Gluten Free Granola: Glutenfreeda Cranberry Cashew Honey Granola

PRODUCT NAME:                       Cranberry Cashew Honey Granola

COMPANY NAME:                       Glutenfreeda

COST:                                         $5.49

SIZE:                                           10.5 oz

COST PER OZ:                            $0.52/oz         

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE:          YES

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:           GFCO

ORGANIC:                                   NO

CERTIFICATION AGENCY:           NA

VEGAN:                                       NO                 

GLUTEN FREE FACILITY:            YES

LOCATION OF FACILITY:            Burlington, WA           

SHELF LIFE:                                1 Year

*These statements are based on the information printed on the product packaging.  We cannot verify the accuracy of this information.  For verification of the statements above, please contact the manufacturer.               

REVIEW:

Taste: 

Granola is a thing that many folks living with a gluten free diet necessarily opt out of. While oats themselves may not be glutinous, they are often processed in facilities with wheat flour flying through the air and coating all the machinary. Thus, our little friend the oat becomes one big contamination station: something cannot at all be called gluten free when it is, well, covered in gluten.

Gluten free granola and oatmeal lovers have to trust the absolutely wonderful companies that take painstaking time to not only ensure the gluten free nature of their PRODUCTS but also their facilities. It is companies like Glutenfreeda that take on this very task. Without such folks, breakfast might be sequestered to the meat and egg-fest that just doesn’t work for a vegan like myself. Let’s just say, the effort here does not go overlooked.

 

The ingredients list of Glutenfreeda’s Cashew Cranberry Honey granola is short (oats, cashews, dried cranberry, sugar, oil, honey, and flax) and I consider this a major plus of the product. Glutenfreeda starts with super clean ingredients and doesn’t bring in any funny preservatives, chemicals, or high fructose corn syrup to muck up the natural nature of the product.

Despite the absolute appreciation I have for all of this effort, the granola itself doesn’t totally hit the ball out of the park texture wise.  To me, the absolute most important component of granola is the chunks. Sugar and oil (both present in this product) should, theoretically come together when baked and create little crunchy clusters of deliciousness for a consumer to delight in. I am well aware that the absence of gluten (a well known binding agent, especially in baked goods) could easily create problems in this area but from what I know about making my own granola at home, it isn’t actually very difficult to just add a bit more oil and sugar to obtain the desired result. (It’s blasphemous to those on a diet, I know, but the only way!)  Glutenfreeda’s granola has NO chunks, whatsoever. I am unsure if the product became jostled and broke apart in shipping, or if this is simply the nature of the granola. Either way, this is a disappointment to the consumer.

Despite the textural mis-step the taste is quite all right. There isn’t much about it that blows my mind, but the cashew and cranberry combination is nice and its just sweet enough without being too sweet. As unsatisfying as the texture was, the flavor itself was just as wonderful as all the glutinous granolas of yesteryear.

Labeling: Labeling on this product really hyped the fact that the product contained Omega-3 fatty acids. While the product DOES include flax seeds (a major source of fatty acids) it is the last fat source listed in the ingredients. Each serving of this granola has only 4 grams of fat. Because cashews, sunflower oil, and canola oil come before flax seeds on the list, and because flax is the only fat source listed with Omega-3’s, it seems logical to deduce that very few omega-3’s actually exist in each serving. I know Omega-3’s are a popular thing for the health conscious these days, but it seems sneaky to make that a major claim of a product that it plays a minor role in. Other then that, the labeling was sufficient. All nutrition information was clear and present and easy to understand.

Packaging: The packaging of this product was a cardboard box with four individually wrapped plastic bags dividing up servings. I found this to be sufficient for keeping the product fresh, but also a little sneaky. While four bags were present in the box, the box was identified as having ten servings. So each bag was about 2.5 servings. At first this product seemed to have a very low calorie count at 120 calories per serving but the reality of the serving size makes it just about average.

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RATING:

Texture:           3

Taste:               3.5       

Value:              3

OVERALL:        3.2

Reviewed  by Lacy D.