Luminous Kitchen's Peanut Butter Bum Bar Review
July 3, 2009
Peanut Butter Bum Bar. Say that three times fast!
Yeah… I couldn’t do it either.
I picked up this Peanut Butter Bum Bar by Luminous Kitchen when we visited The Southport Grocery in Chicago. Its surface is bejeweled with chocolate chips, nuts and dried fruit, so I had high hopes for its flavor.
I’ve spoken many times before of my frequent disappointment with bland, oddly textured or just plain icky granola and protein bars, but thankfully this one delivered. It’s kind of like the love-child of an Odwalla Bar and a PowerBar. With some bites you taste chocolate chips, dried fruit or big pieces of nuts, and then other bites consist of a more blended flavor a la PowerBar. It’s also chewy like a PowerBar and a little dry and dense, but not unpleasantly so. There’s a little fruitiness to the bar and not just in the bites with the dried cranberries. You don’t get much of a punch from the chocolate chips, but maybe that’s because they’re non-dairy?
The one thing that confuses me about this bar - and this must be a type-o - is that the Nutrition label claims that the bar has two servings and that each serving is 225 calories making it an overall 550 calories for a 3.7 oz bar. That can’t be right… right? I’m also pretty sure that they forgot to mention dried cranberries and nuts in the ingredients list. At first I thought I was crazy but this label appears to be playing tricks on me.*
One thing I do like about their label is the friendly little note from the bars makers:
"Peanut butter is full of high quality plant protein and beneficial unsaturated fats. Like all vegan foods, it contains no cholesterol. Luminous Kitchens herein consecrates the time honored union of dark chocolate and peanut butter. Enjoy! Pick up some bum bars for friends and family, or just drop by to say hello at luminouskitchens.com - thanks for your support!"
“…the time honored union of dark chocolate and peanut butter…” I like that!
Overall, it’s a good bar and I would buy it again. I can’t say I like it better than my beloved Odwalla Bar, but I definitely enjoy supporting the smaller companies like Luminous Kitchen. It is also nice to know that unlike with the aforementioned mass market brands, when you eat a Peanut Butter Bum Bar, you are enjoying, “animal free, refined sugar free, handmade organic goodness.” The company also uses, “only whole and unprocessed ingredients, about 90% of which are organic.” This bar will make both your tummy and your conscience feel good!
Buy yourself a Peanut Butter Bum Bar online at Luminous Kitchens!
*UPDATE: Doug from Luminous Kitchens informed me those yummy fruity morsels actually are raisins, not cranberries (I guessed wrong. Bad, tastebuds, bad!). He does intend to change one thing on the label nothing that, “org. peanuts should be on the label, instead it lists the ingredients of peanut butter.” He also clarifies that the bar has 450 calories which may sound high, but the calories in peanut butter, grapeseed and chocolate add up fast. If that number scares you, you can take comfort in knowing that you are expending those calories on a bar that will fill you up and give you lots of energy - oh and also, it’s yummy. :)