Four questions for snack maven Marlene Most

As the former director of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s research kitchen and a culinary dietician, Marlene Most of Most Delightful Foods knows how to fuse flavor and nutrition. Last year, she followed her personal passion and launched a line of all-natural snack mixes she named Animae, Latin for “for the soul.” Earlier this month, Most learned that her products have also been accepted by Whole Foods Market and will be on the Baton Rouge store’s shelves soon.

Most makes an appearance this weekend at the Main Street Market with six varieties of her homegrown snack mixes, including top sellers, pecan cranberry, almond blueberry and macadamia mango. She’ll also have fruit and nut dark chocolate clusters and two holiday Animae selections, peppermint almond chocolate and rum walnut raisin.

When did you launch Most Delightful Foods?

Originally, in 2007. I started by doing healthy dog treats, but I decided last year that it was time to get back to human treats, which was my original dream.

How did you decide what would go into your snack mix?

I’ve always eaten lots of nuts and fruits and I wanted to create something that was a combination of those two things. It’s like granola, but it doesn’t have all that other stuff in it you see in granola. I focus on foods that are high in antioxidants like berries, and I use natural sweeteners like maple syrup and brown sugar. I also use sweet potatoes, which you might not be able to tell.

How do you incorporate them?

They’re cooked down and blended with the sweeteners, so they act as a glaze. They’re such a healthy food, and they’re local, so I wanted to use them.

How do you make healthy food satisfying?

The key is using premium ingredients because they have that burst of flavor. I’m relying on the natural sweetness of dried fruit, and not relying on added sugars or fats. My training is in nutrition, but my perspective as a culinary dietician is to find ways to make healthy food taste great.

For updates, visit facebook.com/Most-Delightful-Foods-LLC.