Review: Nature Valley Chewy Trail Mix Cranberry & Pomegranate Bar

I'm beginning to think that the person responsible for buying the snacks for snack time in my office has stock in General Mills and is trying to get us addicted to their products by putting out snacks such as this Nature Valley Chew Trail Mix Cranberry & Pomegranate Bar to add to my collection of Nature Valley reviews.  I've already mentioned that I didn't pay for this, so I don't have a price, but what I do know is that this bar is 1.1 ounces and has 130 calories with a barely there two grams of protein.  It's a snack bar though and not a protein bar, so I guess I shouldn't be so derogatory when describing the protein level.  My bad.

This bar comes from the Trail Mix bar line of Nature Valley products, so naturally this one is going to have more of a trail mix inclination with a mix of fruits and nuts and the product name would mostly imply, that's the case with this bar as there are bits of dried cranberries and pomegranates spread throughout.  One thing that wasn't in the actual product name, but is a necessary component of trail mix, is the nut component and when you read the by-line on the packaging (or look at the handy pictures), you can clearly see that this bar includes almonds as the nut component and when examining the bar, there are very large almonds spread throughout.  The entire granola, fruit and nut mix is then bound together by various syrups and honey, whose presence makes this bar extremely sticky to the touch.

The sticky texture isn't just to the touch as it unsurprisingly remains sticky in your mouth (honey will do that, ha!) and kind of makes the granol mix stick to your teeth and make you put forth a little effort when eating this one.  My lack of desire to exert any effort nothwithstanding in this case, the rest of the bar is alternately crunchy from the huge almonds and soft from the granola and dried fruit.  One thing about this bar is that it is extremely tany and sweet from the cranberries.  It's so sweet and tangy, in fact, that I would almost say that this one is a teeth rattler.  That's right, a sticky teeth rattler.  Interesting description if I say so myself.

Buy It or Fly By It?  If you can deal with the fact that this bar is a sticky teeth rattler, you are going to like this bar as it is quite tasty.  It could use a bit of a salty or hearty component like peanut butter or something like that to tone down the cranberries, but even without that, it is still a good bar that gets a BUY IT rating.  If tang is not your thing, this will not be your favorite bar.  If tang is your thing or you couldn't care less, this could be your bar too.

BUY IT!!