There are three layers that stack up to make a Nanaimo bar. You’ve got your graham cracker crumb base, a layer of custard buttercream, and a smooth glossy layer of dark chocolate.
You don’t use flour in this recipe.
However, it seems Ontario MP and Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre didn’t Google any recipes before he posted a video with an apparent supporter who claimed Nanaimo bars are getting too expensive to make in Nanaimo because of the rising cost of flour.
During his stop in the BC city where the bar originated, Poilievre spoke to a woman who brought him a treat she said she had made.
It is now too expensive to make Nanaimo bars… in Nanaimo.#JustinFlation
Time to grow more food and cut inflationary deficits and taxes. pic.twitter.com/NLjNCmLeaR
— Pierre Poilievre (@PierrePoilievre) August 29, 2022
“It turns out that she makes the best Nanaimo bars not in Nanaimo but in the entire world,” he said.
The woman told him she had started making the signature BC treat during COVID.
However, she said she was not able to make as many anymore.
“I opened up a small roadside bake stand because I needed money to pay my kids’ school fees and sports fees. And I found that in times of COVID a lot of people, mainly seniors, were coming by just for a friendly face,” she explained.
“Unfortunately, I had a real setback in February this year. So I temporarily shut down my baking stand. And now that I wanted to reopen it six months later, the price of flour has doubled.”
She mentioned the cost of sugar and butter has also increased.
“It’s cost prohibitive for me to reopen,” she added.
Poilievre responded to the woman’s story by saying “wow” and used it as an example for why he will “stop creating cash, start creating more of what cash buys, get rid of the inflationary taxes so that we can have more of these love infused Nanaimo bars.”
Since posting this video to his Twitter Monday, hundreds have commented to point out there is no flour needed and “you don’t even bake them,” one person added in a tweet.
Flour?!? Who in their right mind uses flour In a Nanaimo bar? #wtf #cdnpoli https://t.co/oywhI1pcE4 pic.twitter.com/yNTUw3eoOJ
— Jer 🇨🇦 (@BoozeDonkey) August 31, 2022
I am not a baker, but i'm certain there isn't flour in Nanaimo Bars . #FactsMatter #cndpoli #noflour https://t.co/VIP6jDvPW5
— Matt Dort (@DortMatt) August 30, 2022
Every real 🇨🇦knows there is no flour in a Nanaimo bar. #fakenews https://t.co/lXDGGx0lq9
— 🇺🇦Ravi Menon, FCAHS, FRSC 🇺🇦 (@northernthrux) August 31, 2022
However, there are some folks that have come to the woman’s and politician’s defence since flour is needed if the baker is making her own graham crackers.
One Canadian bakery owner says at his shop, where they make graham cracker crumb from scratch, flour is required.
He also admitted seeing the price for flour rise significantly over a year.
Great Q.
Flour has gone up 68% in just over a year.
We make our own graham crumb from scratch & it does require flour.
Flour accounts for roughly 1.93% of the ingredient cost in our recipe.
(Butter has gone up 25%, & it accounts for 33% of a Nanaimo Bar's ingredient cost.)— 🎂 🚧 Jeff Nachtigall (@dirklancer) August 30, 2022
“Flour accounts for roughly 1.93% of the ingredient cost in our recipe,” he said.
Butter, which accounts for about 33% of their Nanaimo bar’s ingredient cost, has also increased.
@andyseastcoastkitchen One of Canada’s most iconic desserts! The Nanaimo Bar! #dessert #canada #canadian #ohcanada #canadaday #nanaimobar #chocolate #🇨🇦 ♬ A Happy Life (Irish Folk Music, Traditional, Ireland, Guitar, Fiddle, Feel Good) – HDSMedia
Statistics Canada’s data for July showed that the price for groceries increased more on a year-over-year basis in July by over 9.9% than in June (+9.4%).
“Prices for bakery products (+13.6%) continued to rise at a faster pace as wheat prices remained elevated. Higher input costs and global supply uncertainty related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine continued to put upward pressure on global wheat prices amid an already constrained supply,” the Statistics Canada report reads.
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