patience and fruit

I love a good trail mix. I once unwittingly filled a bag in the bulk section of a well known expensive organic grocery store and when I got to the till I was horrified to be told it was almost 20 dollars. Oops. I bought it of course, because, trail mix! I also learned that amazing and yummy trail mix can be very expensive. When I first came across Patience Fruit & Co it was a result of my search for a dried cranberry that wasn’t sweetened with sugar. Patience Fruit & Co came to my rescue with their apple juice sweetened dried fruits and it was love at first bite.

I recently got the opportunity to try their new line of snack mixes and I was very eager to see if they were as great as their juice sweetened berries. I was sent four samples to try: Moka Moments, Zesty Sunshine, Exotic Journey and Spice Oasis. I immediately dug into the Moka Moments, which has a fruit and nut blend with 70% dark chocolate and a hint of coffee flavour and I loved it. I think it would be a great snack on its own or a great addition to oatmeal or even yogurt. My friend was over and we decided to go ahead and just try the rest of them. The Zesty Sunshine was good, but we agreed could have used a more pronounced kick of the lemon flavour. The Spice Oasis was definitely spicy but for some reason didn’t work as well as the other mixes. It may have just been too much heat and not enough flavour.

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Last we tried the Exotic Journey and we both loved it. It has a subtle India flavour profile and with the addition of crunchy roasted chickpeas, it was markedly different from the other blends. I decided it would be amazing in a couscous salad so I tossed the remainder of the bag (most of it) in a cup of cooked couscous and it was fabulous.

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I really appreciate that the products are certified organic, non-gmo and are high fibre, protein and full of antioxidants. I would prefer that the cranberries in the blends were the juice sweetened ones, but I think they are maybe too soft and dense for the purpose of the mixes so I understand why the sugar sweetened ones were used. Just my own personal preference really. I would definitely buy a few of these mixes to have on hand and would experiment in using them in different recipes. On top of salads, in muffins, the opportunities are endless.

If you are looking for a quick and easy healthy snack, or a great addition to your salads or breakfasts, check out the Patience Fruit & Co next time you are at the grocery store.

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Disclosure: I was gifted product for review consideration, this is however not a paid post and all opinions and views on this post are 100% my own.