Based solely on my experience buying groceries, I’d say granola has gone mainstream. At the point you can buy something pre-packaged that’s been flavored with real Madagascar vanilla, it’s not exactly hippie food any more.
Though, of course, granola is less of a mid-20th century food of the counterculture than another product of the strange nutrition ideas that brought us many other famous breakfast cereals. The original, called granula, was developed in the middle of the 19th century and was a sort of pre-digested agglomeration of different grains that was so hard it needed to be soaked in water or milk overnight to be edible. Later, John Harvey Kellogg of Kellogg’s cornflakes fame made the cereal a bit more palatable and called it granola to avoid a trademark suit.
Most of what’s marketed as granola today isn’t exactly health food. Many popular brands have more sugar than the worst so-called “sugar cereals” that thoughtful parents withhold from their children.
My version isn’t free of sin, but it’s a lot better than the worst offenders at my local Whole Foods. This honey ginger granola only has about seven grams of sugar per typical serving, though I’d be amazed if anyone would consider a 50 or 60 gram serving enough. It’s pretty tasty.
I don’t like my granola with a lot of char, but I do like to develop flavor through the browning or Maillard reactions. To try and strike a balance, this recipe includes some baking soda. It might be counterintuitive — after all, there’s nothing to make rise — but don’t skip it. By raising the pH of the granola, we make it easier for browning reactions to take place, so we get the lovely toastiness without the char. Dried fruit makes a nice addition as well: add it after the granola has come out of the oven and cooled, or it will get a little sticky.
Ingredients
- 250 g rolled oats
- 50 g blanched slivered almonds
- 50 g walnut halves
- 3 g ground ginger
- 2 g ground cinnamon
- 1 g salt
- 1 g baking soda
- 40 g canola oil
- 40 g clover honey
Method
Preheat an oven to 135 °C (275 °F).
Toss together the oats, nuts, spices, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Then add the canola oil and stir the mixture to coat. Add the honey and stir again to coat.
Pour the mixture onto a lined baking tray, and spread it out into a thin even layer. Put it in the oven for 40 minutes, stirring the granola after the first 20. Allow it to cool to room temperature, then store it in an airtight container for up to a week.