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Well, when it comes to backstory, there’s a lot of it. Pistachios are one of the oldest flowering nut trees, and are one of the only two nuts mentioned in the Bible (Genesis 43:11). Humans have eaten pistachio nuts for at least 9,000 years. The modern pistachio nut P. vera was first cultivated in Western Asia, where it has long been an important crop in cooler parts of Iran. According to legend, pistachios were featured in the fabled Hanging Gardens of Babylon, built about 700 B.C. by King Nebuchadnezzar for his wife Amytis. The Queen of Sheba also loved pistachios. In fact, she demanded that the entire region’s pistachio harvest be set aside for her. (Greedy Sheeby!)

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A seed rather than a true nut, almost 90% of the fat found in pistachios is the healthy mono- and polyunsaturated fats. Pistachios are a good source of fiber providing 3 grams per serving, that’s more than many types of whole fruit–you would have to eat three plums to get the same amount of fiber found in one serving of pistachios. Just one serving of pistachios has 32% of magnesium, 34% of iron, 65% of a daily serving of B1, 69% of phosphorous, and a whopping 98% of B6.We’re proud to offer local pistachios in our cereals. A desert plant, the pistachio loves our California sunshine. The state produces upwards 300 million pounds of pistachios, about 98 percent of the domestic crop. Pretty impressive, when you consider that there was virtually no pistachio production in the state until the 1970’s!

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Getting Help

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Pistachio Addicts Anonymous holds regular meetings in most major civic centers and many churches across North America. Don’t want help? Then try a helping (or two!) on your Mojamix. (Also, listen to this song while you do it.) Indulge the decadence!

Despite their name, pine nuts are not nuts at all, but the edible seeds of pine trees. Their rich and earthy taste has been prized by foodies since the Stone Age. Today, pine nuts are popular in Latino, Mediterranean, Native American, and Asian cultures.  They are known by many names including pignon, pignolia, pignoli, pinolos, pinhao, and pignole. The Tuscan word for pine nut is Pinocchio—although the belief that your nose will grow if you lie after eating them is, hopefully, just a myth. In terms of nutrition, pine nuts contain fiber, thiamine, vitamin B₁ and protein—up to 35% of their mass is pure protein!

In ancient Greek and Roman times pine nuts were commonly preserved in honey, creating a sweet and nutritious treat that remains popular to this day.  Their characteristic taste also matches perfectly with coffee—in the Southwest, the enticing aroma of piñon (pine nut) coffee is enough to beckon the sleepiest dreamer out of bed.  Try your Mojamix with pine nuts, a dollop of honey, and a strong, fresh cup of coffee for a breakfast that’s rich, nourishing, and delicious.  But keep it honest afterward (just to be on the safe side).

The Prophet Muhammad said, “If I had to mention a fruit that descended from paradise, I would say this is it…eat from these fruits for they prevent hemorrhoids, prevent piles, and help gout.”  Okay, possibly more than you wanted to know from a religious leader, but true!   What’s more, the word “sycophant” comes from the Greek word sykophantes, meaning”one who shows the fig”.  Three guesses what that means!

Unlike most fruits, figs aren’t acidic, making them a great choice for people with sensitive digestion or ulcers.  They have a mild but rich taste, described by some as being halfway between a pear and an apple, but with the texture of a prune.  Figs are a powerful source of fiber, copper, thiamine, riboflavin, calcium, iron, magnesium, potassium, phosphorus, and B vitamins.  Toss a few in your next order of Mojamix—your mouth (and the rest of your body) will thank you!

We’re particularly proud to offer cranberries among our many cereal ingredients here at Mojamix.  After all, we’re a unique American company, and the cranberry, as one of only three popular fruits with origins solely in North America, is a unique American food!

The North American cranberry has a long and distinguished history.  Native peoples used cranberries as food, in ceremonies, and medicinally. They were used especially for pemmican, wound medicine, and dye. Yukon River residents recommend eating cranberries and drinking cranberry juice for colds and for bleeding gums.

Revolutionary War veteran Henry Hall planted the first commercial cranberry beds in Dennis, Massachusetts in 1816. The name cranberry is probably derived from “craneberry”—early European settlers thought that the plant’s long, trailing stem and nodding-head berry and flower resembled the neck and head of a crane.Today cranberries are farmed on approximately 40,000 acres across the northern United States and Canada.

Nutritionally the cranberry has great street cred.  It is a top food on the Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity scale with moderate levels of Vitamin C, dietary fiber, Vitamin K, and manganese.  Cranberries are also rich in both antioxidants and fiber.  Oh, and taste–did we mention taste?  There’s a reason the cranberry has been consistently popular for, well, centuries.  But maybe you’d just better try them in your next batch of Mojamix–it’s easier to show you than tell you.

The Totonaco people of the Vera Cruz region in Mexico were the first to cultivate vanilla, which they believed to be a gift from the gods. Their mythology told of a pair of fallen lovers, whose sacred blood marked the spot where a vigorous vine and beautiful flowers grew to fill the air with the aroma of true love and beauty. 

The Aztecs, who learned about vanilla from the Totonaco, called it tlixochitl, “black flower”.  Tlixochitl was served with cacao, ground corn, and honey in the drink of the Gods, aka the original hot chocolate! When Cortes came to the New World, he drank this brew and was suitably impressed. Had the Aztec not mistaken him for a god, who knows when Europe would have learned about vanilla? 

