SCD-Friendly Goo-OO, That's Good!

For weeks I’ve been scouring the web and quizzing my friends: How can we make an easily digestible, SCD-friendly energy bar?

Most recipes I’ve found either use illegal ingredients for which I cannot find a suitable SCD-friendly substitute, or they use too many hard ingredients, like whole almonds. I want something that’s fuel-efficient; something that’s portable, easily digestible, and provides the energy I need. I want SCD-friendly goo, or an SCD-friendly power bar.

So, this past weekend I tried making what I wanted, since apparently no one else has done it for me. I failed miserably. I was going for something like a banana blueberry power bar, and I thought I had finally found the perfect solidifying agent—Cocoa Butter.

It turns out that if there is too much liquid in the mix, you could use mortar, and the bars still wouldn't solidify. Oops.

Cocoa butter would probably still work (I'm still experimenting, suggestions welcome) if I got the proportions correct, or coated the bars in cocoa butter instead of mixing it in...that is, if I can get bar-like texture at all.

The 'bars' came out the consistency of natural peanut butter, just slightly runnier. Oops. Disappointed, but not completely deterred by the texture, I tasted my experiment. Wow! The goo of the gods. It was so good, I could have eaten the entire pan right then and there. It was like a fruity delicacy with a hint of nutty chocolate (a flavor I thought I'd never taste again).

But how do I eat this stuff on the run? Hmmm? After some searching and not a little brainstorming with my wife, it came to me: Coghlan's queeze tubes. I packed a squeeze tube half-full of my purple goo and headed off to the woods for a long run. It worked like a charm. 

One warning about cocoa butter: Cocoa butter is an advanced food for SCDers, so make sure you can tolerate it. It's pure vegetable fat, so too much will make you feel sick, especially while exercising. Go at it slowly. You can always make the goo below sans cocoa butter.

Since it worked so well for me, and because I'm looking for help/suggestions, I'm sharing the first-generation recipe here. Remember, this is the first iteration. I will play with the recipe, and I hope others do too. Let me know if you succeed in improving the batter. 

I hope you enjoy my SCD goo.

Goo of the Gods

2 very ripe bananas

1 cup raw pecans

6 oz. blueberries

1/8 cup honey

1 tsp lemon juice

1/8 cup melted cocoa butter

Puree the bananas and pecans together. Set aside. (FYI, this mix is good by itself, even w/o the blueberries. Try it!) Puree blueberries and place them in a small pot. Add honey, lemon juice, and simmer for about 20 min. The goal is to reduce this mixture to a compote, or jelly. Be careful to stir the mixture a couple of times to ensure it doesn’t burn. Remove the blueberries from the stove and add the solid cocoa butter. Stir until the cocoa butter is melted. Combine all the ingredients in a glass bowl, or small glass baking dish. Place in the refrigerator to cool. Once the mixture has cooled, pack it in the squeeze tubes and place in the fridge.

If I had this to do over again (which I do, this weekend), and to get a more bar-like texture (if you don’t like goo) I’d add more pecans, and soak them to make them more easily digestible, 4-6 hours. I’d also lose the honey and maybe add a date or two.

Onward to Health.