Crunchy Granola Mediocrity

Eick sent me some Nature’s Valley Granola Nut Clusters the other day.  I was pretty hungry so I ripped it open and hucked some into my mouth.  They were dry and strangely boring, which is why this review will be short and probably boring.

Flavor: A little bit of honey, a little bit of peanut and cashew, and a little bit of cardboard.  It somehow manages to taste dry.  It’s as if they are actively trying to make me not like granola.

Texture: Flavor like cardboard, and sadly textured like cardboard.  It crumbled in my mouth, but in a strange manner.  I can imagine eating Styrofoam and getting the same affect.  In fairness, chunks of it were okay.  Thankfully the peanuts actually crunched like nuts.  Otherwise I would assume I’m just eating a spherical NASA-substance meant for astronauts containing nutrients but no actual food.

Appearance: Oh god, SO STRANGE.  I enjoy granola because there are giant glaciers of flavor amidst bits and chunks.  The flotsam and jetsam at the bottom of the bag are part of the deal for me, so it was strange to see this bag full of intact granola glaciers.  I blame this on my own pre-conceived notion of granola, but still, so bizarre.  Kind of looks like an owl pellet sans the bones and feathers.  Appetizing!

Verdict: I’d never buy them, but that’s because I enjoy either home-made or at least hand-made granola.  They should stick to the granola bars, because these nuggets seem like uncooked balled-up versions of the bars yet to be rolled out.  Once again, a simple all-natural food falls prey to mass production’s soul-crushing maw.

Image from the General Mills website, product received through MyBlogSpark.