Sorry I’ve been a bit delayed at getting posts up this week and last. I am fighting a cold and am trying my best to rest so I can recover.
Sweets
There are a lot of folks online advocating that we give up all sugar. I ask you, is this necessary? Even cavemen ate honey. Natural sweeteners have been a part of every day life around the world for millenia.
Of course we want to limit sugar intake. When you do eat sugar, try to choose unrefined, natural sweeteners, and try to limit refined sugar.
I believe in enjoying my food. If variety is the spice of life, sweets are what make it worth living. And if I can’t eat sugar, how will I eat chocolate chip cookies?
Just like, “What is the sound of one hand clapping?”, this is a question that you should never try to answer, as it is designed to make your brain implode.
Bottom line: chocolate chip cookies are good and they should be eaten. Preferably with a tall glass of (raw) milk.
Check out some of the natural sweeteners and sweets I found at Natural Products ExpoWest this year…
Rapunzel
I first heard about “Rapadura,” an unrefined sweetener, when I read Sally Fallon Morell’s book, Nourishing Traditions. I found it at my local Whole Foods and then went on to try it out in recipes.
What I found is that Rapadura works very well in almost all recipes — from the aforementioned chocolate chip cookies to just about anything you can imagine.
What I did not know until I went to ExpoWest my first time a few years ago is that “Rapadura” is the brand name of a product made by Rapunzel. Rapunzel is the German company that makes Rapadura.
We got to meet the founder of Rapunzel at ExpoWest this year. I asked about why they changed the name from Rapadura to whole cane sugar. They told us that a lot of their customers were asking the same question, and they are thinking about going back to the old name, Rapadura. I hope they do — because I think it will make it easier for people to find it in stores.
That said, if you’re looking for a real unrefined sweetener, look for the brand name, Rapunzel. They even have chocolate bars, which we got some samples of and my word, were they ever good.
So why pay more for rapadura? Why not just buy white sugar? As I said, it’s an unrefined sweetener. You know how molasses has tons of minerals in it? Well, so does this. If you’re going to use sugar in your coffee or make a dessert, why wouldn’t you use a sweetener that is loaded with nutrients?
Where to Find Rapunzel Brand Sweeteners
I have always found Rapunzel products at Whole Foods and other natural food stores. If they don’t carry it at your store, ask them to start!
Wholesome Sweeteners
Another brand name you should look for when buying sugar is Wholesome Sweeteners. Based in Sugarland, Texas (isn’t that awesome?), they trademarked the name Sucanat.
You’ll see Sucanat on a lot of my recipes. It’s very similar to Rapadura. Sucanat is a truly unrefined, nutrient-rich sweetener. According to the Wholesome Sweeteners website, “Sucanat is a whole cane sugar made from cane juice. It contains 100% of the cane’s natural molasses in every porous granule.” Yes! The nutrition of molasses in a table sugar.
Wholesome Sweeteners also sells coconut sugar, which is another one of my favorite sweeteners that I use in almost all of my recipes.
They also sell raw honey, stevia and molasses. And if you’re not using molasses in your baked beans, you are missing out!
Where to Find Wholesome Sweeteners
Buy Wholesome Sweeteners products online or use the store locator to find Wholesome Sweeteners in stores across the US.
Madhava Organic Coconut Sugar
Madhava Organic Coconut Sugar is another unrefined sweetener that I use in my recipes.
If you’ve heard the rumor that coconut sugar is not sustainable, that’s simply untrue. According to the Madhava website:
“The coconut palm is ideal for sugar production, as the trees are sustainably grown and harvested without causing deforestation. Coconut palm trees produce 50-75% more sugar per acre than sugar cane, and use 20% of the resources.”
Where to Find Madhava Organic Coconut Sugar
Where to find Madhava Organic Coconut Sugar in stores. You can also order online on Amazon.
Theo Chocolate
We very much enjoyed visiting with the folks at Theo Chocolate. Oh, how difficult it was to have to sample all those delectable flavors of chocolate. What torture!
Poor Kelly the Kitchen Kop. She gave up sweets for Lent. I know, right!?!?! WHAT was she thinking?!
But that did not stop me from sampling them all.
And Kelly said she took the chocolate bar they gave her and hid it away from her kids. She’s going to eat it on Easter Sunday. I can’t think of a better way to praise the Lord. 
