Something About Mäya - Larabar Goes Organic Choc
by Warren McLaren, Sydney on 08.16.06
When we last looked in on Larabar we were impressed with all those natural ingredients squished into a nourishing sports bar, that hadn’t been cooked. At the time, we wondered if there might also be scope to increase the greenness of the bar. Lo and behold, along comes their Mäya bar. Try this on for size: All organic ingredients, Fair Traded cocoa, no added sugar, 90% raw, no GMOs, gluten/dairy/soy free, no colouring or preservatives, but is vegan and kosher. And, we assume, the same great taste for which Larabar is famous. “The 10% of Mäya that is not raw includes roasted cocoa and organic flavors such as peppermint, orange and vanilla.” Four favours, all of which are suffused with that fair traded organic chocolate — choc, choc mint, choc coffee and choc orange (seen here.) The Chocolate Orange ingredients? All organic dates, almonds, cocoa, cacao nibs and orange flavour. That’s it. Nuffing more. Seems pretty green. Bravo.
(Of course someone is going say, “Yeh, but wot about the wrapper?” Let’s not forget the longest journey begins with a single step. And see also our post on Green and Blacks Mayan Gold Chocolate, and the positive influence that fair traded organics can have. Wrapper or not.) ::Larabar (flash alert).
I love Larabars, but her previous attempt at a chocolate flavored bar -- cocoa mole -- was a bit too rich for me.
Greener, but not worth the paper it is wrapped in. You assume wrong on the taste. I've tried all the flavors and they are pretty nasty and weird tasting. The only one I like is the Mint kind of cause after suffering through the initial funky taste it has a good aftertaste of just refreshing mint oil. But I'm better off just adding mint oil to my water and it would be greener without all that packaging.
This goes to show we've all got different palates. I've enjoyed all of the flavors of Larabar I've tried, and personally, while I like the Cocoa Mole one a lot (I don't find it too strong), I wish it had more cayenne pepper in it! I can't really tast any spiciness in it as it is now.
Most or all of the Lara bars seem to be based on dates (to provide sweetness and that chewy bar consistency), so if you don't like dates, and you can pick out the date flavor over the other flavorful ingredients in the Lara bars, you probably won't enjoy them.
you posted about it without tasting!!??
i think the maya bars are absolutely delicious. strange at first, but it helps if you don't go into it expecting chocolate. think of it as a simple cocoa food. very unique.
I'm sorry - all WHAT packaging? Larabars (and, I presume, Mayabars) are pretty sticky objects - I'd hate to see what would cover their surfaces if they were lying on the store shelf naked...