Why doesn’t mine look like that?
There’s a fair chance you’ll be saying that with Funch, at least by the time you retrieve them from your pack, but man they’re tasty.
My usual go to food when hiking is a homemade mix of nuts and chocolate in a zip lock bag (scroggin). It’s relatively cheap and effective for both quick energy and sustained energy that’s needed while walking long distances.
These Funch Bliss Balls will probably be added to the zip lock bag now. Apart from being tasty, they include a good mix of fats, protein and carbohydrates for walking.
Preparation, Instructions & Practicality (Rating: 80%)
I couldn’t help myself while making them as I went gloveless against the packets advice – how hard is it to roll some balls then wash your hands? Not hard, but taking photos during becomes impossible, unless you want sticky bliss ball mix all over your camera. I did not.
These Funch Bliss Balls are exceptionally easy to make – ¼ cup of water (warm) and a ¼ cup of maple syrup or similar. With only two steps the instructions were pretty obvious and my cooking skills can handle that, not that these are cooked, but you know what I mean.
My initial thoughts when mixing up the Funch Bliss Ball Mix was one of worry, the mix seemed way too runny to be able to roll into tight balls as the instructions suggested. I’d used maple syrup and water, the recipe on the pack suggested either rice malt syrup/maple syrup and water or coconut oil. Not sure if that’d make a difference or not but these things were damn tricky to roll. To try and save the situation I used a tablespoon measure to make a rough ball and plonked in a container, then on into the fridge hoping the chill would make them easier to roll. It did. The instructions should mention that leaving the mix for 30 minutes to an hour would be good as the addition of warm water makes mixing easy but the ball rolling very difficult, around 20-30 minutes in the fridge and I had some perfectly shaped balls. I ended up with 11 largish balls, the Funch pack said ‘makes 10-15’, so I was within the expected ballpark. I wasn’t particular about the tablespoon amount, I just grabbed what I thought was a rough tablespoon size of mix and it still came out about right.
An issue with them while hiking is going to be they are easy to crush and may need a firm container, not that that’s a problem per se, they still taste the same but they won’t be so pretty anymore – well as pretty as a brown ball rolled in coconut can be. I’d also be wary in summer as I’m not sure how hot these things could handle before reverting to a messy sticky blob – winter here is pretty cold so I won’t get a chance to test them out in the ‘heat’.
On the upside, once made they’ll last 10 days in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. They also have a (pre-cooked) 12-month shelf life, in case you want to keep them on hand.
Making 11 of them, each ball comes out at roughly $0.99 each (not including ¼ cup of maple syrup in equation), I tend to buy individual bags or nuts/dried fruit and chocolate to make up my scroggin as I try to minimise my use of things containing vegetable oil (palm oil) which some brands of readymade trail mix contain. I was going to compare prices of scroggin v Bliss Balls but I’ve just realised I have no idea how much my scroggin mix costs per 50g or 100g, not that you always want to snack on the same thing all the time, but price comparisons can be useful. Not this time, unfortunately.
Clik here to view.
Taste & Nutrition (Rating: 90%)
The taste was quite good compared to other ball mixes I’ve tried. Some of those things taste terrible, I remember trying one a few months back that appeared on supermarket shelves and was thoroughly put off by the bitter, flavourless and dry concoction that it was. I’ve also made a few other in the bag recipes of similar items – ‘protein balls’, ‘energy balls’ and one from that I quit sugar lady that didn’t really quit sugar (quit fructose apparently).
The ones that are made at home tend to be a bit nicer than the readymade options, these Bliss Balls are in that category and do taste good. I used maple syrup when making these as I prefer it’s sweetness and from a full sugar person point of view with minimal dietary hang ups, I needed that little bit of sweet from the maple syrup compared to rice malt syrup which I find isn’t as sweet as I’d like.
I already mentioned that Funch’s Bliss Balls include a good mix of fats, protein and carbohydrates for walking. They have the added benefit of absolutely no added sugar.
What I Like
- Taste
- Few additional ingredients needed.
- Good mix of Carbohydrate, fats and protein.
What I Don’t Like
- Mix needs to be chilled after mixing otherwise ball rolling is close to impossible.
- Crushability / heat tolerance questionable if hiking during warmer months.
Get Some
Check out the Funch website to buy online or find stockists.
Disclaimer: Funch provided product for review. This has no influence on the opinions presented here.
Have you tried the Funch’s Bliss Balls? Got any questions or comments? Let us know by commenting below.
The post Review: Funch Bliss Balls – DIY Healthy Snacks for Hiking appeared first on The Bushwalking Blog.
Image may be NSFW.Clik here to view.