They did, however, and Cortes took vanilla back to Spain. The word “vanilla” comes from the Spanish word for “vagina” (see—they knew it was sexy!) It quickly caught on all over Europe. The sexy French loved it, although it took them three hundred years to figure out how to cultivate it successfully!

Today we build on their success with our French Vanilla Almond Granola base.  It’s lots of things, (especially delicious!) but definitely NOT boring. Try it for yourself and revel in the magnificent and mysterious taste of vanilla!

Despite having a name that sounds, well, an awful lot like wheat, buckwheat doesn’t have much in common with it.  The name ‘buckwheat’ or ‘beech wheat’ comes from its triangular seeds, which look like the much larger seeds of the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat. It’s neither a grass nor a grain. Instead, the part we eat is  the fruit of a shrub related to rhubarb and sorrel.  It has made its way into the diets of some of the major cultures on earth, from Romania to Brittany to Japan, since at least 4000 BCE. 

Buckwheat is a terrifically healthy food. It’s an excellent plant source of easily digestive protein and contains all eight essential amino acids. Buckwheat is also high in fiber (a big bonus for celiacs), B vitamins and, according to a USDA study, keeps glucose levels in check better than other carbohydrates — which is great news for celiacs who also have diabetes.

In traditional farming, buckwheat has held the important role of a rotational crop—planting buckwheat in the spring enriched the nutrients in the soil, preparing it to grow summer corn or fall wheat. The shrub grows quickly, creating a ground canopy that chokes out weeds. Today buckwheat is making a comeback on the land and on the public’s palate, as more farmers switch from chemical fertilizers back to natural methods of enriching the land.   We at Mojamix say, “Three cheers for buckwheat!”   Because we’re big fans of doing it Mother Earth-style.

The Persians brought the peach West from its native China, where it had been favored by kings and emperors as far back as the tenth century. They traveled the Silk Road to the Mediterranean before Christian times and passed it on to the Romans.  Romans disseminated peaches throughout Europe, and Spanish explorers then brought them to America in the sixteenth century. 

Although Thomas Jefferson had peach trees in his gardens at Monticello, Americans didn’t begin growing peaches commercially until the nineteenth century.  Today, our home state of California grows 65% of the peaches in the United States.  We’re proud to offer some of the best, most succulent of those in our Mojamix.  Velvety, delicately scented, luscious, and high in fiber and vitamin C, peaches nourish the body and the imagination.  Tempt yours!

But that’s just the beginning of the story on millet. A small-seeded grass that grows well in environments that are, er, challenging, millet can survive drought better than rice or wheat.  So it’s not too surprising that millet was an essential part of prehistoric diets in China, Northern India, and Korea up to 10,000 years ago.  Millet travelled from there to the Middle East and Northern Africa, where it became a staple. It grew in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, and even got a mention in the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament).    

Through trading with Eritrea and Somalia circa 3000 BCE, the early Egyptians learned from the Africans how to cultivate millet,  The Moors and Europeans followed suit, making millet one of the most popular plants to ever spread across the globe.  So there you have it: A teeny tiny grain with a huge history.  Talk about a heritage food!

What can we say?  We’re crazy for ancient grains—the older the better. For all you millet lovers and millet-curious out there, we now offer a choice between millet rice flakes and millet puffs for your Mojamix.  Try it in your next mix, then hollaback!  We bet you love it as much as we do.

Eating like a caveman is all the rage—the Diet of the Day includes racks of venison, periods of fasting, and lots of jumping around on rocks. That might be fun for some–but we here at Mojamix know when to say, “Ugh!  Me had enough!”. 

Despite popular belief amongst followers of the Paleolithic Diet, grains (and their nutritional contribution, carbohydrates) have been a part of human diets for tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of years.  According to University of Calgary researcher Julio Mercader, our stone age ancestors ate sorghum and other grains far earlier in history than was previously believed.  He and other researchers have discovered ancient caches of food including grains, dried fruits, nuts, and seeds.

In other words, cavemen ate cereal not all that different from ours.  And good thing, because the human body needs carbohydrates to function properly.  In fact, just about the healthiest way to have your daily carbs is the way you’ll find them in Mojamix—a diverse blend of grains with fruit, nuts, and seeds to supply you with a range of nutrients and micronutrients similar to what our healthiest, strongest, most rockingest ancestors ate.  We call it the Mojamix Diet.

Walnuts are the oldest tree food enjoyed by humanity, dating back to 7000 BCE.  Originating in ancient Persia, they spread throughout the world to enjoy popularity everywhere.   Nutritionally, walnuts are a fabulous source of omega-3 fatty acids. Walnuts are considered a herb in traditional Chinese medicine and are used to condition the kidney and intestines and strengthen the backs and knees.    They are even used as an offering to Mother Goddess Vaisnay Devi and as a celebratory food for the holiday of  Diwali.

The walnut first came to our fabulous home state of California in the late 1700s and grew until the present state of affairs:  California walnuts account for 99 percent of the walnuts sold in the US and two-thirds of walnuts in the world.  The walnuts you’ll find in our Mojamix are the cream of that crop.  Enjoy!