Review: Pure Protein Cranberry Almond Cashew Bar

I mentioned in my last Pure Protein bar review that Kroger sneakily put a couple of new Pure Protein flavors on the shelves of my local store and it was probably quite a while before I actually noticed it.  Well, I picked up a couple of those and today's review of this Pure Protein Cranberry Almond Cashew Bar is the second of those reviews.  Like the last, this one was $1.00 and it comes in at 1.58 ounces with 200 calories and eighteen grams of protein.  It's also gluten free for the celiacs of the world as well.

As the clear wrapper easily shows, there's not a lot of mystery to this bar.  There's a plethora of dried cranberries, huge almonds and huge cashews.  The base of the bar is a plain yogurt base.  Now, what is not shown is the interior of the bar and it is a bulky protein mix that was so tough that it actually made this bar kind of difficult to snap in half for the photo above.  Also not known until I took this out of the wrapper was that this bar was EXTREMELY sticky.  Lastly, the bar had a strong yogurt aroma and that was about it as the fruits and nuts got kind of lost in that smell.

Taking a bite out of this proved to be a bit more difficult than I would have anticipated because the interior protein mix was so bulky and so tough.  Once I plowed through that and it took some effort, I was then met by the chewiness of the dried cranberries and the occasional pop of the almonds and cashews.  The yogurt base then melted over the entirety of that.  Unfortunately, despite all that texture, there wasn't a lot of flavor to this.  Actually, it was primarily a flavor of nothing with a slight tang from the cranberries.  The nuts didn't really have any flavor and were mainly just there for decoration and texture.  In its entirety, something just tasted off and I'd make the assumption that is due to the weirdness coming out of the interior protein mix.

Buy It or Fly By It?  When a flavor profile is described as tasting off and having some weirdness to it, that generally does not bode well for the final determination.  That is definitely the case here and I'll give this a FLY BY IT rating because it was not only weird and off, it was also quite a workout to chew and I doubt that is what Pure Protein intended, even if this is a bar intended for health enthusiasts who want to stay in shape.  If this one sneakily pops up on your shelves, keep on walking.

FLY BY IT!!