Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Review: KIND Strong & Kind Thai Sweet Chili Almond Protein Bar


He's been mentioned here before but I'll mention again that Junk Food Guy runs a pretty damn fine blog.  Not only does he review products, but he also talks about sports, life, etc.  I've done a lot of reviews, but I only really do quick hitter-type reviews, so just looking the sheer volume of reviews and other things that he's done is astounding to me.  Anyway, I've learned via his Twitter feed that he's a big fan of savory snack bars, so today's review that adds to my KIND review series is an ode to him.  I was able to pick up this KIND Strong & Kind Thai Sweet Chili Almond Protein Bar at Kroger on sale for $1.25 and the bar is 1.6 ounces and has 230 calories and ten grams of protein.  It's also gluten free, among other things, so it's also got that going for it.  This one also shows up as right in the middle on the Spice meter on the wrapper, so I guess I shouldn't expect to be on fire when I'm done, so that's good.



If you want to get a chuckle, click on the product link above and take a look at the summary that KIND has written for this bar.  Creative and also very funny.  Anyway, when I pulled this bar out of the wrapper, it was plentifully populated with huge almonds, pumpkin seeds and also pea crisps (that's where they protein comes from).  Also visible on this very sticky bar were some of the variety of spices that made up this Thai chili blend, including parsley, garlic and red pepper, among others.  One thing that kind of surprised me about this bar was that I expected it to have a strong chili smell.  The chili smell was mild and this bar really smelled more nutty than anything.  I thought the spice would have overpowered that, but it did not.

When I took my first bite, I got a very crunchy bar, which was obviously something I expected going in based on the presence of the huge nuts, seeds and crisps.  What I didn't get at first was much spice as this was originally fairly sweet to start.  Once I let the bar linger in my mouth for a bit, then the Thai chili flavor started to pick up and brought a fair amount of heat to the back of my throat.  It wasn't any type of spice that would have ruined my day, but I was grateful to have some water nearby to tame it a bit.  Sometimes spice can become so hot that it's unappetizing.  This was what I would describe as an appetizing heat and when mixed with the unexpected and nice sweetness, made for an interesting and tasty blend.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I will admit that I put off tasting this for the longest time because I was kind of afraid of it.  Savory bars aren't my thing and the presence of the spice made it even more of a turn off.  But, since I worship Junk Food Guy and want to keep him happy, I decided to make the leap and try it out and I'm glad I did because I found this to be quite tasty and deserving of a BUY IT rating.  If you like savory bars and/or are willing to make the leap to something spicy, this is definitely worth trying out.

BUY IT!!

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