Love the granola — but often find the stuff cloyingly sweet? For crunchy foodies who want yummy breakfasts that remind you of childhood — minus the refined sugar and trans fats — look for 18 Rabbits granola. Lightly sweetened with maple syrup or honey, these delicious granolas have just 4 grams of sugar per half cup serving — but sacrifice none of the tasty goodness!

 

Made in San Francisco, 18 Rabbits granola uses simple, delicious organic ingredients to get its rich flavor. Look at the ingredient list, and you’ll see just a handful of ingredients — all of which you can recognize. There’s no processed soy, corn, or wheat derivatives used here, much less strange flavorings. 18 Rabbits gets its unique, decadent flavors combining unexpected ingredients — like coconut, pumpkin seeds, and California almonds — to get its creamy and comforting texture and taste.

 

Of 18 Rabbits’ two granolas, I preferred the Gracious Granola with its maple-coconut flavor and a very indulgent ingredient that made the blend taste like a decadent delicacy: Organic butter. Yes, that means each serving of this granola has 13 grams of fat — but the deliciousness of Gracious Granola makes the fat worth it, at least in moderation. The dairy-free Veritas Granola — with Oregon hazelnuts, California walnuts, and cacao nibs — was also still pretty good but not quite as delicious, especially because I’m not a huge fan of cacao nibs, which tasted extra brittle and bitter dunked in cold soy milk.

 

 

18 Rabbits also makes granola bars using its granola. My favorite was Haute Diggity Date which mixed Gracious Granola with organic dates and sultanas to make for a fruity, buttery snack. Cheeky Cherry Chocolate also used Gracious Granola, creating a tart, chocolaty concoction (the choco chunks here do contain some refined sugar, which none of the other 18 Rabbits products contain). The dairy-free Funky Figs and Cherries bar had a decidedly harder texture and was tougher to chew, but the luscious taste of the figs mixed well with the hazelnuts in the Veritas Granola.

 

Wish more kids would nosh on these healthier bars, made locally by a green company that partners with local purveyors, instead of the sugar and corn flour concoctions from General Mills? 18 Rabbits gives at least one percent of their granola bars to the San Francisco school snacks program. Find 18 Rabbits at Whole Foods, Peet’s Coffee & Tea and Dean & Deluca — or buy granola online. A bag of granola costs about $9; a bar about $2.50.