Review & Giveaway : Kaia Foods Granola, Fruit Leather, Pumpkin Seeds and Kale Chips, Vegan and Gluten Free! (7/25/10)

Kaia Foods is a great company that produces snacks with minimally processed ingredients which retain their flavor and texture due to being raw or mostly raw. The snacks are hearty and full of fiber. Most are low in sodium and, most importantly... they all have great, unique flavors. Kaia Foods products are also gluten free and vegan!

Kaia generously provided me with some product samples to try and also some goodies to share with you as well. Here are the items I sampled:



Cocoa Bliss Buckwheat Granola: This granola was dense and crunchy with a nice chewiness from raisins. The cocoa flavor is not very sweet and provides a bitterness to the product in combination with nuts, seeds and buckwheat. At first I found the bitterness sort of off putting, but the more I ate this granola, the more I enjoyed it. The bitterness becomes less apparent over time, and the mixture of bitter with the sweetness of the agave nectar and raisins is a really nice, "grown up" pairing. I loved that this granola was not too sweet and was very filling and wholesome. I didn't try this with milk, but I think this would be great eaten as a cereal!



Kale Chips: The kale chips are light, crunchy and wonderfully flavored. I'm a huge fan of making kale chips at home but they have a tendency to burn. The Kaia Foods kale chips are dehydrated so they maintain their flavor without the charring. The "cheesy" flavor had a delicious nutritional yeast taste which is slightly nutty, salty and vaguely "cheesy". The "barbecue" flavor was slightly sweet and tangy with a little bit of spiciness from cayenne pepper. The flavor and crunch of the kale in combination with the barbecue sauce style flavoring was unique and absolutely delicious. I would choose these over potato chips any day!



Sprouted Pumpkin Seeds: The flavoring on these pumpkin seeds was great! I'm normally not a pumpkin seed fan, but I loved the slightly tangy flavor from apple cider vinegar. The sea salt and vinegar contained just the right amount of tangy vinegar flavor and saltiness. Perfect for my salty cravings! The party mix flavor was slightly sweet and reminded me a bit of delicious caramelized onions. Both packets contained seeds that tasted amazingly fresh and crisp with an excellent flavor.



Fruit Leather: Kaia's fruit leather is thin, chewy and a bit more dry than many fruit leather's on the market. The dryness of the product also makes them easier to savor slowly rather than gobbling them down in just a few bites. These have no added sugar and are minimally processed so the flavor is very clean. The Goji Orange and Lime Ginger flavors were both slightly bitter with unique and appealing flavor combos. The Vanilla Pear had a light vanilla aroma and subtle, pleasant flavor. Spiced Apple had a classic apple pie flavor which was lovely. In each of the fruit leathers the most apparent flavor to me was banana which made the leather have a slightly creamy flavor that was great in combination with the dryness of the leather.

I now love Kaia Foods for on the go eating. If I know I'm going to be out for the day and want some healthy, low fat, low sodium filled snacking, I will pack a Kaia Foods product. I think these would be perfect take on a camping or hiking trip! Kaia Foods also donates 1% of their sales to fighting hunger which is great. From the Kaia Foods website:

"1% of sales. As part of our mission to improve quality of life through proper nutrition we invest 1% of sales in fighting hunger. We currently donate to The Hunger Project and to the United Nations World Food Program."

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Kaia Foods has generously offered one of my readers a bag of their granola and one bag of pumpkin seeds!

*To enter all you need to do is visit the Kaia Foods website and tell me another product of theirs that you'd like to try.

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This giveaway will end on July 25, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. Open to US readers only. Good luck!

Giveaway winner: smilekisses

**I was sent 10 full size Kaia Foods products for review purposes and allowed to post my thoughts at my discretion. I did not receive any monetary compensation for this post & was not obligated to give a positive review of the product. All opinions expressed here are mine.**