SPECIALTY SHELF
Paleo Desserts - Jane Barthelemy (2012)
This is one of the few Paleolithic dessert books out right now. As someone who has followed and studied the paleo (caveman) diet of hunter-gatherer foods, I was excited to get this book. A good guilt-free dessert is the holy grail! The book provides 125 recipes - Paleo friendly, lower carb, and gluten free. I opened the book waiting to read about desserts made with natural sweeteners such as raw, local honey or maple syrup, I was even expecting some "agave nectar". What I found was "Just Like Sugar Tabletop Sweetener" as Jane's go-to sweetener of choice. How have I never heard of this stuff before in a paleo book or blog? I googled the product name and the keyword "paleo" to see if anyone else had been questioning this product, only to find SEVEN Google pages full of links straight from Jane's own blog, littered with a few links from the company's site. I did a little research on the product itself, the product is "an enhanced composition which is a source of Natural Dietary Fiber obtained from the Chicory Root, Calcium and Vitamin C". This is not paleo, or at least not my version, which doesn't allow for processed goods. Jane also promotes Thai Kitchen brand coconut milk for her recipes, which has guar gum in it, also not paleo. Don't waste your time with this one if you want a pure paleo experience. (AV)
