Sunday, July 18, 2010

Review: Enjoy Life Nut-Free Trail Mix

Awhile back, the lovely people at Enjoy Life products sent me samples of their newest product, "Not Nuts!" nut free trail mix!  It's really too bad the "not nuts!" theme only applied to the product, because at the same time these babies arrived, my life got a little nuts, and I desperately could have used some of the nut free magic.... enough with the corny jokes already....I was reeeaaally trying to stretch that out there and go for the laugh. Done now.  :)

These trail mixes rely on seeds instead of nuts for their crunch and protein, and like all Enjoy Life products, are made in dedicated nut-free and gluten-free facility.  It's so awesome to be able to have a reliable manufacturer committed to allergy issues! (Case in point: the packaging says "no nuts, no dairy, no soy, no gluten, nut and gluten free", "nut free trail mix", has a big blurb on the front of the package noting it's "allergy friendly" AND it says "made in a dedicated facility".  THAT, my friends, is committed to food allergy issues!)

Anyhow, I'm not really that big into trail mix unless I'm traveling or just late running out the door and need a sturdy portable snack.  Trail mix always seems to me to be kinda high-maintenance because I always have little bits falling out of my hand, the spoon, or whatever instrument of death I am using at the time.  But luckily, since the weather started getting warmer, I suddenly started craving yogurt and trail mix for breakfast in the mornings.  And now I'm armed with my So Delicious coconut milk yogurt  (I'm eating so much of it I'm toying with trying to make my own soon!).  BINGO.  What a perfect way to taste test trail mix!  I usually only eat plain yogurt, adding in a bit of honey for sweetening, so the yogurt flavor was perfectly neutral and didn't compete with the trail mix.

There are two varieties of "not nuts!" trail mix: Beach Bash, and Mountain Mambo.  I went for the Beach Bash first, here are the ingredients:

Sunflower kernels, dried pineapple, pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil, citric acid, salt, cranberries and apricots.

Most trail mix for me tastes flat, but not Beach Bash. There was a nice blend of crunch, salt and sweetness from the dried fruit (most trail mix I've had underutilizes the salt), but I would have preferred just a bit more of the seeds to add some heft to the mix.  (And of course, I removed the apricots since I'm allergic to stone fruits.  Luckily they were a pretty vivid orange, and easy to spot.)

The Mountain Mambo I didn't care for as much.  The ingredients: sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower oil, citric acid, salt, raisins, apples, chocolate chips, cranberries.  And as much as it pains me to say it, there was a bit too much chocolate (yeah, I know!) and it made the whole thing too sweet since it also had three other dried fruits in it.

But in the end, both were great tasting.  I would probably only use Beach Bash for my yogurt, and Mountain Mambo for a hand snack or dessert, since it's sweeter.  For nut-free people, you should be good to go, since these seeds are processed in a dedicated facility, you won't have to worry about cross-contamination issues.

Dare I say it?  ("Say it! Say it!")  Okay people, go nuts! 

Thanks again to the Enjoy Life folks for asking me to taste their product, and sorry for the delay.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

i just discovered the Enjoy Life trail mix and LOVE it. I am allergic to soy, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts and wheat - anything I find that is snacky to eat is awesome.

Food Allergy Queen said...

Hi Snowcrash (btw, one of my fave cyberpunk books), I'm with you on the same allergens except for peanuts. On my site are recipes for marshmallow millet squares, and peanut butter cookies (where you could sub sunflower seed butter). And you can buy Glutino gf pretzels. Enjoy.

Anonymous said...

Oh, yeah! Enjoy Life Trail Mix is wonderful and I LOVE So Delicious Coconut Milk Yogurt. I hadn't thought of eating them together. Thanks for the simple, yet brilliant, idea!