 |
|
BANG FOR THE BITE
If all Californians purchased granola only made from organic oats for a year, it would prevent 47,684 lbs of pesticides from being used on 81,235 acres of oats.
COCKTAIL FACT
Rainbow Grocery Coop in San Francisco sells the most granola out of any store in the country, with at least 28,600 lbs sold per year.
| SAVE TO MY BITES |  |
FORWARD TO A FRIEND:
RATE THIS TIP:
How useful is this tip to you?
(5 is the highest)
home › tip library › Organic Granolas
When we say "crunchy" you say...?
The Bite
GRANOLA. First introduced to the public at the original Woodstock in 1969, granola's the crunchy wonder food every former hippie had on his or her shelf. Now in 2006, we bring you a few of the tastiest organic grains five bucks can buy.The Benefits
- Easy eating. For non-US Biters: granola is akin to European muesli. It fills you with oats and energy, and makes a tasty portable snack.
- Organic granola has nutritional benefits - it's a good source of dietary fiber and nutrients. For calorie counters, though, use as a topping or in small portions.
- Most organic granola is made without the use of hydrogenated vegetable oils and has zero trans fat.
Personally Speaking
Okay, okay, we admit it. We like granola, in our yogurt or on ice cream, particularly Grandy Oats and Zoe's, but if you call us "crunchy," we'll really have to bite you.Wanna Try?
- GrandyOats Granola - fun flavors like Mainely Maple and Chocolate Peanut Crisp… and a very good low fat option: Berries Jubilee ($5).
- Zoe's Flax and Soy Granola Cereal - three varieties: cranberry currant, honey almond, and cinnamon raisin. A bit chewy. ($5).
- Bear Naked Granola - made using "bearly" processed ingredients - and we give them props for getting naked in their print ads ($5).
Jul 19,2006
Sponsor
All editorial suggestions in this tip are the result of testing and a preference for the tip topic. No advertiser has paid to have its company referenced in the tip. For more information, please read our Editorial Policy.
The Granola Tip
When Jen and I were planning for Ideal Bite, we spent a lot of time talking about what it WOULDN’T be. Since we saw how the environmental movement had been struggling under the stereotype of crunch and preachiness, we swore that we would never tell people to ride their bikes to work, that we would never “go all granola” on them. (No matter how much riding your bike to work is a v. good thing).
We swore.
Well, we swore until we were at GreenFest in San Francisco last fall. We had been working and drinking and working and not sleeping and drinking and working and running and, well, drinking, for DAYS. And we found ourselves working the booth, STARVING, biding our time until our shift was up and we could run around the expo hall, scavenging for the free food samples.
And in the midst of our frenzied food-gathering, we happened upon the Grandy Oats booth.
And we fell in love.
So, through mouthfuls of every imaginable mix of the best organic granola, we tried not to spit oats and fruits as we started laughing, realizing we were going to have to break our vow and tip granola.
-Heather... off to pack boxes (yes, another move on the horizon)...
Biter Comments...
I would like to take this opportunity to plug an AWESOME organic granola company: Nutty Steph's. (www.nuttystephs.com) Their granola cereal is homemade and honestly transporting. They use local organic maple syrup to sweeten it, and hazelnuts are added to the mix (for extra nutrition & great flava). The best thing is that it's a totally small business and a fabulous woman who runs it. Give 'er a try!!
(I am not employed by them, I just friggin' love their cereal.)
Thanks for listening.
My favorite granola is made by Koinonia farms, a cooperative farm in south Georgia that had the unthinkable idea of people of different races working together during the mid-1900's and became a target of the KKK and a powerful presence for civil rights. Their granola is super nutty, with lots of pecans, and I can't even keep it around because when I have it, I can't stop eating bowl after bowl with ice cold milk. In fact, writing this is making me want some now! Organic too, and your purchase is not only good for the environment, but for helping people too, as they maintain many community service programs today and provide opportunities for people to live in intentional community, study peace and justice, help grow pecans, and learn more about the issues facing rural Georgians. I don't work there but I would be honored if I did. Link to granola:
http://www.koinoniapartners.org/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=CTGY&Category_Code=gran
I'm not really a granola kinda gal but I LOVE Bear Naked Granola Friut Nut Granola.
I have always loved granola (I was one of the few kids who never begged for sugar cereal). Yet, I could never understand why it costs so much.
So, now I make my own. I buy organic rolled oats, organic nuts, and organic honey at the farmer's market and make my own. Each batch makes enough to last about two weeks (For me and my boyfriend).
Even with the organic ingredients, by making it myself I save tons of money.
Good for you, Amanda!! I have been making my own organic granola probably for more years than you are old! I'm one of those 60's Earth Mom's. My kids grew up on homemade granola and homemade granola bars. My sister and all her children ask for no other Christmas present from me than a Big Batch of granola each.
