I enjoyed my first fruit and nut Wonderbar this morning. Excellent! I tried the cashew-almond-pineapple bar and am looking forward to enjoying the other seven varieties.

  The only sweetener used is honey, which is a great natural sweetener and also a preservative, giving these bars a shelf life of at least one year. The sample I tasted was remarkably fresh.

  The bars are free of gluten, soy, trans fats, preservatives, refined sugar, soy, GMOs, corn syrup, or hydrogenated oil. There are no peanuts anywhere in the facility.

  An important consideration for celiacs  is that seven of the eight varieties are made with oats that have been certified gluten free. Oats are generally considered gluten free if they have been grown and processed properly. But I have seen very few cases where manufacturers are using certified oats in their products and this was my first chance to actually try a “safe oats” product. I loved it.

  These bars are available on-line from the manufacturer Desire Tree International. There is a list of retail outlets on the site.

 Published 8/11/08