Monday, August 5, 2013

Review: Larabar ALT Cinnamon Apple Crisp Fruit and Nut Bar


In my previous Larabar ALT review, I covered what makes these different than a typical protein bar, but I'll go over it again real quick.  Basically, instead of various manufactured ingredients, Larabar has decided to go natural as it source of protein by choosing peas to provide that bunch.  Pretty strange, but as the last review showed, it actually kind of works.  Anyway, I'm making my way through the flavors of these new bars and that leads me to today's review of this Larabar ALT Cinnamon Apple Crisp Fruit and Nut Bar that I picked up at Meijer for $1.25.  It's 1.95 ounces and has 210 calories with ten grams of pea produced protein.



Maybe it was the case with the last ALT bar that I looked at and didn't notice it at the time, but the first thing I noticed after taking this bar out of the wrapper was how bulky it felt in comparison to one of the typical Larabar products.  Must be the protein.  Outside of that bulkiness though, the formation and recipe for construction is pretty much the same as any Larabar out there.  The bar is made up of the typical date puree and then is mixed with some bits of peanuts and dried apples.  Also in that mix is a hint of cinnamon, which was barely detectable by smell when I took a whiff of this one.  That cinnamon odor did smell a bit off though, but maybe that was because it had the smell of the dried apples pulling at it, but I don't know.  This bar was also ultra sticky.  I know that doesn't have bearing on anything really, but it was an observation.

When I took a bite of this soft-ish bar, it was very chewy, which is not at all surprising based on prior Larabar experience.  One thing that was a bit different was that this one dried out a little quicker than normal and became kind of laborious to chew.  Weird.  Anyway, in terms of flavor, it didn't really have a lot.  I could definitely taste the apples and the cinnamon, but neither flavor would fit the description of the "word" strong in any shape or fashion.  The flavors were there mostly at the back end of each bite, but neither of them was very prevalent.  Of the two, I guess the apple flavor was the most notable and the cinnamon only had an extremely minimal amount of heat.  The peanuts, while also there, did not have any flavor either and really all they did was add a grainy and semi-crunchy texture to the soft-ish bar.

Buy It or Fly By It?  This bar had the flavors it advertised, it just didn't have them in copious amounts.  Because of that, this isn't a must get type of product, but it is tasty enough that I'll give it a BUY IT rating.  If you end up with one of these in your hands, you won't be upset, but don't go out of your way to seek one of these out because this is ultimately only a mild tasting bar and teeters on the brink of being boring.

BUY IT!!

1 comment:

  1. I am a huge Lara fan and love Pumpkin, so I was excited by the introduction of these. I have had almost all the flavors and while they taste ok, they are as dry as you can get. It's like eating one of those fire-starters blocks that you use to get your fire going. Very saw-dusty.

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