Trail mix

Trail mix is a snack blend designed for hiking, usually made from granola, dried fruit, nuts, and occasionally candy. Its popularity on trails comes from being lightweight, easy to pack, and nutritious: the carbohydrates in dried fruit or granola offer a quick energy boost, while the fatty nuts provide longer-lasting energy. The specific combination of fatty nuts, raisins, and chocolate as a trail snack goes back at least to the 1910s, when outdoorsman Horace Kephart suggested it in his camping guide Camping and Woodcraft.

Other names

In New Zealand and Australia, trail mix is called scroggin. In North America, campers and hikers often use the term gorp, which some say stands for "good ol' raisins and peanuts"; the Oxford English Dictionary notes a 1913 reference to the verb gorp, meaning "to eat greedily." In Germany, Poland, Hungary, the Netherlands, Scandinavia, and several other European countries, it is known as student fodder, student oats, or student mix, and usually does not contain chocolate.

Common ingredients include granola, breakfast cereals like Chex, carob chips, chocolate candies (such as chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, and M&M's), peanut butter chips, dried fruits (raisins, cranberries, apricots, apples, banana chips, sultanas, or candied orange peel), crystallized ginger, yogurt chips and yogurt-covered fruits, marshmallows, nuts (almonds or cashews), legumes (peanuts or baked soybeans), pretzels, rye chips, seeds (pumpkin or sunflower), and shredded coconut.

Popular pre-made or homemade varieties include: Asia mix (or Zen mix) with peanuts, sesame sticks, rice crackers, and soybeans; Cape Cod trail mix (or Northeastern) with almonds, cashews, and dried cranberries; Hawaiian trail mix (or Tropical) with peanuts, almonds, pineapple, mango, banana chips, coconut, and cashews; Mexican trail mix (or Sweet and Spicy) with mango, sunflower seeds, pepitas, raisins, and chili powder; Monster trail mix (or Peanut Butter and Chocolate) with peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, peanuts, M&M's, and sometimes raisins or cranberries; Omega-3 trail mix with cashews, walnuts, raisins, and cinnamon apple pieces; and Santa Fe trail mix (or Southwestern/Hatch) with toasted corn, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, and New Mexico chile powder.

See also: Bombay mix.