Nut Kreations, Santa Cruz

I don't typically review stores, that is, unless they are incredibly unique and/or funky.  When I was walking around the downtown area of Santa Cruz, I stumbled across a nut shop that met that very criteria. After looking around and trying a few products, I quickly realized that I needed to write about this place!

Nut Kreations is a specialty nut store that was founded last year by a local Santa Cruz couple. In fact, today is the 1-year anniversary of their store's opening! Happy anniversary Nut Kreations!! The business grew out of an experiment they tried for Christmas a few years ago in which they took orders from family and friends and assembled 200 gift packages out of their home. Soon thereafter, they opened their own store that now offers close to 120 types of nuts, dried fruits, seeds, granolas, and other natural treats.

The store itself is beautiful with glass cases showcasing all of their offerings. I was overwhelmed by the unique selection. Especially of note was a selection of hard-to-find dried fruits such as strawberries, Australian ginger, cantaloupe, pears, peaches, and chili mangoes.

I picked up an incredible mix that included strawberries, figs, kiwis, golden raisins, tart cherries, persimmons, dried mangoes, peaches, cantaloupe, and goji berries. Every piece of fruit tasted like it had been dried yesterday - so soft, fresh, and flavorful. They are definitely the best dried fruits I've ever had. And considering that many of their dried fruits don't use many of the preservatives you find in most dried fruit mixes, they are much healthier than most. 

That's not to mention the amazing chocolate covered dried fruits -- most of which are vegan!

I tried a bunch of them before settling on the chocolate covered banana chips. They were dried to a crisp, then covered with just the right amount of chocolate -- a great combination!

There were so many nuts and nut mixtures. You could even create your own mixes by mixing fruit, nuts, and/or granola together. The possibilities are endless! I recommend the Thai Curry cashews and Salt & Pepper cashews.  The Thai Curry cashews (shown below) made me "mmmm" out loud! No joke! They are that good. Talk about a perfectly spiced cashew. This one is worth ordering online.

Another simple, yet delicious nut was the raw red walnut. These walnuts are native to California and lower in oils and acidity in comparison to regular walnuts. I loved the flavor of them in my steel cut oatmeal.

The coconut cinnamon vanilla pecans are delicious and would be amazing on top of coconut milk ice cream with chocolate sauce! Okay, now I need to try that.

Other ones that looked good were the raspberry almonds, wasabi tamari almonds, and garlic almonds. Oh, and the spiced pistachios looked great too.

They allow you to try everything so you can be sure you like it before you buy. Then, you just tell them what you want and how much of it and they'll package it in their cute little bags.

They also sell nut butters, containers for nut storage, and other gift items. If you are in Santa Cruz, this place is a must-visit.  It is too bad they only have one store, however, I predict they'll be expanding soon. In the meantime, I'll be placing my orders online at www.nutkreations.com. UPDATE: They are offering all of my readers 25% off on orders if you use the following code upon checkout: YEAROFNUTS!

Please note that all vegan items are labeled as such in the store, but only some of them are labeled online. They are currently working to add these labels to all products in their online store. If you have any questions, just give them a call or shoot them an email -- they are happy to help!

Nut Kreations
104 Lincoln Street
Santa Cruz, CA 95060
(831) 431-6435