Yes, I know, this is a picture of the Lemon flavor.  That’s because the Raspberry ones aren’t out yet.  But, I will tell you, they are delicious.  The PowerBar sampling team working their booth at Interbike had a hidden tray of the new flavor reserved for serious retailers, but the Media badge works like voodoo magic on them.
If you haven’t tried these, they’re tasty (current lemon and cola flavors included).  They’re squishy, and they have a little liquidy center, and I think they’d work well shoved into a jersey pocket sans resealable bag for quick grabs.  Nine blasts per bag, and six of them equal the carb count of one PowerBar gel.  They retail for $1.99/bag, so  calorie-per-dollar, they’re basically on par with the gel.  Unlike the gel, you can gum on one or two at a time without having to worry about a gooey sticky mess getting all over your fingers and getting your handlebar tape all nasty.
Click the “more” tab to see a pic of the Cola flavor and a BikeRumor breakdown of the ingredients (do you know what invert sugar is?  Is it safe to eat Carnauba Wax?)…
Here’s the cola flavor.  For reference, 50mg caffeine per serving of the Cola flavor is slightly more than the 40mg caffeine in a 12oz can of cola.  The C2 MAX carb blend is composed of:
Sucrose – table sugar, one glucose molecule + one fructose molecule
Glucose – “glucose syrup from wheat” is what the ingredients statement says. I’ve never seen glucose listed like this before, but we’ll assume it’s basically glucose.
Invert Sugar – This is simply a sugar syrup (ie. sucrose + water) that has had a small amount of acid (citric acid, cream of tartar, lemon juice, etc.) which breaks the bond between the glucose and fructose molecules.  The result is a finer crystal structure that yields a smoother finished product and is 1.3x sweeter than regular sucrose.  Now you know.
Here’s the actual ingredients statement and nutrional facts panel.  Overall, they’re a fairly natural product, no artificial flavors or sweeteners or trans fats.  But, I have two comments about these things as you consider them for your energy needs:
Carnauba Wax: It seems knowledge is indeed power.  This ingredient (or other food grade waxes) are in any number of confectionary, baked and other goods you probably eat without pause, but it’s something that I’ve always wondered about.  Carnauba Wax is a natural product of the Brazilian Carnauba Palm, and is literally beaten out of their leaves to collect it.  A European Commission study showed that rats fed a 10% Carnauba Wax diet for a 90-day period and showed no ill effects and no residual wax in their tissues.  It’s not soluble in water, so my assumption is it pretty much passes through you, no harm done (I could research this more, but it’s late and I want to finish watching the Hulk so I can return it).
Electrolytes:  This is my larger comment on these.  Suprisingly, there are virtually no electrolytes in these things.  20mg of sodium is not a lot when you’re talking about a sports performance supplement that’s intended for use during exercise, presumably in place of gels or sports drinks.  There’s no potassium, calcium or magnesium at all (at least not that they list).  PowerBar, if you’re reading this and I’m mistaken, or if you’d like to comment on the electrolyte level, please leave a comment and we’ll publish it.
Overall, these are tasty little treats that add some variety and ease of use to fueling your muscles…they’re basically just squishy sugar.  Just make sure you have some sports drink to wash them down with to get enough electrolytes.
