Review: Mariani Cranberry Honeybar

It seems like I've been hitting our friend to the north up for a lot of reviews recently.  As I came to do today's review, I noticed that Mariani is a Canadian company, so that trend continues as I take a look at them once again with this review of the Mariani Cranberry Honeybar that I was able to pick up at the Walmart Neighborhood Market for $1.29.  The bar itself is 1.4 ounces with 180 calories and five grams of protein.  It's also packed with all sorts of healthy characteristics as it's also all natural, gluten free, vegetarian and wheat free.

The wrapper and Mariani both put this bar out there for all the world to see as it is in clear packaging and unadorned with any sort of coating.  The wrapper tagline of "Pure & Simple!" could not be any more appropriate in this case.  What can be seen are a lot of huge primary ingredients.  As the picture above shows, there are a lot of large almonds and large peanuts.  Those nuts are then joined by a lot of large raisins and cranberries, so those primary ingredients are visible to the naked eye.  Once you get the bar out of the wrapper, you quickly detect the presence of the other primary (and named) ingredient as this bar because quite sticky from the honey that is binding everything together.  That sticky honey has quite a strong smell, which is also joined by a very strong nutty smell, which primarily is that of peanuts.  There's a very faint raisin/cranberry smell, but the nuts and honey really take the day in the aroma category here.

Based on its visual appearance, it should come as no surprise as this was both chewy and crunchy at the same time.  The dried raisins and cranberries provided the chewy portion and of course the peanuts and almonds provided the crunchy portions.  The flavor leaders of all the ingredients were the raisins and the peanuts, as their flavors stood out above the others.  The cranberries were definitely noticeable, but they were noticeable in a little kick of tang that finished off each bite.  All the sweetness in this bar was derived by the ample amount of honey and it did a good job balancing out the salty nuttiness of the peanuts and almonds.  All in all, this was a perfectly equal balance of salty and sweet.

Buy It or Fly By It?  Quite frankly, I loved this bar and was disappointed when I finished it because I wanted more.  That clearly means that this earns a BUY IT rating and if you can happen to find it in your stores, I would highly recommend that you grab it off the shelves because it is the perfect representation of how to balance out salty and sweet, chewy and crunchy, fruits and nuts, etc.  Truly an excellent effort and now that I'm typing this review after the fact, it's just got me craving this yet again.  It may be pure and simple, but it's also delicious!

BUY IT!!