Yax Snacks is launching Yax Chaya Tortilla Chips at Pop Up Grocer on January 9.  

Made with chaya—a leafy green traditionally grown and eaten across the Yucatán, Mexico, and Central America, often called “tree spinach”—Yax aims to bring an underused ingredient to the snack aisle in a crunchy, savory tortilla chip made with nixtamalized corn and cooked in avocado oil.  

Yax Snacks was founded by food industry veterans Keith and Nicki Schroeder. The brand’s tortilla chips are seasoned to reflect the flavors of the Yucatán Peninsula, a region still largely underrepresented in U.S. packaged snacks, the brand says.

Launch flavors of the product include Habanero + Sour Orange; Garlic, Green Onion, + Crema; and Chaya + Tangy Cheese. 

Yax sources its chaya directly from a farmer cooperative near Tekax, Mexico, maintaining a close connection to origin while supporting small-scale agriculture, it notes.

“I first tried chaya in Mérida—in a margarita—and then started seeing it everywhere,” says Nicki Schroeder. “It’s used with eggs, in beverages, and in everyday Yucatecan cooking. That’s when the idea clicked: let’s turn it into a tortilla chip and bring it to more people. We took it from concept to shelf in about six months.”  

Pop Up Grocer spotlights emerging brands bringing genuinely new ideas to the category. Yax's debut marks a milestone, it says, as the brand aims to expand retail distribution and introduce chaya to a broader audience.  

Related: Quest Nutrition debuts more tortilla-style chip flavors