Trail mix
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- "Gorp" redirects here. For the town of that name, see Gorp (Netherlands).
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 New Zealand and Australia, and Studentenfutter in German-speaking countries. A mix of only nuts, especially those rich in omega-3 fatty acids, and raisins is also known as student food.
Trail mix usually consists of a mixture of nuts and dried fruits such as raisins or cranberries. Other ingredients such as chocolate chips may also be included.
There are other options that outdoor activities work well with. Premium nut mixes combined with dried fruit can replenish energy and are a bit healthier[citation needed] than all the chocolates that can be substituted by quality dried fruits.
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 seeds
- Granola
- Carob chips
- Shredded coconut
- Pretzels
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 very energy rich, providing quick energy from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit and/or granola, as well as sustained energy from the mostly mono- and polyunsaturated fats in nuts.
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 (or alternatively for "Gobs Of Raw Protein"), but it is probably a folk etymology. The Oxford English Dictionary cites a 1913 reference to the verb gorp, meaning "to eat greedily".
While prepackaged commercial variants of trail mix are readily available, mixing up a homemade batch is also an option.
