Monday, November 3, 2014

The Squeeze - Raw Snacks

There I was moseying through Expo East this past September when I spyed a refrigerator filled with colorful juices. That was my first foray into The Squeeze world founded by Karliin Brooks. Karliin opened a juice truck called "The Squeeze" just a few years ago and now has a storefront in Brooklyn in addition to the truck in Broadway. The cold-pressed juices I tried at her booth were outstanding and she sent me off with some samples of some of the goodies they sell.


All of her products are raw, meaning they are never heated above 118-degrees, which increases the bioavailability of their nutrients -- this means your body benefits more. She has a bunch of packaged snacks that she sells across New York -- here are the ones that I tried.

The Nacho Kale Almonds make me think I've died and gone to heaven. She takes raw almonds and coats them in a creamy nacho seasoning, then dries them at a low temperature to produce almond heaven. The mixture of kale, cashews, sesame seeds, olive oil, onion, nutritional yeast, garlic, apple cider vinegar, mustard seed, turmeric, chili pepper, and salt really is spectacular. You'd be hard-pressed to find nuts that taste better than these.


The Mac 'N Cheese Kale Chips had a similar coating and were also heavenly. These flaky kale chips were loaded with nutritional yeast and balanced seasonings. Some of the best I've ever had.


The FunOnions were delicious and would make a great burger topper. These onions are coated with a mixture of buckwheat, flax, oat flour, nutritional yeast, almonds and spices and then dried at a low temperature.


The Kind Pork Rinds could have had a more appropriate name, in my opinion, but, then again, I've never had real pork rinds so maybe these taste just like them. In any case, these are really good snacks as they are basically strips of red bell pepper coated in almond flour, oats, and seasonings that makes them taste fantastically good.


Last, but not least, she also makes raw granolas called Coconut Squeezola and Chocolate Squeezola. They are super crunchy mixes of coconut, sprouted buckwheat, dates, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oat flour, coconut oil, vanilla bean and Himalayan pink salt. You can really taste the vanilla bean flavor coated throughout the granola.


I am really impressed with the flavor profiles of all of the snacks. I never expected all of them to be good and I was most impressed with the kale chips and nacho kale almonds. One day, I dream of world in which The Squeeze truck visits DC, but, until then, you can buy her products on her website here.  They are fun, healthy, and super delicious, and I only hope her distribution channels continue to increase. Now, how about you go get your squeezola on!

Full Disclosure: Although the products were provided to me for free to review, that in no way influenced my veracious opinion.

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