Thursday, September 17, 2009

Mareblu Naturals Blueberry Pomegranate Gluten-Free Trail Mix Crunch : Awesome!


[by Mike] Let me begin by saying: this stuff is simply awesome!

I have had many a "trail mix" over the years, but this product is a cut above to say the least. It is fabulous, satisfying, and made with high-quality ingredients. For me, it is trail-mix nirvana.

Mareblu Naturals Blueberry Pomegranate Gluten-Free Trail Mix Crunch is all natural, oven-roasted (slow dry roasted) ingredients that include Almonds, Cashews, and Pistachios, with a lightly-glazed coating derived from evaporated cane juice and rice syrup, with some blueberries, pomegranate, sea salt, and natural flavors that all come together in trail mix perfection!

This is a very hearty mix - as the close-up picture below makes clear (click for more detail) - lots of nuts forming the bulk of the trail mix chunks. And, those chunks carry with them a great overall flavor of blueberry and pomegranate that is present with every crunch, and enjoyable without being overbearing.



I find the balance of flavors nearly perfect, and this gluten-free snack food lives up to Mareblu Naturals claim that they wanted to "create a perfect bite-size snack that was healthy yet didn't sacrifice great taste". Indeed! They certainly did meet that goal.

The product is Peanut-free, contains zero trans fats, is gluten-free, vegan, wheat-free, Kosher, Cholesterol-Free, Dairy-free, and is made here in the USA! That last item of interest (made in the USA) sold me over a competing brand that was also at Costco at the same time, as the other one was from China, and I just do not believe the gluten-free status of some of those products given all the other notable issues with quality control in Chinese food products over the past few years. So, the Mareblu is the perfect choice for me on many levels.

We found this nice 20oz resealable bag of Mareblu Naturals Blueberry Pomegranate Gluten-Free Trail Mix Crunch at Costco for $8.99, which is substantially less than anywhere else I could find the trail mix online when I started looking around. In fact, it was less than half the price that most places want (including Amazon.com and their dealers), as they show a "list price" there of nearly $25.00... a price to which I say, "yeah, right!"; meaning, I would not pay that even though it is a fantastic product.

NOTE --> here is a money-saving tip: if you do not have a CostCo nearby, you can order Mareblu products directly from the Mareblu Naturals website for about the best online prices I could find. Plus, they have ALL the varieties available there, as you would expect. Shipping is reasonable (in fact, it says it is FREE over $50.00 orders) too. E.g., this bag of BB/Pomegranate is $11.99 direct vs. $8.99 at Costco.

I find the $8.99 price at Costco reasonable (as well as the not too much higher prices on the Mareblu web site) given the high-quality, hearty ingredients. I would certainly not pay that for a generic bag of "trail mix" that is just a bunch of raisins and M&Ms and peanuts; but, this Mareblu product is anything but generic - it is a quality snack food (or a dinner in a hurry - lol) that satisfies with substantial ingredients chosen to complement each other well and deliver some low-sugar, high-protein, great taste when you want it.

Mareblu Naturals makes a wide range of snacks and trail mix products in addition to this Gluten-Free Blueberry Pomegranate version, though I have yet to try them since Costco only had this one variety currently (note to Costco: get some more flavors!). The back of the bag lists varieties (visible on tehir website) like Almond, Almond Coconut, Cashew, Cashew Coconut, Pistachio, Pecan Cinnamon, Cranberry Pomegranate Trail Mix, Acai Blueberry Trail Mix, and a couple featuring my favorite thing - CHOCOLATE - like, Dark Chocolate Cashew Crunch and Dark Chocolate Almond Crunch. And , until Costco gets more, I just ordered a few other varieties online to try them out -- now I just have to be patient while they ship to me! Given the wonderful impression this Gluten-Free Trail Mix made on me, I expect similarly high-quality and delicious results in their other products, and look forward to trying them.

Everything about Mareblu Naturals Blueberry Pomegranate Gluten-Free Trail Mix Crunch said "high quality and attention to great taste, texture, and even health" as I consumed it, and it gets an emphatic thumbs-up rating from me, my wife, my parents, Nick (who seems permanently distracted lately and may not be writing further reviews for me), and Nick's father. We ALL loved this product. The only down-side: we find it difficult not to consume an entire bag in no time once we open it... this is some really great, and nearly addictive, trail mix!

8 comments:

  1. Great review!! I need to look for this next time I am in Costco, it sounds delicious!

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  2. I have these sitting on my desk on right and I just LOVE them!!

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  3. These are my favorite! We've been buying them from Costco for quite a time now. Recently, they began selling about four or five different nut combos from which to choose (at our "local" store in Anchorage, about an hour away). They had samples one day, which was helpful, although with six in our family, we still had a hard time agreeing which variety to purchase! The only trouble is that they're fairly addictive. My hubby likes taking these on hunting trips.

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  4. Hi Mike
    I'm from New South Wales in Australia and have just come across your blog. Very interesting reading.
    I was diagnosed as coeliac in October 2006. Thanks for all the information.

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  5. Wow! looks so delicious. But we don't have that here. Still useless.

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  6. not only delicious, but the important is the effect of its nutrients.

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  7. Sarah I find it funny that your hubby takes a vegan type snack with him, while looking for non vegan snacks to humiliate and kill. It would make more sense if he took beef or venison jerky as the snack - then it would all add up in the snack accounting books, logic books, general ledger, recursive function, and food chain. This is however just a silly vegan riddle I came up with.

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  8. Oh, I've had those, they are delicious! Though they have a bit of a perfume quality.

    -VEGirl (Vegan, Environmentalist, Gluten-intolerant)

    www.vegirlblog.blogspot.com

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