Reverse Engineering Cranberry Trail Mix

While you were worrying about being able to decompile Java bytecode or .NET IL, I’ve been trying to figure out the recipe to Walgreen’s delicious Cranberry Trail Mix.

But it’s mostly pseudo-science; we used a small sample. Tawny and I opened three single-serving bags from the same 7-pack, and separated the ingredients.

Then I measured the weight of each on my USB scale (meant for estimating postage costs).

Here’s what we found, sorted by weight. I’ve placed the Nutrition Facts ingredient-list rank in parentheses where it varies from our findings:

1. (#1) 28g peanuts (unsalted)
2. (#5) 21g black raisins
3. (#3) 21g golden raisins
4. (#2) 18g dried cranberries (lightly sweetened; not as puny as Craisins)
5. (#6) 14g pepitas (a.k.a., pumpkin seeds)
6. (#4) 10g sunflower kernels
7. (#8) 9g almonds (unsalted)
8. (#7) 8g cashews (unsalted)

As you can see, there’s a bit of disparity between the ingredient list and what we actually counted. I’m sure some of the error can be chalked up to misclassifying cranberries vs. black raisins, or even rounding error on the scale. But I think it’s “close enough” for my use.