Pri Niv Banana Based Drinks

פריניב נקטר עם בננה ועוד פרי

Until I read a press release about these PriNiv Banana Based Drinks I had never noticed anything from PriNiv in any of the stores I frequent. 

Turns out they are a smaller company that have not really made it into the main supermarkets just yet.

Until now Priniv drinks were mainly sold at gas stations/highway rest shops and the like, which must be why I had yet to see them, but now the company is working hard to get their products into more major supermarkets .

The new line I read about is PriNiv’s Banana Line. The flavors in this line are; Banana & Dates, Banana & Orange, Banana & Strawberry and Banana & Figs. 

The other day I noticed a Banana & Strawberry flavored one at a central bus station I was at, although this is the least “original” of their flavor combinations I wasn’t sure when I would find anything from PriNiv in the near future and thought now would be the perfect opportunity to try it.

The price was the first thing that surprised me, 9.00NIS for a 500 ml bottle! That’s a lot in my opinion. It could be the high price is due to “highway robbery” of the central bus station or maybe that is the price wherever they are sold, I don’t know? Regardless I think 9NIS is too much, but as I read the bottle more carefully and found out how “healthy” this drink is, I was more and more curious to try it so I caved and got it.

What I found out from reading the label is, this PriNiv drink contains 60% fruit; one and a half bananas and 15 strawberries as well as some apple concentrate, squeezed lemon and wild-berry concentrate. 

When I tried the drink I totally tasted the fruits. I could tell that this drink was made from real fruit, as opposed to, mostly water and some fruit and sweeteners, like other drinks. The banana absolutely gave a nice rich thickness to the drink. Although banana was the main flavor I tasted, I did pick up on the berries and even the apple in the mix.

The PriNiv Strawberry Banana Nectar was much more like a blended fruit smoothie than most of the "nectars" or fruit based soft drinks that are available at all the major supermarkets but it’s still not like having whole fruits freshly blended at a fruit-drink stand. Even thought there are no preservatives, I think the fact that it’s bottled and not freshly blended plays a role in the taste.

The second thing that surprised me about this nectar, and the most interesting thing I learned from reading the bottle, is that this drink is sweetened with stevia (I told you all about stevia here). When I tasted the drink I thought maybe I picked up on a slightly “different” flavor. At first I thought it was the banana and apple combination (I don’t love apple drinks) but once I read that this drink had stevia in it I was convinced it was the steiva I was noticing. I have to say it was not as strong of a steiva aftertaste that I know from using steiva in my tea on a regular basis. I think the fruit, especially the banana, overpowers the steiva therefore it’s not as noticeable. If steivia's aftertaste normally scares you away, this time I don't think that should be the reason to skip this drink.   

Bottom Line: If you come across any of PriNiv’s Banana Based Nectars and one of the combinations sound interesting to you (and the price is ok), I say go for it! You will be getting a thicker banana based “blended” mixed fruit drink that is much healthier than most of the other soft drinks sitting next to it on the store shelf. This one actually tastes like fruits! 
It made me happy to see a company using steiva to sweeten a product. I hope that becomes more and more popular with more and more companies in the near future.

500ml bottle 9NIS

Kosher Badatz 

Disclaimer: All items were purchased by me. No one is paying me for this review. All opinions are my own.