= or no = in multiline variable assignments?

[Mark Galeck (CW)]

Hello,

In the section 6.8 Defining Multi-Line Variables, 
it says

"You may omit the variable assignment operator if you prefer. If omitted, make 
assumes it to be '=' and creates a recursively-expanded variable"

This does not appear to work.  With this makefile:

define VAR 
FOOBAR := foobar
endef

$(eval $(VAR))

$(info $(FOOBAR))


I get 

C:\Temp>make
foobar

as expected.  But when I put "=" after VAR, I get nothing.  

Why??

Mark