A dramatic supply crisis has struck the premier budget
outdoors fuel supply the fig roll. The humble pastry-wrapped
fruit biccy is a favourite of walkers, climbers and mountain bikers
thanks to its balance of fruity sugars and biscuity carbohydrate, but
right now the shelves are empty.
If
you're to believe the Guardian
newspaper, it all comes down to an unfortunate confluence of
two unrelated events. On the one hand excessive heat in Anatolia,
Turkey has dampened the pollenating ardour of the local wasps leading
to a 40 per-cent decrease in fig numbers. On the other hand, figs
from Turkey were diagnosed as containing excessive levels of a
naturally occuring toxin generated by a natural mould earlier this
year.
The end result is that we've eaten all the available fig rolls and
there are none whatsoever left in the supply stream and it may be a
month or more before they reappear.
Alternatives
Fig rolls contain around 60 calories per biscuit and 8 per-cent
fat, which isn't bad. So what's a skint outdoors athlete - ahem -
supposed to do for fuel in the mean time?
Specialist Energy Bars Energy bars from the likes of Power
Bar, SIS, High Five, Clif and Torq are formulated to contain the
ideal balance of carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals and sugars for
optimum outdoor performance. Unfortunately they're often either
expensive or inedible, sometimes both. Our favourite is the Torq Bar,
but for one of those you could have one and a half packets of fig
rolls....
General Cereal Bars There are plenty of cereal bar
alternatives out there, but check the ingredients carefully. Many of
them contain high levels of fat, which you don't want in an outdoor
fuel source and lots of sugar which means they'll kick in fast, then
fade away. Flapjacks in particular, contain loads of fat, the ones
that don't often taste like dried wallpaper paste, so choose
carefully.
Chocolate Bars Taste great, but are generally stuffed with
quick release sugars. That means a rapid energy high then a fall in
blood sugar levels as insulin kicks in. Okay for a rapid energy boost
towards the end of a day, but not for regular consumption unless
you're prepared to keep knocking them back at 30-minute intervals.
Biscuits Generally the nicer they taste, the more like
confectionary they are in nutritional terms, if you must go biscuity,
Jaffa Cakes are low in fat and have some protein content so make a
good recovery snack. Not happy in warm conditions though where the
chocolate melts and the biscuits / cakes fuse together
annoyingly.
Fresh Fruit A tricky one - unfortuantely fresh fruit tends
to be heavy due to a high fluid content and high levels of fructose
can mean another short energy burst. Our favourite is the banana, but
beware, the more ripe the banana, the more of the carbohydrate is
sugar based, so for slow burn performance, go for the greenish ones,
which will also survive better in your pack.
Dried Fruit Drying the fruit concentrates the sugar again,
but at least dried fruit is more easily portable and contains fibre
and nutrients you won't get, for example, from choccy bars. Raisins
and dried apricots are both good for serial snacking.
Rice Pudding No, really, lots of slow burn carbohydrate,
but a bit of a pain to cart around. On the other hand, you can opt
for a plastic tub of Muller Rice and a tea spoon, just pack the thing
carefully.
