Reviewing and ranking Prima’s collagen-based Ancestral Protein Bar Variety Pack, which includes the flavors: Cacao, Mocha, Salted Caramel, and Cookie Dough.
Overall Review & Verdict
The big thing about these protein bars is that they position themselves as animal-like, emphasizing not just their brand name but also using words like “ancestral”, “animal protein”, “beef tallow”, and other popular terms.
Ingredients-wise, they primarily consist of grass-fed bovine collagen and whey protein, as well as grass-fed beef tallow, with other “basic” ingredients and non-sweeteners. Their macros aren’t terrible either, specifically their calorie-to-protein ratio, though you can find better.
In terms of appearance, they look basic. There are no exciting coatings, toppings, or anything fancy here, just a block of protein with a few embedded bits throughout. The bar sizes are average, too.
However, what stands out is how they feel. They have a very smooth, oily coating, and when you touch them, this oilyness sticks to your hands like a thin lotion you just applied. They also don’t smell like regular protein bars; they have the same very neutral smell, which I can’t describe. Is it beef tallow? I’m not sure. It doesn’t smell bad, just different, as if they didn’t add any flavor or sugar.
Their composition and mouthfeel are like Play-Doh. You can literally bend these, and they won’t break apart whatsoever, and when you bite in, they glue to your teeth!
Composition aside, they’re all, at best, mildly sweet and have a very clear and distinct taste that matches their smell. Again, I’m not sure if it’s the beef tallow or something, but it’s a flavor I’ve never tasted in a protein bar before. Like the smell, it’s not horrible, but I feel like it takes away a lot of the flavors they’re trying to represent. In combination with the lack of sugaryness, these simply taste odd to me and don’t have enough sweetness to bring out their flavors.
Honestly, I didn’t enjoy these bars, though I’d still recommend them. Give it a shot if you do find one. It’s a different experience that I haven’t seen replicated in any other protein bar. The Play-Doh-like consistency, the interesting smell and taste, and the oily feeling on your hands make for a very unique experience. So, it’s weird — in my opinion, they’re not very enjoyable, yet it is still worth a try.
Flavor Ranking
1. Cacao
This bar has a few chocolate chunks, but they only provide a minimal crunch. Additionally, it’s also the sweetest bar on the list, falling in the mild-to-moderately sweet range, which helps bring out its flavor much more than the others. To me, this tastes like it was made with cocoa powder, with an attempt to make it more milk-chocolatey. I can taste the authentic cocoa powder, and its sweetness makes for one of the better bars; however, it still has a beef tallow background, though not as harsh as the others.
2. Mocha
Like many others on this list, it also has chocolate chip pieces embedded throughout. Its flavor profile is a lot like the others, with a beef tallow taste, but this bar is a tad sweeter and can at least suggest a very small, odd cocoa-like mocha flavor. However, it’s simply still not sweet enough, and that beef tallow flavor really makes it taste off and hinders the flavor profile as a whole.
3. Cookie Dough
This bar has a few embedded chocolate pieces, but they pack a surprising crunchy punch. In terms of flavor, it tastes like a very mildly sweet, odd cookie-dough-esque flavor mixed with tallow. Honestly, if you blindfolded me, I wouldn’t have guessed this was cookie dough. I would have said something slightly sugary, with a hint of flavors mixed.
4. Salted Caramel
This flavor has small chocolate pieces embedded throughout, which provide a light, semi-crunchy contrast to the chewy filling.
Its flavor is completely neutral, and it smells the same. I don’t get any caramel, let alone saltiness or even a chocolate flavor. It tastes like PRIMA missed out on adding any distinct flavor or sweetness — there’s really nothing here; it’s very neutral-tasting. What happened?