I'm fascinated by the history of various foods. Lately, I've been reading a lot about about dates… The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera,  produces a remarkable fruit—the date. These sweet little gems have been cultivated for so long that it's difficult to trace their origins. Depending on their sugar content, dates are classifed into one of three categories: soft, semi-dry and dry. If you've never tried one of the soft types, such as a Medjool, you don’t know what you're missing. They're generally large, plump, soft and the perfect sweetness (sweet, but not too)—a real treat. For some great information regarding…

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If you've never attended a trade show for the food industry, you don’t know what you're missing. There are all sorts of these things that happen all the time: poultry, organic foods, grocery chains, natural foods, seafoods, you name it, they've got it! Last weekend, I attended the Natural Products Expo. It takes place in Anaheim, CA, right next door to Disneyland. In the world of natural foods, this is the show. It's sort of like walking into a Whole Foods but instead of products on the shelves, there are colorful booths and people there to tell you about each…

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Yippee!! This week marks the 3rd anniversary of Clif Bar being a certified organic product! It's hard to believe that it's already been 3 years. I remember all the work that went into finding the organic ingredients—all the testing to make sure they tasted good and submitting all of the documentation to QAI (our organic certifying agency). We were really holding our breath... what would happen if we missed something?!? Suddenly, we got the call! It came to Chris C., who was heading up the certification process at that time. When he hung up the phone, he jumped up from…

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Working at Clif Bar—there are lots of fun sounds to be heard. A few weeks ago, we were having auditions for a Hip-Hop Aerobics instructor. These auditions occurred in the dance room, which is right next door to the R&D meeting room. It seemed that everytime we were having a meeting, it was time for Hip Hop Aerobics! While slightly distracting, it was kind of fun to have some fun, upbeat music and heavy bass drumming during our meeting. It certainly kept everyone bopping around. There's also a band composed of employees who get together weekly to play. They meet…

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And I can talk about it! A few months ago, I wrote about a new product that was going to be coming out. At the time, I couldn't say much about it, except that I was excited and that it tasted really great. Well, the time has come... the bar is out and I can tell you all about it! It is a new LUNA flavor: Caramel Nut Brownie. Pretty good timing, if you ask me—I've been receiving boxes of candy, chocolate, and all kinds of other "holiday goodies". In my opinion, this bar is rich enough to compete with…

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