Carrot Cake Love Crunch Granola - Aldi

Carrot Cake Love Crunch Granola - Aldi

Well this is a little embarrassing. See this delicious looking granola? It's been in my to-review-pantry for over a year. I think I bought this March of 2014, so yeah, it's been around for quite a while. I feel like this is normal for food bloggers. Right? To have foods get misplaced or forgotten about for a while, but still review them anyway? Yeah, I bet that's totally normal. (At least that's what I'm telling myself.) The product is still good, and it's not past it's expiration, so I'm going to open it up and give it a try.

All of the packages for the Love Crunch granola line have the same layout, which is simple but well balanced. There are some playful touches here and there, like the heart-shaped product window and the little bite mark taken out of it, but the overall feel of the design is pretty typical for hip health food. I like the cohesiveness that this layout gives all of the flavors, while the color schemes and food-related imagery vary enough to make each flavor easily stand out on their own. For this flavor we have a deliciously decorated slice of carrot cake, warm nutmeg-y gradients, and yellow-orange text. I really like the design choices overall, but I'm not a fan of the Love Crunch logo itself. That font just rubs me the wrong way, and I feel like it looks disjointed with the rest of the design, but I can live with it.

I opened up the bag (which is resealable), and the granola inside smells pretty generic, but good. It has a strong but sweet cinnamon aroma with some nuts and raisins, but there's a hint of sweetness from these teeny tiny white yogurt chips that makes it feel a different from your standard cinnamon raisin blend.

Dry, this stuff is really tasty! The granola clusters not only taste like cinnamon, but there's nutmeg in there too. The flavor doesn't really evoke carrot cake, but with the added pecans and sweet yogurt chips, it reminds me of a really delicious oatmeal cookie. The raisins and nuts are really nothing special here, they are typical for more cinnamon-y granola blends, but what sets this apart is the addition of pineapple and these itty bitty yogurt chips. Both of those mix=ins are few and far between, but when you get some in your handful/spoonful, it really makes the flavors come alive.

Like all granolas, it's a bit dry, so I tried some with milk and I really didn't like it. The milk washed away a lot of the spices and flavoring, and made the yogurt chips feel a little waxy. I didn't like eating the granola cereal-style, but the milk that was left over was really delicious. Even so, I prefer eating this dry on it's own, or dry as a topping for yogurt.

For the record, I don't know if this flavor was seasonal, or if it is even made anymore. (It's out of stock on their company website, so I am guessing it's no longer in production.) Other than Amazon, I have no idea where you can get it right now. Hopefully it'll make a comeback, because this was really tasty stuff, and I would definitely repurchase. I didn't see it on the shelves this year, so I'm guessing that's a bad sign. Have any of you given this a try or seen this around? Maybe I should place an order on Amazon and stock up.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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