Theo Chocolate is the first organic, fair trade, bean-To-bar chocolate factory in the United States. (If you’re near Seattle, you can visit the factory for a tour. Sounds like a great homeschooling outing to me!)
Wow, don’t you want to support something like that? I do! These folks are doing it RIGHT! Not only are they organic and fair trade, they are also DELICIOUS.
Where to Find Theo Chocolate
You can find Theo Chocolate nationwide in Whole Foods, or use the store locator to find them in other stores. You can also buy Theo Chocolate online.
Maggie’s Naturals
Maggie’s Naturals is a food coloring made from all natural and organic plant, fruit and vegetable extracts. Yep, no gross additives or artificial colors!
And the colors are really beautiful!
Here is a list of ingredients:
BLUE: blue gardenia extract, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
BROWN: caramelized sugar, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
GREEN: green gardenia extract, spinach, parsley, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
PINK: beets, sweet potato, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
ORANGE: annatto seed, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
YELLOW: curcumin, organic vegetable glycerin, citric acid
Where to Find Maggie’s Naturals
You can’t find them in stores but if you visit their website, you can order online: Maggie’s Naturals
Caveman Cookies
Are you grain-free? Dairy-free? On the GAPS diet? You can eat these cookies!
Caveman Cookies are made with nuts, honey and berries — and that’s it!
Where to Find Caveman Cookies
Buy Caveman Cookies online or click here for where to find them in stores. You can also buy Caveman Cookies on Amazon.
Vin’Tucci Wine Infused Cookies
OK, so you’re not a caveman. You like cookies, especially cookies made with real flour.
I’ll tell you how to kick it up a notch. Drench those cookies in booze. Enter Vin’Tucci Cookies.
Yes, wine infused cookies. There is such a thing.
Oh yes, my friends, God is good because He gave us wine infused cookies.
If a day without wine is like a day without sunshine, a day without wine infused cookies is hell.
Haha, I”m just kidding. But don’t you want to try some? They were SO GOOD! In anise, spice and honey flavors.
Where to Find Vin’Tucci Wine Infused Cookies
Vin’Tucci Wine Infused Cookies is a relatively new company, born in the Paso Robles, California wine country. So you probably won’t find them in stores yet. But you can order them online.
Walkers Scottish Shortbread Cookies
Ahh… Walkers Scottish Shortbread Cookies. These are the cookies I buy when I want a cookie but don’t feel like baking. Or when Kate wants a treat and we are out and about.
Yes, they are made with white flour and refined sugar. But can you say GRASS-FED BUTTER? Yes, my friends, these cookies are rich in the fat soluble activators, vitamins A, D and K2.
And they remind me of Scotland, one of my very favorite places in the world. And as you know, “If it isn’t Scottish, it’s crap!”
Where to Find Walkers Scottish Shortbread Cookies
You can find Walkers Scottish Shortbread Cookies at most grocery stores. Use their store locator to find a retail store near you. Or you can order online.
What About You?
Do you buy any of these products? What are some of your favorites? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Check Back Next Week
I’ll be posting more of my favorite things from ExpoWest 2012 in part 7 of the series — check back!
{ 31 comments… read them below or add one }
Thanks for sharing these products …. I need, yes need, to try that chocolate!
Walkers uses grass-fed butter!!! Oh baby OH! Guess what’s on my grocery list as of right this very second!
*happy dance, happy dance*
Theo chocolate rocks! The salted almond and the one with chiles are probably my favorites. The cherry almond and orange are yum too.
We love Theo Chocolate! It’s our favorite and local to us. If you are ever in Seattle you have to go to their free “tasting room” and then take a tour of their chocolate factory! It’s so fun!
I didn’t know that Walker’s shortbread is made with grass fed butter! When I don’t make homemade for my English husband, I buy Walker’s. And I just about died laughing at the Mike Meyers’ quote.
Sadly, since I started eating lots of cookies and ice cream and sugar, I have almost completely lost my taste for chocolate. XD I guess this really isn’t a bad thing though, cause for years I was the girl who could eat entire bars of 99% baking chocolate, and craved it often.
