I was at Westside Market the other day when I stumbled upon a bag of Karen’s Naturals freeze-dried corn. More out of habit than interest, I picked up the bag to read the ingredients, and, lo and behold, the company turned out to be nut-free. There’s nothing like coming across those words on a package of food—so naturally, I felt obligated to give this stuff a try.
According to their various product pages, all of the products sold by Karen’s Naturals are free from gluten, dairy, wheat, and nuts. They also don’t use any additives or preservatives—in fact, the only ingredient in their freeze-dried corn is…well, freeze-dried corn.
Karen’s sells freeze-dried fruits and vegetables, and various fruit powders, too. As of right now, I’ve only tried the corn and the strawberry-banana mix, but both are pretty good, as far as freeze-dried food goes. There’s definitely something weird about eating freeze-dried corn by the handful—but it isn’t necessarily weird in a bad way. The strawberries, though, are so flavorful (read: sour) that they overpowered the bananas in the mix. Still, not bad.
Both were plausible snacks, at the very least. In any case, I’m certainly looking forward to trying some of their other products. (Right now, I’m eyeing the freeze-dried peas. And the pomegranate. And the pineapple. I’m a sucker for pineapple.)
Find Karen’s Naturals at Westside Market, Fairway, and a bunch of other markets (or, of course, on their website).
Nut-Free New York 