LÄRABAR

As you know, I'm always on a quest to find tasty snack bars to stuff in my purse.  I have found some winners, but, generally, I dislike them.  Granola bars are always dry and boring, protein bars tend to tasty funky, and the only ones I tend to like are soft baked breakfast-style bars.  But I keep trying.

LÄRABAR is rather near the top of my dislike list.  They make several product lines: the classic LÄRABAR, ALT protein bars, über snack bars, and Jŏcalat chocolate bars.  I've only tried the originals and the über bars.

Original LÄRABAR

LÄRABAR is their original line, made from unsweetened fruits, nuts, and spices.  Each bar has fewer than 9 ingredients.  Most use dates as the base.

The names of the bars sound like decadent desserts.  They always tempt me, with their names alone.  Spoiler: they don't remotely resemble their namesakes.  They aren't tasty.

Apple Pie LÄRABAR.

Made from apples and dates, almonds and walnuts, and spiced with cinnamon and raisins.

The aroma on this was really lovely.  It smelt like a well spiced apple pie.  So far, so good.

But ... I did not like the taste at all.  The apples were mushy, and although the dates provided a bit of sweetness, the nuts were sour and bitter.

This was nothing remotely like an apple pie!

Blueberry Muffin.

Made from a base of blueberries and dates, with walnuts, lemon juice, and vanilla.

Now, I like blueberry muffins.  But after the "apple pie", you'd think that I'd be prepared for the Blueberry Muffin LÄRABAR to not remotely resemble a blueberry muffin.  But ... I was foolish, and still somehow thought that I'd find blueberry muffin inside.

Instead I found ... surprise, nuts and dates.  This time, with some blueberries, yes, but the dominant flavor was still dates, and the texture was all mushy.  I didn't even want a second bite of this.

Cashew Cookie.

Basically just cashews and dates.  This was certainly nothing like a cookie.  Did not like. Gross, gross.

Peanut Butter Cookie.

Same as the cashew "cookie", but with peanuts.  I liked the peanut flavor, but, overwhelmed with date flavor.  I just do not like these.  And why, why, why do they name it "cookie"?

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.  

Another base of dates, with peanuts and chocolate chips.

Peanuts are good.  Chocolate is good.  Together they are better.  I thought that would save the fact that it is still a date based bar but ... no such luck.  I just do not like the date base, and thought it tasted really strange against the peanut flavors.  And the texture was all wrong.  Do not like.

 über Bars

The über line is their fun snacks, a mix of sweet and salty, made from fruits and nuts.

Bananas Foster über Bar.

Made from almonds, walnuts, and pecans, along with dried bananas, sweetened with brown rice syrup and honey, held together with dates, and spiced with salt and cinnamon. 

This sounded very fascinating.  Who doesn't love bananas foster?  I was hoping for a sweet, nutty, banana-y treat.  Instead, it really was just a bunch of nuts glued together, with a bit of a banana aftertaste.  I think the name of it just made me expect, and want, something very different, so I didn't end up liking it very much.  I could imagine it perhaps being good melted over some vanilla ice cream?  But ... not just as a bar.

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Roasted Nut Roll.

Made from almonds, cashews, peanuts, pecans, macadamia nuts, sweetened with brown rice syrup and honey, held together with dates.

Basically a bunch of mixed nuts stuck together with a slightly sweet date paste, salty too. Not bad … almost really good.

Subsequent tasting notes:  Great mix of nuts, sweet, but satisfying.  [ Just a bunch of nuts and sweet binder, not particularly good nor bad. ] [ Salty, good nuts. ] [ Good mix of nuts, nice sweetness, yum ] [ Love this thing.  Great nuts, great sweetness, yum yum yum .]