Why does wordpress turn the stick-out-tongue face into a smile??? XD
It looks like a smile but it’s a tongue. :-p
Well, it was supposed to show both, LOL. One mouth is red, and one is white.
I’ve used the Wholesome Sweeteners line of organic sugar in the past. I do give up most sugar now, because it truly causes inflammation in my body and makes me feel yucky. So for me, it does make a difference, but I still miss the taste of sugar
In the meantime, I use raw, un-heated honey that I purchase from a company called Virgin California (at my local Whole Foods store)
Oh, wow…I LOVE Walker Shortbread cookies…they’re the best
Now that’s a cookie that I like, just dense and sweet enough…and tastes super extra good with a nice cup of tea or coffee 
Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather
Hi Ann Marie,
Thanks for the post. Your posts of the Expo is ALMOST like being there :0). I agree w/ you, I love sweets and I never want to take them out of my diet and I don’t think we should deprive ourselves of it (nor should we go crazy w/ them) BUT having a risk for getting diagnosed w/ gestational diabetes again, I have to be very careful w/ even non-refined sweets. I’ve been sweetening, albeit limitedly w/ only honey or coconut sugar (I love both) but I read through some of Matt Stone’s material and he seems to suggest that to try and remedy insulin resistance, I need to cut out sugar (even if it’s not refined white stuff) altogether. I wonder how much truth there is in that and for how long?
By the way, I have a great recipe for shortbread cookies that I have yet to modify by replacing the white flour and sugar but otherwise, I’m sure they’d turn out like Walkers if you add the grass-fed butter (yay kerigold!). They are so easy to make (butter, sugar, flour). I add trader Joe’s organic fruit spread (no sugar, just fruit juice sweetened ever so slightly) to the middle and they are wonderful! I’ll have to experiment using coconut sugar and sprouted flour (which may change the texture) but I bet you they’d still be good.
@Candice
I’m curious where Matt Stone says to cut the sugar. I’ve been reading his stuff, but I didn’t see that. Please share! : )
Hi Lori,
Um, I could have sworn he recommends it in his 180 degrees diabetes ebook but it’s one of several suggestions, as I recall. I could be wrong. I need to re-read it. And I know that Matt likes to update stuff so maybe that statement about no sugar isn’t 100% correct and perhaps an oversimplification.
Hi Candice,
I didn’t read that book. I was confused by a guest post he had that said that carbs don’t cause insulin resistance, but you know he never said anything about cutting or not cutting sugar. His books seem more balanced than his revisions. What does he say to eat for insulin resistance?
Hi Lori,
Okay, I’ve reread some of the stuff from the e-book, and, at the risk of not giving too much away, I’ll try to answer your question from what I understand and from what I’ve seen Ann Marie advocates here.
To help w/ insulin resistance, a few key points are
1) Raise metabolism to a healthy level (this can be done by “overfeeding” and making sure you get enough healthy fats, protein, and primarily complex/whole grain carbs)
2) Avoid refined sugars and veggie oils
3) Get more sleep (I wish I did this more)-related to helping metabolism
The first item should come as no surprise from reading Ann Marie’s latest postings. Her big message has been that carbs have helped her get her metabolism up and helped her thyroid and these kinds of things are suppose to also help reduce insulin resistance. I’m pretty sure she’s not back in her kitchen eating cookies and chocolate all day but has made damn sure she eats lots of carbs made out of wholesome whole grains and she doesn’t avoid unrefined sugars (but natural stuff she seems to have in moderation).
Matt suggests that for some it may be good to start out going on a low to no-sugar diet although I get mixed messages about what exactly to limit sugar-wise. I know for sure (no surprise) we should limit HFCS and refined white flour and refined sugar. That’s a given and I know from personal experience that has helped me (before I discovered real food) and we wouldn’t be reading Ann Marie’s stuff if we didn’t believe this ourselves. But he also mentioned not overdoing fruits and honey since they have frutose in them (though natural). I don’t know how much that should be limited or for how long, but I think that depends on the person.
@Candice,
Okay, this is what I thought. Yes, sometimes his message is confusing about how much sugar is okay because really all carbs do turn to sugar, but I see what you mean.
thanks for explaining.
