Raw snacks are the best! After munching 100% raw snacks I always feel full or energy and just plain great. (Like the awesome Raw Pesto Sea Crackers and Live Hummus snack I ate today.) Raw snacks rank super-high on the yummy-ness scale, but only if you know which brands to grab and which to avoid. Here's a little advice and a product review for Two Moms in the Raw Sea Crackers...
OLD and OA. Two of my favorite raw snack retailers are in NYC: One Lucky Duck, part of the raw foodie restaurant Pure Food and Wine. And Organic Avenue, a raw foodie haven on the lower east side. Both retailers provide cravable and ravable fresh raw eats (food and juices) daily, but they also have several packaged raw snacks on hand as well. And guess what, most of their packaged snack products are available for shipment to your doorstep. OLD has an awesome snack sampler pack filled with assorted raw treats and goodies. (click the 'snacks' image to enter OLD online store.) A must for anyone starting to experiment with raw snacks. Click here and you'll get a Free Snack Sample with your OLD order.
And FYI, One Lucky Duck's famous raw vegan Mallomar dessert is one of the foods on the Vegan's Hundred food list. They are that good...
OLD's Cheese-y Quackers:
See my review of One Lucky Duck's Cheese-y Quackers here. They are better than any cheese crackers you will ever try!
Another FYI, the live raw hummus in the title image is from Organic Avenue. It rocks!....
Why Raw? Whenever I'm looking to 'detox' my body or toxins and get back on track with my diet, I'll reach for raw foods. Raw foods provide optimal nutrition and since most of the food enzymes are still in tact, your body will be able to break down and take in the nutrients faster.
Two Moms in the Raw Sea Crackers. I'm always discovering new raw products at both O.L.D and O.A. Like these delicious Sea Crackers from the Two Moms in the Raw brand. Here is my product review...
Product Review: Two Moms in the Raw, Pesto Sea Cracker
Shelf Appeal: Adorable high quality resealable bag. Love the vegan certified, kosher, natural food certified and Colorado product logos on the label. Clearly states that the product is gluten-free with no added sugars or oils. Great label signage. Honestly, when I saw the product in the baggie window, I was scared. I've had a few bad flax seed chips in my day ans this one looked super grainy. But I decided to give it a shot anyways...glad I did!.
Label Check: In a 6 gram serving there are 30 calories, 2.5 grams of unsaturated fat, 1 gram of protein and 2 carbs. 1 gram of fiber and 20 mg sodium. The product is vegan, gluten free, kosher, organic, raw, dairy-free and wheat-free. 20 servings per bag. Although I must admit I finished the bag in about 4 separate 'servings' for myself. So in each hefty serving I had there were about 150 calories. Nothing but good stuff in here: organic flax seeds, pine nuts, herbs, spices, garlic, kombu and sea salt. 40% RDA of iron per 600 total-calories bag. Healthy? yes.
Taste Test: I was scared. Lots of flaxseeds, and I've had bad flax chips before. But OMG these were off the board delicious. Light, crispy, flavorful, salty, nutty and the pesto flavor was boldly divine. I handed one cracker to my seed-fearful husband and he groaned in dis-belief of the yummy taste. He stuck his hand out for more. Even he LOVED them, and I realized I was going to have to share this bag with him. I can't wait to try the other flavors: garden herb and tomato basil.
Price Check: I bought my bag for $11.95. I know, I know. It's a little nutso expensive, if you compare it to the $1.95 bag of potato chips you're used to buying. But I was dying to try this specialty product and thus was happy to pay the twelve bucks to do so. My later online price research showed me that you can buy these sea crackers for $7 a bag on the TMITR website. yes!
Last Word: If you think you know 'raw snacks' and haven't tried these, you have NO IDEA what you are missing. Dip them in some raw hummus and look at you, you're a regular raw foodie-loving every bite of it!!
Links:
One Lucky Duck: EAT RAW LIVE LONG
Organic Avenue NYC: OA
Two Moms in the Raw: TMITR
...Read about One Lucky Duck's famous Raw Mallomar dessert: enter raw vegan bliss.
More Yummy Photos:
Fresh Raw Blueberry Spirulina juice from Organic Avenue:
Kathy says
Marlene,
I know! But if you've ever been to Organic Avenue you'll know that it's this heavenly raw foodie haven. It has al these specialty gourmet products, and the staff is incredibly friendly and helpful, and if you are an OA member you do get a small discount. I just ove their business so much and I like supporting them by buying their products. I won't pay that much for the sea crackers again, but I will certainly buy them again. I'm craving them right now!
..and my batch from OA was incredibly fresh..that's the trouble with Whole Foods raw snack foods...sometimes they do seem like they've been sitting o the shelf for a while. I never get that from OA or One Lucky Duck...
Thanks for the comment!
~Kathy
Marlene says
Wow! I can't believe what you paid for those sea crackers from Two Moms in the Raw! That's really high. Whole Foods in NY sells them for around $7, and I don't consider WF inexpensive. You experienced quite the mark up.
My only problem with the batch of crackers that I bought was the very short shelf like. They literally had three days to expiration at the time that I bought them, which while raw items are perishable, was pretty short. I don't think that was due to the makers, but more so based on how long they sat on the WF shelves. They were sort of hidden on a bottom shelf. I had to put them in the refrigerator to get a week out of them.
I do not think the 6 gram serving size is realistic. That's 1/5 of an ounce. I too got 4 one ounce servings out of the entire bag, as opposed to the 20 servings quoted. That would be a miniscule serving. I think that a 1 oz. 150 calorie serving is more reasonable and more in line with a typical snack serving (although most people consume more than a serving at a time).
I did enjoy them though, especially with a little nut butter.