1. How organic are you?
Right now both of our products are about 40% organic.. We totally believe in organic and source organic ingredients whenever possible. However, we also want you to be able to enjoy our products and at the present time it would be prohibitively expensive to buy some of our super-premium ingredients organic. Organic almond butter, for example, costs about $18 for a 16oz. jar—as compared to $9 a jar for conventional almond butter. Maple syrup is another ingredient that costs about three times more when you buy organic. The costs of these and other organic ingredients are dropping daily as the demand for organic increases—as soon as prices become more competitive we will make the switch. Almond butter is one of the main ingredients in our bars, so once we can source organic our bars will be 70% organic.

2. Why do you use almond butter in your bars?
Most bars use conventional cooking oils to add moisture. We’ve got nothing against oil, but it doesn’t add much in the way of flavor. Almond butter provides a really nourishing heart healthy base for our bars and is a great binder. It keeps our bars nice and moist and naturally brings out the sweetness of the dried fruit. Almond butter is a great source of energy and is full of “good fats” which keep you feeling full longer. Almond butter is also slightly alkaline which is why people often tell us their stomachs feel more settled after eating our products.

3. How do Earnest Eats stack up against other bars nutritionally?
We think they stack up pretty good but we’ll let you be the judge. The first four to five ingredients in most bars are usually different kinds of sugar. The first two ingredients in our products are oats and almond butter. We use a little bit of brown rice syrup as a sweetener but most of the sweetness in our products comes from dried fruit. Getting down to specifics, our bars have four times more fiber than most bars (3-4 grams as compared to 1 gram in most bars on the market—there’s even more fiber in our planks) and as much or more fiber as the typical bowl of cereal. They have a little less protein than other bars (7-8 grams as compared to 8-10), but the almond butter and oats combine to form a high quality protein that tastes great, not chalky from protein powders. Plus we didn’t want to use nutritionally questionable ingredients like soy protein isolates just to bulk up our label. There’s a big misconception that we’re lacking protein in the American diet, but the fact is—we’re not. The real deficiency is in whole grains and fiber. Finally, because we use whole grains, our products are full of complex carbs which are very satiating and a good source of sustained energy. Our bars also are a good source of omega 3s – a benefit found in very few other bars on the market.

4. How are Earnest Eats made?
Before we answer how our foods are made, we want to address how they aren’t. Have you ever noticed an unpleasant artificial smell when you first open a food or breakfast bar? Or taken a bite of a bar and noticed a strange chalky taste in your mouth? That’s because most companies today use spray on vitamins and minerals or dry powder mix-ins to boost nutritional content. We prefer to use whole food ingredients so that what nutrition you get comes from the food, which makes any vitamins and minerals more easily absorbed by the body.

Now let’s talk about how are foods are made. You may have noticed small differences in our foods. One bar might be thicker than another. The edges of your plank might be a bit uneven. There might be a big chunk of nuts on one side and a big chunk of oats on the other. You’ll find these variations because our foods are made in small batches and baked in regular baking trays. Our foods aren’t mixed to death by a mechanical mixer, so they’re fluffier, there’s more air in them. Instead of lots of little tiny pieces, you’ll actually see whole nuts, oats and other goodies. They come out a wonderful brown color with a rich toasty flavor.

There’s a reason most companies don’t use clear packaging. It’s because most foods are processed so much that even if they do taste good, they usually don’t look very good. Not only do our foods taste delicious, they look delicious too. We use clear packaging because we want to show off our product. We have nothing to hide.

5. Are you gluten-free?
No. We are wheat-free, but not gluten-free. We would eventually like our products to be completely free of gluten, but right now our foods are packed on the same machinery as products containing gluten. Some gluten-free individuals tolerate oats just fine, and some don’t. So always consult your nutritionist or dietician if you are in doubt!