Energy drinks, such as Red Bull, Monster, and 5-Hour Energy, have become very popular over the past couple of decades. I can recall when I was a teenager/college student that Mountain Dew and especially Jolt Cola were early forerunners of this trend. And, of course, the oldest energy drinks of all were, and still are, tea and coffee. Anyway, long story short, energy drinks are here to stay, and some companies are even branching out into energy boosters which aren't liquids. Like today's topic--energy chews, from EN-R-G Foods, LLC, out of Colorado in the U.S.
En-R-G Foods dates back to 1954, when Ralph and Luella Gamber founded the company. Their mission was to come up with "an alternative to sugary candy bars." They were big on honey, as Ralph was a bee keeper. They produced 2 ounce honey packet bars. A friend who was the head wrestling coach at Franklin & Marshall College gave these to his athletes, with positive results. Alas, as the company website notes, the market wasn't ready for energy foods at the time, despite their success with the college wrestlers. By 2001, though, they tried again. This time the folks involved were Bill Gamber, Senior, Bill Gamber, Junior, and their friends Bob Stahl and Jim Miller. All of their products are heavily involved with honey. Aside from the chews these include waffles, energy bars, energy gels, and even just plain honey itself. (Also apparel and accessories, such as t-shirts, hats, etc., but these are mainly promotional, obviously.) The company is positively obsessed with honey, as they note its gifts as a healthier carbohydrate, its low glycemic properties, and its delicious taste. EN-R-G Foods is also incredibly into sports, specifically outdoor, mountain-based ones. (Which makes sense, given in what state the company is located.) They have a podcast, the Hive, which is mainly interviews with various athletes. Alternate flavors of the of the chews include strawberry, grapefruit, caffeinated cherry cola, caffeinated limeade, orange blossom, cherry blossom, and pink lemonade. True to form, their products are also organic, made from legally sourced honey, and free of GMOs when possible. EN-R-G Foods is also reportedly the largest family owned honey company in the country.
1) EN-R-G Foods, Honey Stingers, organic energy chews, fruit smoothie flavor: Came in a 50 gram (1.8 ounce) bag. Chews were round, and about 2 cm. (about .75 inches) in diameter, and came in three sub-flavors--red (cherry), light red (strawberry), and orange (orange flavor, clearly). They all tasted like the appropriate flavor, and all were good. Typical of a gummy like candy. I didn't really detect a honey flavor, though. And I didn't really recognize an energy boost, really. (See below for more on that.)
2) EN-R-G Foods, Honey Stingers, organic energy chews, pomegranate passionfruit flavor: Bag size was the same as before, as was the size of the chews themselves. All the chews were dark red. Once again, the texture was similar to regular gummy candies. The taste was alright--nice and fruity, although with no apparent honey flavor. A bit different from the fruit smoothies, but still solid. And once again I didn't notice a marked energy boost
I believe I mentioned this in a previous post, but caffeine and other energy boosters don't really have much of an effect on me. (I find the key to being ready to go in the morning is a good night's sleep of 7-8 hours or so.) Because of this, I'm not a big buyer of energy boosting foods and drinks. Therefore, since these chews were harder to find, and a bit more expensive than normal gummy candy, I don't think I'll get these again, nor try any of the other flavors. But, if you are a person who needs a kick to get going, they're probably not a bad choice, assuming you like gummy-style candies. (Plus they're obviously healthier than normal candy, with less sugar and 100% of your daily amount of Vitamin C.) I should also note that the Gamber family claims to have invented the very common honey container that's shaped like a bear. And as a result of reading their official website I'm now aware that there's a sport called "ultra running." (If you're curious, ultra runners are folks who run distances even longer than an official marathon.) Finally, forgive me if this is also a repeat, but honey is pretty amazing, in that it's one of the very few foods that NEVER goes bad, as long as it's kept in sealed containers, away from water. Archaeologists in Egypt have even safely consumed honey found in tombs that was thousands of years old, and the like.
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