The Larabar, known as the “Original Fruit and Nut Bar,” are gluten free, vegan approved, and always contain less than nine ingredients. These one of a kind bars were created by Lara Merriken, simple thought she hadwhile on a typical hike through the Rocky Mountains. Her idea was to combine simple ingredients to create a tasty and convenient snack that is good for you.

In May of 2000, Merriken walked through the aisles of grocery stores, taking note on popular flavors of sweets. Then, with the help of family and friends, she began to play with recipes and ingredients. After numerous trials and errors, she final created her first set of flavors: Cherry Pie, Banana Cookie, Apple Pie, Cashew Cookie, and Chocolate Coconut Chew.

The first 500 Larabars were made, and sealed by hand, by Merriken herself. The process has now been streamlined, as of 2015 one million bars are made per year. In addition to the five original flavors, Merriken has added 10 more, including seasonal flavors such as Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle.

“Health is indeed your greatest wealth,” claims Merriken. The Larabar Foundation was made  to promote healthy mind, body, and spirit. In addition to gluten free and vegan approved, these bars are also dairy free and Kosher. Merriken has really done all she can to make sure everyone can eat these bars, no matter your dietary restrictions. When the bars first started being made with chocolate chips, she switched to dairy free that way they were still Vegan and Kosher approved.

As of 2015, the company has created three more types of snacks.  The“Uber” is one of the new types of bar, it has a crunchy texture compared to the soft and smooth of the original Larabar. The “Alt” bar is a natural protein bar, and instead of using whey protein they use a natural source: peas! Still healthy and gluten free.  There final new snack is actually not in bar form, the “Renola” is a mix of fruit, seeds, and nuts. This is very much similar to trial mix. We should expect new healthy snacks for the future!