Review: Curate Harmonious Blend Marcona Almond & Apricot Bar

So I was in Kroger recently and noticed that a new brand of bars had crept onto the shelves.  What I also noticed about these bars is that they proudly profess on the wrapper that they are made with joy (it is a harmonious blend after all!).  The cynic in me just wants to eat that up and destroy them for it, but I'll try to keep this intro as positive as possible against all urges and just dive right in to this review of the Curate Harmonious Blend Marcona Almond & Apricot Bar that I was able to grab for $1.79 (I think).  It's 1.59 ounces and within that are 190 calories and six grams of protein.  It's also gluten and soy free.

The first thing that anyone would notice about this bar when taking a look at it is that the wrapper is very, very busy in terms of how much it is advertising about this bar.  Their website is equally as busy, so I"ll just stick with their description of this bar:  "Lemon adds zest to a traditional snack combination found in Spain: soft, sweet apricots with Marcona almonds. The Marcona almonds plus quinoa lend protein and fiber. Harmonious Blend celebrates different, yet complementary ingredients brought together at last."  That's a lot to take in.  Anyway, I will note that the Marcona almonds were quite large and that this bar was also sticky.  There were a ton of dried apricots spread throughout too, so the primary named ingredients were certainly well represented.

Biting into this, it was sweet, chewy and crunchy.  The quinoa and oats in the mixture also added some graininess to this.  In terms of flavor, there was the tangy sweet of the apricots and lemon juice and then the rich sweetness of the honey.  There was also a very mild salty bite from the balsamic vinegar and sea salt that was included within the mix of the bar.  The almonds didn't do much other than just add crunch, but since almonds are so often a mildly flavored nut, that really did not surprise me much.  This bar was all about the sweetness and tang with a bit of crunch added in for fun.  On those levels, it was successful.

Buy It or Fly By It?  There was so much going on with this bar from both a visual and taste perspective that it was almost too much to take in.  Still, it was a tasty bar that I'll give a BUY IT rating.  This bar billed itself as a harmonious blend and I will give it that because this wide variety of ingredients worked together to provide a tasty eating experience.

BUY IT!!