Trail mix
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- "Gorp" redirects here. For the town of that name, see Gorp (Netherlands). For the website focused on parks, camping and the outdoors see GORP.com.
Trail mix or gorp is a snack food commonly used in outdoor recreational activities such as hiking, backpacking, mountaineering and camping. This food mixture is termed scroggin in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Australia, and Studentenfutter in German-speaking countries. Trail Mix usually consist of a mixture of nuts and dried fruits such as raisins or cranberries. Other ingredients such as chocolate chips may also be included.
Two backronyms for the word "gorp," an alternate name for trail mix, are Good Old Raisins and Peanuts and Granola Oats Raisins and Peanuts. Some assume that "gorp" is an actual acronym for one of those phrases, but that is probably a folk etymology. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1913 reference to the verb "gorp", meaning "to eat greedily".
Trail mix is an ideal snack food on the trail. It is lightweight and easy to store, because all of its ingredients are desiccated. It is also energy-rich, and has a high content of vitamins and minerals.
While prepackaged commercial variants of Trail Mix are readily available many outdoorsmen prefer to mix up a homemade batch.
Common ingredients include:
- Nuts, such as peanuts or cashews
- Dried fruits such as cranberries or raisins
- Chocolate chips or M&M's
- Breakfast cereals
- Seeds, such as sunflower
- Granola
- Shredded coconut
- Pretzels
A mix of only nuts, especially those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and raisins is also known as student food.
