Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Review: Mariani Sesame Honeybar


After having reviewed several of their products and having seen consistent success in my reviews of those products, it might be time for me to join the Mariani family.  What I like about these products is they stick to basic recipes and presentations and just deliver on flavor.  That said, the source of today's review is one that I've held until last because not only is it the least basic of all the bars that I picked up in a splurge at the Walmart Neighborhood Market for $1.49, it's also the one that I was most scared of because the recipe description seemed just off to me.  Either way, it's time to plow ahead and take a look at this all natural Mariani Sesame Honeybar that comes in at 1.4 ounces with 200 calories and six grams of protein.



As you can see before the wrapper even comes off from the first photo in this review, there is A LOT going on with this bar.  Taking the wrapper off does nothing to dispel that.  There are very few ingredients (Sesame, Peanuts, Honey, Raisins, Almonds, Sunflower Kernels, Pumpkin Seeds) in this bar, but there are a TON of them.  The only thing that was not visually noticeable as A TON was the peanuts, but I could definitely smell them as they had that strong peanut odor that anyone that has ever smelled peanuts comes to recognize.  It also had the smell of honey and the various other nuts, fruits and seeds that were spread throughout this bar.  I'd not going to dive into super deep detail because I think the picture does a good job of saying it all, but the one thing that the picture can't really show is this bar was quite sticky from the honey (although I guess the sheen on some of the seeds does show that a bit).

Before I bit into this, I expected something that would be hard to bite into and extremely crunchy.  That was the exact opposite of what happened.  I bit into this and despite the plethora of tightly packed ingredients, this was surprisingly airy.  Well, it was mainly airy with the added texture components of the graininess from the sesame and other seeds and then some crunchiness from the peanuts and large almonds.  There was also a slight amount of sticky chew brought home from the raisins as well.  The variety of ingredients provided a variety of textures and that made the act of eating it quite fun and that doesn't even mention the flavor, which I would say was pretty darn good.  Alternating between sweet and salty, this bar was all over the board.  It initially hit with saltiness from the nuts (peanuts leading the way, of course) and seeds but then was hit with a late pop of sweetness from the raisins and honey.  The texture made this fun and so did the flavor.  I will say that the saltiness did border on being a bit too much, but that late pop of sweetness saved it from going over the line.  It was a great save.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I've already said this was quite good, so it clearly gets a BUY IT rating.  Like I said, I was scared of this bar going in, but this ultimately provided me with an eating experience that I enjoyed not only due to the flavor, but also due to the fact that it was so much fun to eat.  Once again, the Mariani family has delivered a winner and it might actually be time for me to ask them to adopt me to be part of their family because I'm starting to sound like their biggest shill with the way I gush over them in these reviews.

BUY IT!!

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