Prana and Boomi Bars: Raw Enzyme Power!

Divine Foods, the makers of Prana and Boomi bars, kindly sent me some of their products to review.

The bars’ flavor combinations and ingredients seemed so interesting to me! Pear Ginseng? Apricot Pumpkin? These clearly weren’t your standard run-of-the-mill bar. Divine Foods recently released their new line of Supercharger Prana Bars, which are made with antioxidant-rich dried fruit.

Here’s a little about the company from their website:

Divine Foods was started by Graeme Duncan in 1999 with a vision to make healthy and tasty energy bars for people on the move. Divine Foods prides itself in sourcing out first class ingredients that are healthy and especially tasty.
Graeme enjoys the outdoors being an avid traveler and explorer he takes pride in simple living and high thinking. In Graeme’s travels he would find that most of the health food bars on the market were not very tasty and listed innumerable ingredients that most people could not understand. In 1999 Graeme was encouraged by a traveling mendicant and spiritual teacher to create a bar that was infused with unadulterated ingredients and made with love and devotion.

These are some of my favorites (Click the links for nutrition information)!

Boomi Bars are hearty bars filled with whole nuts, dried fruit and grains.

Apricot Cashew: I love the apricot flavor- it’s almost like tea! It goes perfectly with the chunks of cashews, a great mix of salty + sweet

Healthy Hazel: Mmm, why don’t more bars use hazelnuts?! (They’re one of my favorites.) I don’t really taste them mixed in with the sweet ried fruit, but I like it. And I love the huge chunks.

Maple Pecan: This was my favorite of the Boomi Bars. It smells like a pancake breakfast! I love the sweet maple and the snapcracklepop! of the amaranth, and the crunchy pecans. It’s sweeter than I would normally enjoy, but it really does remind me of breakfast!

Cranberry Apple: Not too sweet (cranberry + apple was a smart and interesting choice). I love the addition of salty, whole cashews.

Prana Bars are smoother than Boomi Bars, and have a more uniform texture. Still, they don’t have quite the same feel to them as Larabars or Pure Bars. They too, like the Boomi Bars, are made with puffed amaranth! I never would have thought to include this in a bar, but I love the addition.

Organic Blueberry Coconut (Supercharger): Coco-nutty! I love the tiny bits of coconut shreds throughout. It kind of overwhelms the blueberry flavor, but I didn’t mind/ All of the little bits are teeny- no big chunks, except the raisins. It almost had a chocolate undertone, perhaps because of the date paste? Danielle also tried this one, and gave it two thumbs up

Apricot Pumpkin: Can really taste the dates… it’s almost figgy! I rarely have bars with pumpkin seeds, and enjoyed this interesting addition.

Coconut Açai: These coconut flavors are my favorite. I don’t know if I really taste the açai, but my mouth is happy! Daddy-O also tried this, and reports: It was the perfect snack after an especially hard workout at the gym. Great texture, delicious flavor, just enough to satisfy the beast in my stomach. Was it the bar or the workout? Thank you, I loved it.

Organic Pear Ginseng: Just sweet enough, with a great little kick to it!

In addition to quick snacks, I’ve also enjoyed the bars mixed into yogurt…

… and as oatmeal toppings.

Pros: Prana and Boomi bars are hearty, substantial snacks. I usually reached for them in the 3-4 PM energy crash at the office, and they held me over through the end of work and up until dinner. The flavors and textures are totally unique, and are delicious alone or on their own.

Cons: I do wish they had slightly more protein, and I also don’t agree with the website’s statement that they are suitable for meal replacement.

Bottom line: Would I buy these in stores? Yes. I like that they’re minimally processed, not filled with junk, and are completely original. (And not that we judge by packaging, but how cute are the bright colors? I felt cheered just looking into my drawer and seeing them there.)

Thanks again, Divine Foods!

When you choose energy bars, do you usually go for products that are more processed and feature protein powder, or more “natural,” fruit-and-nut varieties?