Granola, that most ubiquitous of breakfast foods. So far-reaching that it has transcended its original meaning and become a label for a whole contingent of people living a bike-riding, Birkenstock-shod existence. Though granola has changed and evolved with time, at its core it has always had a healthy bent, though the claims associated with it have drastically changed over time. 

Each Bowl Brings the Rapture Closer

First created in 1863 by James Caleb Jackson, a staunch Christian abolitionist and operator of “Our Home Hygienic Institute” a sanitarium in Livingston County, New York. Jackson’s breakfast cereal was originally dubbed “granula” and was introduced to the members of the sanitarium as nothing less than a modern miracle. Jackson’s health claims for his creation were just short of the divine, asserting that his granula would not only properly prepare the body and mind for the second coming of Christ but would most certainly hasten His arrival. If that wasn’t reason enough to begin eating granula for every meal, he had also rationalized that it would have a calming effect on the nerves, improve one’s personal values, and most importantly lower your libido; altogether putting an end to the carnal habit of self-gratification that he considered a blight on mankind. 

“They’re Gr-r-reat!”

By 1878 one John Harvey Kellogg, proprietor of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and a like-minded enthusiast of Jackson’s work introduced granula to his own congregation. They say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Jackson wasn’t thrilled with the compliment. In a small effort to keep the peace, Kellogg changed his cereal’s moniker from granula to Granola, to you know, avoid any confusion. He too believed that one could attain a certain religious heightening by eating toasted oats but later went on to accept that corn-flakes brought you still closer to God and so the copyright on Granola was allowed to lapse and the term became open to the public. 

Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out and Eat Granola

While granola was first conceived within the health movement of the day and stayed well within the community throughout its lifetime; by the 1960s the alternative lifestyles of the hippies who reintroduced granola to the public with their tenants of free-love and self-exploration would have most certainly shocked the puritanical creators of granola to their core. Their sacrosanct breakfast food, coming to represent a lifestyle they would have most certainly considered nothing short of heathen.

“Life, within doors, has few pleasanter prospects than a neatly-arranged and well-provisioned breakfast table.”

-Nathaniel Hawthorn

This simple recipe for our favorite granola comes together quickly and is so delicious it’s positively sinful.

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The Transcendental Granola

A delicious blend of oats and honey toasted to perfection and delicious on just about anything.

Course Breakfast

Cuisine American

Keyword bakinghistory, breakfast, glutenfree, granola, healthy, oats

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

• 3 cups Rolled Oats
• 3 Tbsps Brown Sugar
• 3/4 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1/3 cup Raw Honey
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 cup Dried Cherries, chopped (optional)
• 1/4 cup Black Chia Seeds

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 300℉

2. In a large bowl toss together oats, salt, brown sugar, and cinnamon.  

3. In a large liquid measuring cup add oil, honey, and vanilla and whisk vigorously to combine.

4. Stir the liquids into the oat mixture and combine until everything is evenly disbursed.

5. Spread the granola onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the granola and stir with a large rubber spatula. Return the granola to the oven and bake an additional 5 minutes or until oats have become toasty and golden.

6. If adding dried fruit add them after the granola is baked but still warm.

7. Let the granola cool on the baking sheet until it has hardened, then break it up and place it in an air-tight container. Eat often, every bowl brings the rapture closer.