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Tasting Kendal Mint Cake, Cliff Builder Chocolate Mint, and Honey Stinger Energy Bars

This post started out as a simple one just about Kendal Mint Cake.  The Internet is full of roadside attractions that distract you from your travels to a destination.  I only heard about Kendal Mint Cake because it was mentioned in a "Polymath Products Premium Survival Kit" review on the Kitbashed Survival channel on Youtube.  During the pandemic I watched more than a few of these types of reviews.  I think it was comforting to think about preparing for a potential crisis while you were in one with uncertain outcomes.

Souvenir tin version of the white cake.

I looked up information about Kendal Mint Cake and found this venerable British product is a relatively popular outdoor "energy bar / candy" for hikers and climbers over there.  There were more than a few articles on it and more than a few people that didn't really appreciate it on some outdoors forums.  The product was first accidentally created when a boiled solution for glacier mints was left overnight.  It turned cloudy and solidified into what is now known as mint cake.  This happened in 1869, more than a 150 years ago, and it is now made by three companies in the United Kingdom.

One of the more famous versions of Kendal Mint Cake is made by Romney's.  Their big claim to fame is that Sir Edmund Hillary’s team consumed it when they did the first successful ascent to the top of Mount Everest in 1953.  Their team apparently ordered 38 pounds of this confection for their adventure.  Prior to this, Kendal Mint Cake was made famous as Sir Ernest Shackleton used it on his Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition in 1914-1917.  This product has been associated with some very interesting history.

Back of the souvenir tin.
You get a two pack of the regular sized bars inside the tin.

After reading up on Kendal Mint Cake I took a look around town to see if any British specialty food stores stocked it and found that no one did.  Some vendors did sell it online for quite a good markup and I just decided to put the purchase on hold.  A couple of years later I found myself visiting London in the UK and decided to visit a few outdoors goods stores to buy it.  It is still stocked, but you might have to check a few stores.  I checked Cotswald Outdoors in Covent Garden and they only had one souvenir box.  Ellis Brigham, another outdoors store a few doors up the street, had a stack of the individual bars.  The individual bars were 2 pounds each I think, much cheaper than online.  

There are so many energy bar alternatives now that I'm not surprised the product is a bit lost in the sea of choice.  It is one of the "modern originals" for an energy snack, but there are so many energy gels, protein bars, fruit bars, granola bars, etc., that offer other benefits like electrolytes, longer lasting carbs, and protein.  Mint cake is a product that is primarily sugar with plenty of peppermint oil.  This means it is basically candy that can give you a quick energy boost in short order, and the peppermint is a nice refreshing pick me up too.  One thing additional thing about mint cake is that its shelf-life will outlast most of the products I have mentioned as it is basically sugar and peppermint oil.  Kept dry and cool, it will last longer (much longer) than the one or two year best before date printed on the package.

So what is Kendal Mint Cake like? When you open the package you are greeted by a powerful peppermint smell that I liked.  The regular 85 gram bar has solid feel to it.  It is molded as six rectangular pieces per bar and it is a translucent white in color (for the plain white bar).  There are chocolate coated bars too.  The bar is firm and you can easily snap a piece off.  When you bite into a bar, it isn't like hard candy, it has a dense firmness to it that crumbles under chewing and then melts into a tasty sugary treat.  The peppermint flavour is strong, but not cloying or overdone.  Some people say these are like a softer peppermint patty or York patty without the chocolate.

It is a good candy and an entire bar provides less than 379 kcal as the product packaging says that is per 100 grams.  I quite enjoyed tasting the mint cake and will consume my bars over time as a treat or bring them on a hike.

Closeup of the pieces.

 

 Above is the Youtube review of the survival kit where I first saw the product mentioned.

 I also decided to see what the energy and nutritional content of some other energy snacks were like compared to the sugary rush of the mint cake.  When I was over in the UK I also picked up a Graze, Cherry Bakewell Flapjack and a Naked, Blueberry Muffin raw fruit & nut bar.  I also had Honey Stinger Waffles and CLIF Builders, Chocolate Mint Protein Mini bars on me from home.  Just from this small selection, you can tell that the mint cake is like vanilla compared to a more complex variety of flavours and textures.  

I quite like the Honey Stinger Waffle as it is two thin waffles with honey in the middle.  The waffle weighs just 30 grams and provides 150 calories with 10 grams from sugar.  The biggest drawback to  the waffle is that is brittle and crumbles easily.  Next up is the CLIF Chocolate Mint bar weighs 34 grams and provides 140 calories with 9 grams of sugar and 10 grams of protein. This is a firm, chocolate-coated bar with a crunchy/crumbly interior which is a bit like crunchy puffed rice but chewier.

The Graze Cherry Bakewell bar weighs 53 grams with 8 grams of fibre from oats and provides 232 kcals of energy.  This is not really an energy bar as it only has 6.8 grams of sugar for the higher weight, but it has other carbs that can release over more time.  This Cherry Bakewell was the closest to a chewy, fruity, granola bar.  Finally, the Naked fruit and nut bar weighs in at 35 grams and provides 130 calories.  This bar has 18 grams of sugar from the fruit and it has a texture that is closest to a soft cookie and has a deep fruit and berry flavour. 

Most of these other energy snack offerings come in at about half the calories than the mint cake, but they are also half the weight.  In terms of total quick energy as sugar the mint cake wins hands down, but these more modern offerings provide other nutrients and slower release energy.  I can see why climbers and people who need quick energy fast would consume mint cake.

Some examples of modern energy snacks.

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My Tokyo Guidebook Now In Print and Ebook

My Tokyo Guidebook Now In Print and Ebook