Food Encyclopedia

trail mix

A dry snack food that typically consists of a combination of ingredients such as nuts, seeds, dried fruit (like cranberries or raisins), granola clusters, coconut and sometimes chocolate or carob, in the form of chips or M&Ms. Trail mix began as a convenient energy booster for hikers and campers, but is just as often found today computer-side. It was once popularly referred to as gorp, which urban legend suggests is an acronym for "good old raisins and peanuts" or "granola, oats, raisins and peanuts," but which may just as readily date back to the early 1900s, when gorp referred to "eating greedily." In Australia, New Zealand and the U.K., trail mix is referred to as scroggin.