Junk Food Nation, as the Olympics wind down, it’s time for other sports to re-emerge to take the limelight.  Today is a huge sports day for your friendly neighborhood Junk Food Guy.  Not only do the US Women attempt to win Gold redemption against Japan in Olympic Soccer, but it’s also the first day of the PGA Championship (C’MON TIGER, SHOW ME SOMETHING).  And football…oh, special lover, football… is back.

1)      Tonight is Pre-season Game Numero Uno for my beloved Buffalo Bills against the local team, the Washington Redskins.  While everyone else will be watching to see if Robert Griffin III is the next coming of anyone NOT named Rex Grossman, your boy here will be watching to see if the new defensive line can hold up, having added Mario Williams and others in the offseason.  My mouth salivates at a lineup of Mario Williams, Kyle Williams, Marcel Dareus and Mark Anderson.

2)      Last night I watched my DVR-ed Episode 1 of HBO’s Hard Knocks.  It is the greatest show on Earth.  I’ve loved me a show before: LOST, Seinfeld, He-Man.  But Hard Knocks gets me FIRED UP.  I wanted to go outside and run wind sprints after watching the episode.  For the uninitiated, Hard Knocks is a weekly documentary following the training camp of a football team, with a different team each year.  This year it’s the Dolphins.  I don’t even LIKE the Dolphins, but I am RIVETED. Hopefully, some of you out there are watching, because I’m going to be talking about it for weeks to come.

Anyways, enough sports rambling.  Tiger is -1 through nine holes.  Onto today’s review: Rickland Orchards All-Natural Greek Yogurt Bars: Apple & Honey, Cherry Almond, Blueberry Acai!

The fine people at Rickland Orchards contacted me after the Fancy Food Show and shipped me a box of their whole Greek Yogurt bar lineup.  It’s taken me a while to get to them for review, but better late than never.  Thanks Rickland Orchards!

I’m intrigued by these bars because they aren’t just yogurt granola bars, but GREEK yogurt granola bars.  Would there be a difference in taste? Who knows. But these bars were, according to their branding, inspired by the fact that people mixed fruit and granola into their Greek yogurt.  Hardly a novel concept, but I get it.  Let’s see how these bars taste.

First up: Rickland Orchards All-Natural Apple & Honey Greek Yogurt Bars

The first bite of the Rickland Orchards All-Natural Apple & Honey Greek Yogurt Bar produces a LOT of honey flavor!  Wow.  Really good, if you like honey.  The granola was infused with honey in every bite.  The granola was not soft, per se, but definitely firm with enough softness to sink your teeth into it – like a room temperature candy bar.   Definitely very sweet due to the honey.

The yogurt provided a nice backdrop to the bar, but did not distract from it.  The almonds and and soy nuggets provided an amazing texture, providing a really interesting chew.  And finally, the apple flavor – the taste of dried apples and cinnamon was subtle, but there.  It rounded out the taste of the honey pleasantly.  This did not have an overpowering apple flavor profile… there were just enough chewy apple pieces to say, “Oh yeah, this is an apple and honey bar.” Really good.

Onto the Rickland Orchards All-Natural Cherry Almond Greek Yogurt Bar!

Rickland Orchards All-Natural Cherry Almond Greek Yogurt Bar was different than the apple version.  This didn’t taste as much of honey right away despite honey being a major ingredient.  Instead, I got a slight cherry flavor that tasted sort of artificial at first, but then grew stronger as I chewed until the cherry flavor was the main flavor tasted.  I attribute this to Rickland Orchards not overloading their cherries up with sugar so that the cherries slap you in the face. Instead, the dried cherries were as they should be – sort of sweet, but still maintaining their good tartness throughout the chew.

This was also a generally sweet granola bar due to the honey.  Tasty, for sure – the round taste of the almonds complemented the tart sweet cherries nicely. Again, the yogurt provided a nice creamy backdrop overall, but I didn’t notice any extreme yogurt flavor.

And finally, Rickland Orchards All-Natural Blueberry Acai Greek Yogurt Bar!

Rickland Orchards All-Natural Blueberry Acai Greek Yogurt Bars tasted of blueberry RIGHT AWAY.  In this bar, I could definitely sense the present of Greek yogurt flavor.  Maybe it’s because I eat Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt all the time, but I thought this bar tasted EXACTLY like that!  The creamy yet slightly tart yogurt, the sweet and subtle taste of blueberry.  I’m not sure if I know what acai taste like alone, because its always paired with cranberry or blueberries or pomegranate. Great almond crunch, again.  Honey taste was not as present with this one, definitely felt more like crunchy blueberry yogurt, which was cool.

Of the three, I think I liked the Apples & Honey one the best.  The other two were a tie.  It was interesting to me how even though these were all marketed as Greek Yogurt bars, I only got that flavor in the blueberry.  Regardless, the great mix of granola, honey, and soy nuggets coupled with the creamy yogurt base provided a nice backdrop for whatever fruit Rickland Orchards wanted to highlight.

Simply put, these are great granola bars.  Tomorrow: The other three!

PURCHASED AT: Mailed to me, but can be found online.

COST: Free for me, but can be purchased in bar or box for a variety of prices.

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Sincerely,

Junk Food Guy