terms of looks, texture, or flavor. In fact, as the pod set out more, the texture because gritty which I did not like at all. Like the pod used as it came and drizzled, the chocolate flavor was not as strong as we like here on this blog. The sweeteners added an edge that overwhelmed the chocolate particularly after you took a bite and swallowed it. This was disappointing on a day when I really wanted a tasty cool treat.

Finally, let me share how the frozen Energy Pod fared during our taste test. The website says this should be "an upgrade to your ice-cream and gelato". If you have read our reviews of frozen chocolate foods here on this blog, you may recall that one recurring problem is that the cold blocks a lot of flavor.  I happen to enjoy a lot of different types of frozen goodies from the high fat "premium" to the sorbet and the diet type with little fat or sugar. Which type of frozen treat did the frozen pod remind me of? As you can see, the product split into two layers as it froze – a thin top crust and then the rest which took on a decidedly different color. That top layer was the most chocolatey flavor yet from these pods; give me just that somehow and I'd say this was very good even though the sweeteners still left a bit of aftertaste I didn't like. The bulk of the product required scraping to get out and those thing scrapes also tasted pretty good. If you eat it quickly, the texture problem that the refrigerated pod had will not happen and you'll get far more of a smooth thick texture and the chocolate flavor.

If Energy Pods sound like a meal replacement option you would enjoy, go check them out. If they seen like a good dip or ingredient to add to your dips, check them out. If you are a chocolate lover who isn't a fan of Erythritol and Monk fruit extract, you will likely be disappointed. That's sad because I really like the general idea of KG Food Company business philosophy. If you want to give them a try, I highly recommend freezing them and then eating them quickly.