Ever heard of VitaFiber? Vitafiber, basically a soluble non-digestible fiber found and extracted in plants, is becoming more and more popular. They come in powder and syrup form and Bioneutra was kind enough to let me test out their syrup. They’re a Canadian company–hurrah! It seems everything good these days come from the states. Celebrities, gyms, FOOD… but BioNeutra, manufacturer of VitaFiber, is a good ol’ Canadian company. Oh, national pride.
VitaFiber syrup has the consistency of honey and sweetness of sugar without the sugar…or carbs. It’s made of basically 100% fiber, is paleo and vegan friendly. It’s gut-friendly too, containing all the prebiotic(food for probiotics) bacteria. It’s clear like water and so versatile you can bake, cook, or just eat it with a spoon! It acts as a perfect bulking agent in your kitchen creations, especially in sweets like cupcakes and bars. As you can see from the nutritional info above, it’s made of 98% or so fiber. This could be a good and bad thing; the average person can only tolerate 15g of IMO(which is VitaFiber), that’s about 1 tbsp. However, I know a lot of people who can tolerate much much more. For myself personally, a person who counts total carbs and not net carbs, I’d have to be careful how much I use as to not pass my 30g limit otherwise I kick myself out of ketosis. Also, fiber is great for keeping full, but too much can cause indigestion and a hard stool. It might not be exactly ideal for a pre or post workout snack(if you’re keto adapted you wouldn’t have to worry about fueling yourself with those snacks because you’re burning fats) because fiber doesn’t replenish your muscles. That being said, I still think this is a great product and a way better alternative to snickers and other energy bars, which are in my opinion, (coughcoughPowerbars,CliffBars) are glorified candy.
I experimented with my syrup and made cookies! Boy, were they chewy and good.
Mix everything together and freeze. So simple! To get a softer cookie, boil the syrup before adding the other ingredients and then freeze them in silicon molds.
I decided to make two to see if they rendered different results, and they did. The left one you see goes into the freezer while the one on the right goes straight in to the oven at 350F for 5 minutes! I’ll call them Bob and Tom. Bob is on the left and Tom is on the (no duh) right.
Bob didn’t change much. If anything, just got colder and a little more firm.
Tom’s outsides were crispy and it was soft on the inside. I think I did a poor job of making the entire thing a consistent level so the middle could have been cooked better but it was still good.
Tom was better. Sorry Bob.
They both tasted chewy in and sweet my mouth, all without the addition of any flour, sugar, starch, or preservatives. And no gluten! Gluten is the addictive wheat protein that makes Cinnabons taste so chewy and good, but gluten is extremely harmful to the gut, whether you have celiac disease or not. I can make anything with just 2 ingredients(not including topping and flavourings), but most cookies and desserts, no matter how healthy they are, calls for many more ingredients. For example. something flour-like, a sweetener, a binder(could be egg or oil), baking soda. And if you’re looking for extra protein, then you’d add some protein powder. See how much money and time you save using a syrup like this that acts as a filler and sweetener? One reason why I love it and highly suggest that if you make anything with VitaFiber you should bake it, as it create a nice crispy outer texture with a gooey inner texture. If you’re not familiar with BioNeutra Vitafiber, you ought to now! I love their vitafiber syrup so much I think it just might be a staple in my baking warehouse. I can’t wait to make these for my diabetic friends. Or vegan or paleo friends. They fit any diet(just make sure when you’re experimenting with them you put appropriate ingredients)
Do you name your foods for fun too? Have you ever heard of VitaFiber before?