New Brand Alert - Wanderlands: Neuroscience-Backed Nut Mixes that ~Transport~
About Wanderlands: Wanderlands is a pecan-based snack mix on a mission to transform everyday snacking into a
captivating adventure. Born out of a rare partnership between a wine maker and a neuroscientist, Wanderlands is
the result of over two years of research and recipe development with unexpected ingredients, textures and aromas
— leading to a series of unique integrated flavor combinations that appeal to our olfactory sense to evoke the
places that inspire us most. Each proprietary blend conjures the essence of its titular surroundings (Mineral Creek
Wilds, Mesa After Rain, and Into Snowy Woods) via hand-selected ingredients that echo that setting’s atmosphere,
flora and earth.
Founding Story: Sofia Rovirosa grew up in New Mexico on her family’s 4th generation pecan estate with a strong
sense of connection to both food and land, something that was reinforced during her global travels and eventual
career in viticulture as a cellar master at a winery in Napa, California. This hands-on experience working closely
with the land instilled in Sofia a deep passion for the concept of “terroir” — echoing the essence of a place and
season in what we eat and drink. Yet it wasn’t until she met Jane Ko, a brand marketer with a PhD in neuroscience
who leveraged her understanding of how our brains construct experiences from sensory inputs, that she was
inspired to revisit her family business through this new lens. Drawing on their unique individual experiences with
the power of smell to impact experience, Rovirosa & Ko worked closely with a chef to translate their vision into a
tangible reality. Wanderlands was born from a mission to viscerally capture (and share) this powerful sense of
“somewhereness”.
Product Description: Wanderlands’ proprietary recipes were born from the concept of “somewhereness”, or
infusing the essence of a specific time and place into a transportive snack food. Inspired by techniques long
employed by the candle and scent industries, Rovirosa & Ko leveraged the power of our olfactory sense — the one
most directly connected to the memory and emotion centers in our brain. Each mix begins with Stahmann's estate
grown, non-GMO Project Verified, 100% vertically integrated pecans as a base. The uniquely high level of healthy
fats present in the pecans makes them the ideal foundation for blending and integrating the flavors that will evoke
the atmosphere, flora and earth of specific locations. To this base, Wanderlands adds a dynamically-textured mix of
seeds, vegetables and legumes, followed by expertly composed spice blends of up to nine aromatic ingredients.
The result is three initial distinct medleys based on New Mexico landscapes that evoke specific memories of time
and place.
- Mesa After Rain:
- Tasting notes: Earthy. Umami. Grassy
- Setting: Summer thunderstorms wash over desert dust and flora.
- Ingredients: [Atmosphere]: horseradish, hatch green chile, fennel, yuzu, [Flora]: pepitas, fava beans, matcha, and [Earth]: pecans, roasted black soybeans, red miso.
- Mineral Creek Wilds:
- Tasting notes: Spicy. Tangy. Hint of Smoke.
- Setting: Sweet smell of fall leaves on damp soil. Hatch chiles roasting in the distance.
- Ingredients: [Atmosphere]: hatch red chile, fire roasted pepper, [Flora]: carrots, crunchy corn and [Earth]: pecans, fava beans, habanero chiles
- Into Snowy Woods:
- Tasting note: Savory. Peaty. Piney.
- Setting: Crisp mountain air, mushroomy forest floor, resinous woodsmoke, and fresh snow
- Ingredients: [Atmosphere]: Lapsang Souchong tea, black cardamom, [Flora]: yuzu, pepitas, and [Earth]: pecans, beets, and cremini mushrooms evoke the Earth/land.
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