Marlene Most with her products at the Red Stick Farmers Market.

As a culinary dietician and baker, Marlene Most understands the science of foods and how to capitalize on both flavor and health benefits.

Aiming to make healthy snacking exciting and interesting, she started to combine fruits and nuts to create unique and flavorful snack mixes. It was with this combination that she realized it was a good product category. Although there are a lot of granolas and snack mixes available on the market, in my opinion, there is not one that quite offers the health benefits and snacking satisfaction that Most Delightful Foods offer.

“I always loved baking and often considered turning my passion into a business,” Most said.

With inspiration from her father’s passion for gardening, Most looked to her enthusiasm for baking and sharing her products with others to create and perfect her snack mix and chocolates.

As Most explains her passion for baking, “I remember creating some peanut butter cookies and baking them in my Easy Bake Oven when I was about 9 years old. I’ve been creating recipes ever since!”

In looking to put together a concept for her snack mix, she looked to her background as a dietician to create all natural foods that are both wholesome and delicious.

“After a career as a research dietician, I thought the time was right to pursue that dream.”

It was with the support of her family that Most began to create her business. The idea for her name was a combination of her last name, Most, and a common place expression often describing satisfaction after a visit… “I had a most delightful meal today” or “I visited a most delightful bakery today.” And thus, Most Delightful Foods was set into being. Production finally began in summer 2011 and gained a spot at the Main Street Market that June.

Most went on to describe some the surprising challenges that arose when beginning to create her dream. Because she has been a part of the culinary and food service world for some time, understanding product conception, packaging and regulations was commonplace. What was surprisingly difficult was realizing that she should need a commercial kitchen to be able to sell her products. As laissez faire as Louisiana can be, it is actually illegal to prepare foods to sell from your home kitchen. Once she was able to find a commercial bakery that would rent out their kitchen to her, then she was able to get the ball rolling on production to begin selling her products. Although the bakery ended up closing, it was the push that Most needed to get her own commercial kitchen set up.

Most Delightful Foods offers snack mixes and hand-crafted chocolates. Her snack mix, Animae Mix, is a blend of oats, nuts and fruits. What distinguishes it from granola is that it doesn’t have a “conglomeration” of ingredients such as seeds, other grains, or other mixtures. Rather each variety combines one type of nut and one type of fruit with toasted oats. It can be eaten by the handful as a nutritious and delicious snack. Some customers prefer to eat it as they would granola – with yogurt or mixed into their cereals.

Building upon that success, Most explained that she wanted to offer more products during the holiday season. And what better item to offer during the holidays to share with friends than a box of chocolates. While still focusing on health conscious products, her Most Delicious Chocolates are a chocolate dream, studded with gems of nuts and fruit. Some of her products include the White Chocolate and Fruit Squares and Pistachio Chocolates (made with rich dark chocolate).

Currently, anyone can go to the Main Street Market to meet Darlene and purchase her snack mixes and chocolates. I’m sure any local foodie friend or family member would appreciate a bag of the Animae Snack Mix or a hand crafted box of chocolates – Hint, hint, I would love the Pistachio Chocolate. If you can’t make it to the market, check out Whole Foods here in Baton Rouge. Soon the foods will be available at the Whole Foods in New Orleans. The Louisiana Arts and Science Museum also carries her snack mixes. With the beauty of online purchasing though, anyone can look her up online at www.mostdelightfulfoods.com or even on Facebook at “Most Delightful Foods, LLC”.

Passion, creativity, science and perseverance all describe Most and her vision for Most Delightful Foods. This entrepreneurial success story gained momentum in 2012 and is sure to be a driving force in 2013. Most looks optimistically to the next year as she expands her product reach into new stores and to continue dreaming up some delightful concoctions. There is always something in the works and cooking in the kitchen at Most Delightful Foods. Be sure to reach out to Most on Facebook or check out her website. And if you get the chance, meet her in person at the Main Street Market on Saturdays.

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