On August 31, we celebrate National Trail Mix Day. According to Wikipedia, Trail mix is a type of snack mix, specifically a combination of dried fruit, nuts, and sometimes chocolate, developed as a food to be taken along on hikes. Trail mix is considered an ideal snack food for hikes, because it is lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick energy boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit or granola, and sustained energy from fats in nuts.
The combination of nuts, raisins and chocolate as a trail snack dates at least to the 1910s, when outdoorsman Horace Kephart recommended it in his popular camping guide. The word gorp, a term for trail mix often used by hikers, is typically said to be an acronym for "good old raisins and peanuts" or its common ingredients "granola, oats, raisins, peanuts." The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1913 reference to the verb gorp, meaning "to eat greedily".
Common ingredients in trail mix may include:
- Nuts, such as almonds
- Legumes, such as peanuts or baked soybeans.
- Dried fruits such as cranberries, raisins, apricots, apples, or candied orange peel
- Chocolate: chips, chunks, or M&M's
- Breakfast cereals, such as Granola
- Pretzels
- Seeds, such as pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, cashews, or sunflower seeds
- Carob chips
- Banana chips
- Shredded coconut
- Ginger (crystallized)
Happy National Trail Mix Day!
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