raw? hidden out in the open?

this week at my store, Larabars are on sale. i'd never tried one before and decided to get a few after a customer bought ten of the coconut cream pie flavor and told me that it tastes like macaroon cookes, only good for you. so i got one of those, peanut butter chocolate chip, and something like chocolate coconut cream. i noticed that ingredients were very simple. just things like cocoa, nuts, and dates. i thought, that sounds like raw cookies recipes! the the PBchoclate chip had only dates, chocolate, and peanuts, and it tasted great! the bars are soft and chewy, (if a little on the petite side.) coconut cream pie bar contains dates, coconut, almonds, cashews, and coconut oil and was very good! i applaud this company for their whole food simplicity. in fact, there website says that none of the flavors has more than 8 ingredients.

i also found the answer to my suspicions that these were in fact raw:

"You may have noticed we removed "raw" from our packaging. This is because we have found no universal definition or guidelines for raw food products."
"Lärabar is made by what we consider to be a simple process: by which fruit, nuts, and spices are mixed and pressed together. They are not cooked, baked, or otherwise ‘processed’ and we use whole ingredients, as close to their natural state as possible. "
"LÄRABAR firmly believes that the foundation of a sound mind, body and spirit is derived from what you eat. And what you eat is healthiest and most satisfying when it's in a whole, natural state. "


i was going to come on this blog and say, "these are good and natural, too bad they aren't raw, but i think they in fact are! i also didn't realize they are gluten free and vegan. what a pleasant surprise. right now i can get the bars for 80 cents each, about a third of the price of other raw brand food bars. i'm sure i could make my own for cheaper, but they can make a lot more flavors than me. (19!)

sounds like their Jocalot bars are more like a candy bar, or at least have more chocolate. they say they don't use raw cocoa for that one, but i'd still like to try it.



in other news, i bought about a half pound of coconut flakes on tuesday and i've almost eaten the whole bag already! somebody keep this stuff away from me! at least it was cheap, so i can get some more :D