Thoroughly cooked and partially digested

Granola is a contemporary of the ClockTower itself. In the 1800's a man named Sylvester Graham developed graham flour from which he baked crackers. (duh) In 1863, Dr. James C. Jackson of New York used graham flour to create a health food he called "granula".  

Then, in 1876, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (name ring a bell?) came up with a whole-grain breakfast food he also called "granula".  Dr. Jackson was not amused and being from New York, he promptly sued. Mr. Kellogg changed the name of his product to "granola" and a hippie legend was born. Speaking of hippie legends, I make my own.

For a reasonable sized batch start with 4 cups of raw oats.

I like adding a cup of wheatgerm, too. It’s good for you.

Nuts are essential. I start with 2 cups of raw almonds….

….and add another cup and a half of pecans. 

Dump it all together into a big pot.

Now we add honey and canola oil, but here’s a trick for working with the honey.

If your cup measure is only a 2 cup size as mine is, add the liquids in two batches, measure one half cup of the oil first and slosh it all around to coat the inside of the measuring cup, then on TOP of the oil, bring it up another 1 cup of honey. See how the heavier honey displaces the oil to the top?

Dump it in, the honey will slip right out from the oil coating. Now do it again, but this time with less honey, about 2/3’s cup. Combined, that’s one cup of canola oil, about 1 and 2/3’s cups of honey.

Mix it all around really well until all the oats are coated and then turn it out onto a cookie sheet.

Spread it flat and put it in a 325 degree oven. Now keep an eye on it.

After awhile it will gain color and the liquids will start moving towards the corners.

Take it out and turn the granola over, mix it all about with a big spatula. Then put it back into the heat.

Usually about three cycles of this heat-turn-heat-turn will do it, there’s no formula, just brown it until it reaches the color you like but do not let it burn.

Let it cool and then scrape it off with a good spatula. Some folks like it a little oiler, some a little sweeter. If you make it with a little more honey the scraping grows more challenging.

But that’s it, just break it up and store it in the fridge. If you want fruit like dried apricots or cranberries or raisins, add them after it’s done. If you mistakenly mix them in early and bake them they will come out like little rocks, so add them after it has cooled.

I like this stuff.

It’s perfect with a cut up apple on nonfat, plain yogurt. 

This ad is from 1893.

"Thoroughly cooked and partially digested." 

Awesome.