Kashi Foods have recently attempted in their ad campaign to appeal to the average person. The television advertisements feature everyday people, who just happen to like healthy food only if it tastes good. I happen to be one of those people and vary rarely does that happen – that I find something that is healthy, does not cost too much, that you don’t need to eat more than one serving of and that actually taste good.
Since I normally like Granola type cereals but find them to be extremely expensive to get the type that I like, I decided to try Kashi Granola Cereal, Orchard Spice. There are actually two types of the granola product available; Orchard Spice and Mountain Medley. First, both types of Kashi Granola provide the following nutritional value: seven whole grain based granola equaling two thirds of a person’s daily needs; 300 mg Omega 3 (good fats); 25% of your daily fiber needs; is all natural and contains only 7 grams total fat per serving.
The Orchard Spice variety combines their seven grain granola with apples, pecans, raisins, and flax seed along with several spices. The most noticeable spice in flavor is cinnamon, but I detected some nutmeg and honey also. The ingredients in Kashi Orchard Spice Granola are: Whole: Rolled Oats, Hard Red Winter Wheat, Rye, Barley, Triticale, Long Grain Brown Rice, Buckwheat, Sesame Seeds), Evaporated Cane Juice Syrup, Apples, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Pecans, Raisins, Gum Arabic, Vegetable Glycerin, Whole Flaxseed, Spices, Sea Salt, Honey, Soy Lecithin, Nonfat Dry Milk, Natural Mixed Tocopherols For Freshness, Luo Han Fruit Concentrate. Those with soy, nut or milk allergies should avoid this product. The apples in the cereal were nicely sized slices of dried apple similar to those found in snack packs of dried fruit. I would have liked more apples and raisins and less pecans, but that is just a personal preference for the sweetness of fruit flavors. The pecans were a little on the large size also, my preference would have been for them to be chopped finer. The raisins were plump and fresh. It stayed crunchy in milk, was very filling, and appealing to look at. Many “healthy” cereals look like cat or dog food and sometimes taste as I would imagine pet foods taste.
A serving size is one-half cup and each serving is 220 calories, with 60 calories from fat. Although high in fiber, there is no Vitamin A, C, or Calcium, other than what may be provided in your milk. It does provide 6% of the recommended daily allowance of iron, but diabetics (and Adkins Diet users) may not want to use up a great deal of their carbohydrate allowance on the 37 grams of carbs contained in this cereal.
The cost for one 13.7 ounce box totaling about 7 servings per box is approximately $4.59. For a healthy, good tasting granola cereal that averages about .65 a meal it is an excellent price and I will be purchasing this item again.
Kashi Granola Orchard Spice is not only good as just a morning cereal, it is also good on regular or vanilla flavored yogurt as well as a topping for low fat or sugar free ice cream (if you are watching calories or carbs). I may even try it in a breakfast bread recipe, as I think the apples, pecans and raisins would be a good compliment.
