In the late 1800s granola was invented by an upstate New York doctor as a health food. Then called “granula”, it was composed of cooked and crumbled Graham flour. John Harvey Kellogg (yes, that one) then purloined the cereal idea and name and created his own, substituting oats for Graham clusters. After threat of a lawsuit, Kellogg changed the name to “granola” and breakfast in America changed forever.
Better-tasting cereals like Corn Flakes and Rice Krispies won over the public virtually ending the love affair with granola aside from a small number of health food faddists. That is, until the hippies got a hold of it in the 60s. Believe it or not, those flowered freaks are credited with adding dried fruits and nuts and making granola tastier than ever. The cereal barons quickly mass-marketed it and by the mid-70s granola was everywhere.
But here’s the deal—pick up any box of supermarket granola and you’ll find an ingredient list on the side with 20-odd items, ten of which you’ve never heard of. And there shouldn’t even be a list. Two good reasons to make your own granola are that it tastes better and it contains way better ingredients.
So here’s how to do it. Take a base of rolled oats (old-fashioned oats, not quick-cooking), and add virtually any dry ingredient under the sun—other grains, spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla or cardamom), dried fruit (raisins are common but bananas and coconut rock!), orange zest, crystallized ginger, applesauce and even chocolate. And it wouldn’t be granola without adding nuts, seeds or combination of the two. Your natural sweetener options—maple syrup, brown sugar or honey—bring it all back home.
So the next time you get a hankering to change up your breakfast, or if you just want to see what those freakin’ hippies were tripping about, take a trip back in time, to when all granola was made at home.
