Fruit and nut mixes are ideal for satisfying salty and sweet cravings while providing protein and vitamins. Prana’s Machu Pichu mix, part of the June Yummy Goody Box, introduced me to a whole new fruit - the white mulberry.  

White mulberries, according to Wikipedia, is generally found in traditional Chinese medicine and believed to treat constipation, diabetes and prematurely greying hair. Luckily, I’m not suffering from any of these ailments and instead enjoyed the mulberry for its chewy light sweetness. Its shrunken yellow brain appearance doesn’t look appealing but tastes delicious.

Aside from mulberry, the Machu Pichu mix also contained almonds, pumpkin seed, Brazil nuts, plump raisins, goji berries and goldenberries. All in all, a diverse blend of sweet, tangy, crunchy and chewy elements. I like that they don’t add sugar and salt to the mix, rather retaining the ingredient’s natural flavours. My qualm with dried fruit is they often have a weird sugary crust on it.

Prana, a Quebec based company, was co-founded by Marie-Josee Richer. After travelling across Asia and living three years in Goa, India she became a practicing vegan. When returning to Quebec, she and two other travelers wanted to bring the healthy eating lifestyle they developed to North America. Hence, they started Prana, a company dedicated to vegan and organic snacks.

The word Prana means “breath” and in yoga refers to the life force connecting the universe’s elements. Thank you Prana and Yummy Goody Box for connecting me to the white mulberry.

Nutritional information is available on Prana's website.

Generally, I reserve chickpeas for two purposes: throwing in a salad or making hummus. So, when a bag of Three Farmer’s Roasted BBQ Chickpeas arrived in my Yummybox (a monthly food subscription service), it was intriguing to imagine them as a snack.

At first, I found them dry as it seemed like it’d resemble a nut. But, after a few I got use to the texture and found they are similar to wasabi peas.

The Three Farmers is named after Colin, Dan and Ron, three Saskatchewan farmers who produce camelina oil. One of the farmer’s two daughters went onto Dragon’s Den to promote the oil.

As a second product, The Three Farmers branched into chickpeas given their prominence as an agricultural product in Saskatchewan. Being high in protein and fibre, the roasted chickpeas were surprisingly filling, so I only needed a small handful to curb cravings.

A cool feature is the product number printed on the packaging, when entered on the website it provides a description of that batch. For example, the BBQ roasted chickpeas I had were planted on May 12, 2013 and harvested October 18, 2013. It even specified the growing conditions (above average rainfall) and the farmer it was produced by (Colin). A host of other information is given so if you’re into “knowing where your food comes from” this is an ideal product.