Review: Sage Valley Almond & Coconut Honey Bar

Every now and then, I start to have thoughts about the future of the blog and start to worry about running out of products to review (or that I'd want to review).  Then things like what happened recently at my local Marsh grocery store happen.  The store decided to remodel the old cafe part of the store and turn it into an area where they could sell more product.  In this case, they decided to make the entire area a health/natural/nutrition foods section and by doing that, they opened me up to an entirely new selection of products to review.  Thank you, Marsh...you've made sure that the blog will continue for a while.  Anyway, it was in this section that I picked up this Sage Valley Almond & Coconut Honey Bar for $1.99.  It comes in at 1.4 ounces with 200 calories and four grams of protein.

Clear packaging eliminates the mystery of what a bar looks like, but I'll describe it anyway.  This was a standard rice crisp mix (the rice crisps were large and clearly visible) that is mixed with an assortment of coconut shards and large almonds.  What was interesting and perhaps foreboding is that this bar had a strong salty smell and that immediately made me thing that I'd need a glass of water nearby to rescue before this was said and done.  What was funny about that salty smell is that the bar advertised on the packaging that it was low sodium, but I could have never guessed it based on the smell.  Anyway, all of that mix was bound together by a sticky honey and with that, I was ready to dive in.

Biting into this was interesting.  My initial inclination was that this was a bizarre version of Rice Krispies cereal in bar form with some interesting add-ins.  Most rice crisp mixes are essentially flavorless, but I think the honey and coconuts in this mix brought just enough sweetness to remind me of the breakfast cereal.  What this bar had that the breakfast cereal does not have though was a strong salty taste.  I can honestly say I wasn't a big fan of that, but the honey did tame it at least a little bit. The almonds were as I'd expect in that they brought occasional pop to a chewy that had airy rice crisps and grainy coconut shards.  While this bar certainly tilted toward being too salty, the honey and coconut did a good enough job taming it just enough.

Buy It or Fly By It?  Like I said, the honey and coconut saved this bar, so it gets a BUY IT rating from me.  It was a funny spin (in my mind) on the Rice Krispies breakfast cereal and that's something that I thoroughly enjoyed.  I'm glad Marsh added these bars (so far) and I'm glad that I was able to give one a review because this was pretty darn tasty.  It'll be interesting to see how this plays out in the future.