First - Buckwheat is a plant that has nothing to do with wheat and is naturally gluten-free. The buckwheat plant is cultivated for its fruit seeds (Yes, fruit seeds!), which are hulled to give us the “groat” seed. Full of complex carbohydrates and high quality protein, this non-grain pseudocereal comes loaded with many nutritional benefits. It harbors all nine essential amino acids and has a high biological value.

There sure is! They often look the same if placed side by side. Both are recognized for their dark amber color and rich-thick texture. However, they come from different plants. Sorghum, also colloquially known as “sorghum molasses”, comes from the sorghum plant. This natural complex sweetener is directly extracted from the sorghum stalks by evaporating the water content. Molasses on the other hand is a byproduct of processing sugar cane into sugar. There are several sources of molasses also.

Although both come from the wonderful tropical coconut fruit, they have different properties. Consider coconut butter to be the wholesome counterpart to coconut oil. When you pulverize the white flesh of the coconut and keep its fibrous content, you are left with coconut butter. It becomes coconut oil through further refinements after all the fiber has been removed. So, coconut butter is pure and retains all the nutrients of the coconut compared to that of coconut oil.

It all comes down to rewilding our food sources. Getting back to the basics and keeping it as natural as possible. By this, we are very focused on the earth-to-hand mentality. By keeping our ingredients as close to their natural state as possible, we are rewarded with a clean label product, superior taste, functional food, and a more sustainable food chain. It’s that simple and we are sticking to it.

Correct, you don’t see sugar listed anywhere in our ingredient list and our “added sugars” are very low. At the start of 2020, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated their labeling mandates and required food manufacturers to reclassify what is considered “added sugar.” For smaller food producers like Noble Oat, we were granted another year to comply, but why wait, we always want to be transparent with our consumers.

Now that all “added sugars” are labeled the same, it’s more important than ever to read the ingredient list, which we have always encouraged! There are healthier sugars than others! The much healthier and natural alternatives to ultra-refined white sugars and fructose syrups plaguing many of our retail products would be the honey and sorghum found in Noble Oat granola. Honey and sorghum are nutrient dense, more complex, and lower glycemic index. Plus we use very little. But you would never know by looking at the nutrition fact label.