Nutri-Grain bars are kind of like healthy Pop-Tarts. In fact, if a Pop-Tart is a hipster L.A. kid, a Nutri-Grain bar is like his older hippie brother who lives up in Oregon. Although I’ve never tried toasting a Nutri-Grain bar. Either way, they’re great, except for the grains that hang around in your teeth forever after. Recently they debuted a new variety that sounds quite amazing, the Superfruit Fusion.

We found two varieties of Superfruit Fusion Nutri-Grain bars – Strawberry Acai and Cherry Pomegranate, which noticeably include the two flavors in the health food world that are all the rage (do healthy people rage?) right now, pomegranate and acai. The one I dug into was the Cherry Pomegranate. I noticed when I opened the bar that they sorta changed the shape of it, put some ridges on top, not that it makes a difference really. What does make a difference is that the whole grain outside of the Nutri-Grain bar felt more real than it has in the past, or at least a better quality, slightly more crunchy.

The flavor of the filling, unfortunately, was kind of lackluster. Certainly not superfruit anything or hardly even fusion. I tasted cherry. It tastes largely like a cherry Nutri-Grain bar, but with an ever-so-slight hint of bitterness that is supposed to represent the flavor of pomegranate I suppose. Pomegranates definitely have a bitter element to ‘em, but they also have a sweet part that isn’t well represented in the bar. But really it’s just a Nutri-Grain bar, I doubt it’s even possible for them to actually have two discernible flavors in one fruit paste. These are good as a healthy snack and some anti-oxidants, but certainly don’t buy them for the flavors.

I don’t think I had ever had a Nutri-Grain bar until I first went over to Matt‘s house a few years ago. There are usually several varieties of them in his pantry and it’s almost always my go-to snack when I’m there. I remember how surprised and happy I was when I first saw the Strawberry Yogurt flavor, because finally they were trying something different. So needless to say I flipped out a little bit when I found out they finally took the plunge into the great mixed fruit void.

While the Strawberry Acai Superfruit Fusion bar is mostly Strawberry flavored, throwing Acai into the blend was a great solution. Besides all of the obvious antioxidant benefits, I personally think the berry has a half blueberry half raspberry taste to it that really makes a complete package, not to mention the delicious whole grain flakes that they’ve sprinkled on top. Acai wouldn’t have been my first choice to go with Strawberry as the flavor takes much of a backseat. It seems like Kelloggs’ choice was made as much with health in mind as much as flavor. It’s a serious and welcome change to and old standard, but let’s hope they get a little more daring for next batch. More exotic fruits would always be welcome.