On a recent trip to Portland Oregon, I was handed a (locally made) PaleyBar. I scarfed it down… and spent the next couple of months combing the aisles of my local health food stores, trying to find a store that carried them. I was delighted to discover that Amazon carries the PaleyBars — and I’m already halfway through the box I bought. (Considering the cost of the protein bars I _do_ buy at the health food store, most of which are $1.50+, this also turns out to be a bargain financially.)

What’s the big deal? First, these taste great. It’s a fruit-and-nut bar more than a “granola” bar, thus soft-and-chewy rather than crunchy. Amazon lists the nutritional information, so I can just summarize the key stuff (at least it’s what I look at): 210 calories, 32g of carbs, 4g of protein. It’s a quick snack, and I’ve had a bar for lunch when I expected a big, filling dinner.

Oddly Amazon does not list the ingredients, and the what’s-in-this was DEFINITELY a selling point to me, as I avoid refined sugar. Nearly everything in the bars is organic, too. From the ingredient list, you’ll see why these are so tasty: dried figs, hazelnuts, apricots, raisins, honey, almonds, cranberries, oat bran, blueberries. Just a teeny bit of cane sugar at the end and in some of the dried fruits (where the sugar is primarily used as a dessicant, I expect). You don’t get much more natural than that.

And did I mention they taste great?