Lori
One thing I’ve wondered for months now is what about the bazillion names for sugar? Which ones are good? There are a few I know of besides rapadura and sucanat.
evaporated cane juice
turbinado
whole cane sugar
cane juice crystals
How can we know what to buy? It’s so much to handle on top of everything else there is to research and learn.
I am going to write a whole post on this very soon.
As far as I know, Sucanat, Rapadura, coconut or palm sugar, honey, maple syrup, molasses, stevia, and maple sugar are the only truly unrefined sweeteners. There are are few others like yacon syrup but they are not very common. It is confusing b/c Rapadura changed their name to “whole cane sugar”.
I’ll go over this in my post.
Ann Marie, you are such a trip! lol. I buy rapadura sugar, which I use for kefir pop, and coconut sugar for baking. I like that it doesn’t raise blood sugar, which is important for my hubby. Also very glad that it is sustainable because I didn’t want to give it up. I am surprised that you say to eat unrefined sugar like raw honey as often as you can. I thought that would not be healthy. I’ve been doing my best to cut back on sugar as much as I can. I love that you are doing these posts on these great new products I can look for. Oh, and the wine infused cookies sound amazing. I am sure you will come out with a recipe for making them. Hint, hint.
Sorry I need to rewrite that sentence. What I meant to say is to eat all sugar in moderation. When you do eat sugar, try to eat unrefined sugar.
I thought that citric acid is not a natural ingredient and that it most probably contains MSG. I think I read that on the Healthy Home Economist blog. So is it natural or not?
I don’t think it would be a problem for most people. It would only be a problem if you are MSG sensitive.
This is from the WAPF website:
The food ingredient “citric acid” provides us with a good example of why MSG-sensitive people with little tolerance are having difficulty staying well. Many people believe that “citric acid” comes from citrus fruits, and since most people can tolerate citrus fruits, “citric acid” should not be a problem. However, most of the “citric acid” used today is made from corn rather than from citrus fruits. The Archer Daniels Midland Company (ADM) is a major producer of “citric acid.”
“Citric acid” is produced by fermentation of crude sugars. When “citric acid” is produced from corn, manufacturers do not take the time or undertake the expense to remove all corn protein. During processing, the remaining protein is hydrolyzed, resulting in some processed free glutamic acid (MSG). “Citric acid” may also interacts with any protein in the food to which it is added, freeing up more glutamic acid.
http://www.westonaprice.org/msg-updates/difficulty-keeping-msg-free
Considering how much you are eating food coloring (very rarely — I usually only use food coloring on special occasions such as Christmas or birthdays) and considering how little of the food coloring you use when you color, say, frosting, and considering that citric acid is the last ingredient listed (meaning it contains the least amount of citric acid), I don’t think it’s worth worrying about.
I just wanted to comment that I e-mailed Maggie’s Naturals and they immediately answered my questions. I look forward to trying their products when they are a bit more accessible. Thanks for the heads-up since we only use natural food colorings and I’m constantly on the look-out for leads.
Also…. great news about Walker’s Shortbread cookies! Grass-fed butter – no wonder they are soooo good. Those are what I get around the holidays (okay, any day can be a special day, right?) and usually find them in regular grocery stores.
I still worry about coconut sugar. My favorite coconut producers Tropical Traditions wrote this about coconut sugar: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/coconut_palm_sugar.htm
I hope they are wrong. : (
They are wrong
I’ll write more in an upcoming post
Is coconut sugar ok on GAPs?
I have really enjoyed the Expo posts – neat way to highlight lots of products I had not heard of…
Thanks,
Sara in SC
Phew! Great to hear!
Rapadura is NOT a brand name! Rapadura is the Portuguese and Spanish word for dried sugar cane juice in the form of a brick, regardless of how this German company may use it. See the wikipedia entry for controversy regarding the trademark of the term.
I LOVE Theo’s chocolate!! I am really enjoying their Saled Almond bar. And, hooray!! for a company that doesn’t use soy lechtin. Do you know how hard it is to find products that are completely soy free? That alone makes me a loyal customer. I’m just lucky that it tastes amazing too. So glad to support this great company. I need to do a better job with my sugar and switch over to the unrefined kinds. Looking forward to your sugar post.
Just finally reading this and Ann Marie, you crack. Me. Up!!!!!!!
One more week ’til my chocolate bar and the kids had better not find my hiding spot.
Kel
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