Soy is widely considered to be one of the world’s healthiest foods. Soy comes from soybeans–a crop indigenous to East Asia–and is the key ingredient in soy sauce and tofu. The people of Japan consume more soy than anyone else in the world; in fact, the the long-lived Okinawans top the list at about 60 to 120 grams per person each day (compared to–sadly–an average of zero grams for the average American).
Hoping to incorporate some soy into my diet a few years back, I threw some soy cubes–ie, tofu–into my salad from the salad bar at the grocery store. I hated it. Since then, I’ve read a tremendous amount of material about the health benefits of soy–especially for women–so decided to give soy a try again.
The SoyJoy bars
The flavor of SoyJoy bars depends a lot on the fruit they’re baked with. The bars come in blueberry, strawberry, berry, apple-walnut, banana, and mango-coconut. I’ve tried the blueberry, strawberry, and berry flavors, and have found them all to be excellent. The berry flavor is the least sweet of the three, and has an unusual taste that I later discovered was from the super-healthy Goji berries–also called Wolfberries–they contained, which are native to Europe and Asia and are somewhat difficult to find in the U.S.
SoyJoy bars are not overly sweet–I would liken them to the sweetness of a Fig Newton, but less so. The grain portion of the SoyJoy bars also have a texture that is similar to the crust of the Fig Newton–except they’re not as crumbly. I’ve read that some people dislike the texture of SoyJoy bars, but that’s definitely now my take on them: I find them delicious.
SoyJoy bars are smallish–only 1.05 ounces/30 grams–with 130 calories (strawberry) per bar. But that makes them an excellent size for a small snack. When I eat them for breakfast, I have two, usually with a nice up of coffee.
The ingredients of the various flavors are all very similar, but here’s the ingredients for the strawberry SoyJoy bars:
- Ground Whole Soybeans
- Raisin
- Sugar
- Butter
- Egg
- Maltodextin (natural fiber source)
- Dried Coconut
- Dried Strawberry
- Dried Pineapple
- Milk Chocolate Chips (sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor with alkali, dextrose, butter oil, soy lecithin, vanilla extract, salt)
- Dried Cranberry
- Salt
- Natural Flavors
- Fermented Milk Powder
The packaging of the SoyJoy bars state that the product is manufactured on equipment that also processes peanuts and tree nuts. The package also states that SoyJoy bars contain no artificial colors, flavors, hydrogenated oils, or gluten.
Nutrition Facts per SoyJoy bar, according to the product packaging:
- 130 calories
- 5 grams fat (2.5 grams saturated fat, 0 grams trans fat)
- 20 mg cholesterol
- 45 mg sodium
- 220 mg potassium
- 17 grams carbs (3 grams dietary fiber, 11 grams sugars)
- 4 grams protein
- Vitamin A: 2 percent
- Vitamin C: zero percent
- Calcium: 2 percent
- Iron: 4 percent
If there’s a con to SoyJoy bars, it’s the price. At my local grocery store, they charge almost $16 bucks, plus tax, for a 12-pack of these bars–bring each bar to about $1.68. Fortunately, Amazon.com has them a lot cheaper: anywhere from $ .79/bar (when you order through Amazon’s Subscribe and Save program, which gives you an extra 15 percent discount) to $1.08/bar. And, you’ll get even greater savings if you don’t have to pay tax on items ordered through Amazon–which, for the moment, is true for anyone living in a state other than California.
At these prices, Amazon is as much as 50 percent cheaper on SoyJoy bars than my local grocery store.
My final call on the noshability of SoyJoy bars:
Although eating them isn’t exactly like being a kid in a candy shop, these little guys are TASTEY–and can be “addictive.” So I’m glad Amazon has them so much cheaper than the grocery store, otherwise I wouldn’t be able to afford my new “habit.” 🙂
Order SoyJoy bars on Amazon.com.