Hmmmm. You all have me thinking... my mom makes a killer granola. I'll see if I can't get her to post it to comments. Of course, she's not an adept blogger yet, so we all need to be nice and encouraging. Come on, Ma - post the granola recipe, please...????
I love love this site-but had to comment on the granola bite..I did extensive research on the history of granola for my book Hollywood Dish. Granola came way before Woodstock, it was invented in 1863 and first called granula J.H Kellogg changed the name to granola when he began to make his version in 1876. Early versions were similar to Grape Nuts. It was the first cold breakfast cereal-and perhaps the first trademarked health food. But its popularity died down when Kelloggs Cornflakes won America over after the turn of the 20th century. Granola was never packaged again on a large commercial scale until 1965, when Layton Gentry (dubbed "Johnny Granola-Seed" by Time Mag in 1972) began to package it. The counterculture, and Adelle Davis helped make granola popular in the early 1970s and soon Kelloggs and other big cereal companies began to produce it on a large scale. I was lucky-my mother always made her own.
Ok, Heather asked me to post my granola recipe [it's so easy].
3 cups rolled oats
2 cups of nuts [your choice]
1 cup shredded coconut
generous 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
generous 1/4 cup good maple syrup
1/4 vegetable oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins [Heather is not a raisin fan.]
Preheat oven to 250. Combine oats, nuts, coconut, and br. sugar. In separate bowl, combine syrup, oil, and salt. Combine the two, and pour onto 2 sheet pans. Cook for about 1 hour and 15 min.; stir every 15 min. or so. Remove from oven; add raisins; enjoy.
from Heather's mom
Sadly, I must now bring some allegations against granola to this blog.
Sally Fallon(author of Nourishing Traditions, founder of the Weston Price foundation) warns against granola I think because she says it goes rancid quite easily.
I would say it all depends on processing.
If it is made from mostly rolled oats and they are exposed to light/moving, free air, yes, they will go rancid.
It's all in the processing. If you make it then quickly eat it, that is fine. Otherwise, it really doesn't offer much nutritional value/maybe some negative, especially if you add in polyunsaturated vegetable oils in the mix(not good. Im talkin about your soy, cottonseed, canola, etc).
Even on things like oatmeal, it is warned that you should only use rolled oats if they are not exposed to open air and it is best to roll them right before eating.
My vote is make it yourself. It starts its journey in your kitchen, so inevitably it is younger than the store bought item. As a plus you can store it a reuseable container (like the empty oatmeal container) and save on packaging too!
Ack! Heather's mom's granola recipe does not say how much oil to use. It just says "1/4 vegetable oil". One-fourth WHAT? Teaspoon? Cup?
I'm NOT a cook, so common cooking sense does not apply! *hangs head*
Please help!
On the oats I agree, they do go rancid. Some of this can be "helped" by soaking them over night and then preparing the rest and dehydrating the granola mixture the next day. But since most of us dont buy hulless oats and roll them ourselves, it is pretty impractical to suggest such. Homemade (with good oils) is still better than store bought with bad oats AND bad oils - lol.
Granola lovers need to try Woodstock Granola & Trail Mix from Woodstock, Vermont. I have tried each of the seven flavors and my favorite is the Raspberry Chai! I heat it up with milk and the raspberry-chai flavor infuses the milk. Soooo incredible! So many granolas cannot compare.
Rebuild with Phytase
Topic #17: Complementary Soaking
_________________________________________________
_________________________________________________
Complementary Soaking
Legumes (particularly soy), corn, oats, and millet are
notoriously poor at allowing you to bust through the phytates.
One possible strategy is to soak and cook them with another
grain: prepare them with a food that is higher in phytase.
In a 2003 study, phytic acid researchers used combinations
of cereals and legumes to reduce phytic acid levels (Egli et al.).
They reduced phytic acid levels virtually to zero in an hour and
a half or less for the following mixtures:
* 90% whole grain corn plus 10% whole grain wheat
* 90% whole grain corn plus 10% whole grain rye
* 30% polished rice, 60% whole grain chickpea, 10% whole
grain buckwheat
* 70% low-extraction wheat, 20% dehulled toasted soybean,
10% whole grain wheat
Thus, the best legume preparation method will be some sort
of legume-grain combination where the grain is wheat, rye,
or buckwheat.
A key for oats in the morning is to mix them with other cereal
grains high in phytase. The ground, mixed-grain cereals
common in health food stores provide a good solution. Or
simply add some fresh ground wheat to your oats before you
soak them.
SOURCE: Amanda Rose
www.rebuild-from-depression.com
PHOTO ALBUMS
Posted by: Zoe | July 19, 2006 at 08:05 AM