I've gradually been making my way through reviews of all the Rickland Orchards products and flavors that I can find in my store and this latest review of in the Greek yogurt themed product craze is the Rickland Orchards Blueberry Acai Greek Yogurt Bar. Now, I love blueberries, but products with acai, not so much. So this is bar is basically like good versus evil for me in terms of the flavors that are pitted up against each other. Still, sometimes acai products turn out okay and I was curious to see whether this bar ended up as one of those situations. I picked this one up for $1.59 at Meijer and each bar is 1.41 ounces with 160 calories and seven grams of protein.
As with all the Rickland Orchards bars that I've reviewed, the base of this yogurt is their typical plain vanilla yogurt and then a swirl of yogurt on top for decoration, although that base layer of yogurt isn't exactly pretty and well covered in the photo above. Also like the other bars, the primary mix of the bar includes honey roasted granola with a mix of the dried fruit of choice. In this instance, the dried fruit of choice is blueberries, I've got to admit that I was astonished by how big those dried blueberries were in the mix. I usually see small bits of blueberries, but these were full sized berries that had been dried out. Very out of the ordinary, in my experience. The mix also included large almonds and since granola always needs some extra crunch to make it awesome, the presence of those almonds was very welcome. The acai component was a powder that was mixed in (that's a new one), so obviously there were no visible bits in the whole mix of the bar.
Biting into this, I was met with a nice crunchy component of honey sweetened granola and then a nice blueberry tang and sweetness. For at least the first portion of my chew, this was a nice bar as the blueberry tang and honey sweetness mixed well with the cooling granola. At the back end of the bite is where the acai (powder) kicked in and nearly ruined this as it caused the entire bar to develop an almost bitter taste. I can honestly I say I was not a fan of that bitterness, but thankfully it was over quickly as it dissipated within a matter of seconds. Had it lingered, it would have ruined the bar.
Buy It or Fly By It? This one toes the line between getting a positive or a negative rating because of the presence of that acai powder. Since I did mention that the bitterness dissipates very quickly, the taste of the blueberry and yogurt is enough to save this bar from a total flavor, so I'll give it a BUY IT rating. It's not a great bar and it's definitely my lease favorite of all the Rickland Orchards bars that I've had, but it is still edible and flavorful enough that I can say that it would be a decent purchase for anyone that is so inclined and is looking for a decent tasting snack.
BUY IT!! |
I would also give it a buy it rating. I think these bars are delicious (for not being chocolate). The last time I ate these was when my local Costco had them in stock. Costco seems to be changing what it carries a lot...
ReplyDeleteHowever, because the fruit is not that easily available at any other place in its raw form, it's the organic freeze dried acai powder that is in great demand.
ReplyDeleteAcai powder