Granola: <i> This </i> Time It’s Healthy, We Swear It

Granola was the first “health food” that tasted good. What could be bad? It was made from oatmeal, dried fruit, nuts and seeds. Eating it made us feel virtuous--all that fiber and protein, those vitamins and minerals.

But was granola in fact good for us? During the past decade, consumers have been urged to read cereal labels and watch out for coconut oil, palm oil, sugar, honey and corn syrup. It turned out these were common ingredients in granola, which wasn’t so virtuous after all--it was high in calories, high in sugar and high in fat.

In moderation, the richness of granola might pose no problem, but too few granola lovers are satisfied with the recommended one-ounce serving, a mere quarter-cup. The result is that granola can range from 90 to 140 calories a serving. A couple of years back, one health writer concluded that granola was essentially a way of eating cookies in crumbled form.

Gradually, people became skeptical about granola. Now, at last, cereal manufacturers have tuned in to what their customers want. Many have substituted unsaturated fats such as canola oil for tropical oils and they have changed the source of sweetener from honey to fruit juice.

“Our granola sales have increased because manufacturers have responded to people’s health concerns,” said Jerry Farrell, co-owner of Rising Tide in Glen Cove, N.Y. “Besides sweetening granola with maple syrup and fruit juices, they’ve made it more interesting by adding dried blueberries, raspberries or cherries.

“We’ve also found that customers buy it in a package first and then realize they can buy it in bulk.” Customers prefer bulk, Farrell said, because of price (“they don’t want to pay for a box”) and the environment “you pour what you want into a paper bag”).

Quaker Oats’ new low-fat version of granola contains two grams of fat, compared with its original 100% Natural Granola, which has five grams. One way Quaker accomplished that was to reduce the amount of nuts and coconut, both high in natural fat, said Quaker’s marketing associate Dave Jacobs. Kellogg’s recently entered the granola field with a new, low-fat variety containing two grams in a serving.

Three years ago, Health Valley Foods took a look at Orangola, its top-selling granola. “Orangola contained honey and oil,” said Harry Urist, Health Valley Foods’ packaging director. “We changed to fruit sweeteners and removed the oil. Last year we introduced three new fat-free granolas and saw an immediate jump in sales. They moved ahead of Orangola and became our best-selling cereals.”

Granola sales are not limited to supermarkets and health-food stores.

In Berkeley, Calif., Alice Waters used her mother’s recipe to make the granola that has been served for the last eight years at Cafe Fanny, a stand-up eatery a few miles away from Waters’ Chez Panisse restaurant. Jim Maser, her partner, said when they realized customers were ordering five pounds to go, they decided to bag it.

Cafe Fanny granola is a mixture of oats, honey, canola oil, sunflower seeds, whole-wheat flour, almonds, wheat germ, nonfat milk, sesame seeds and raisins. A one-ounce serving contains seven grams of fat. Maser says he is less concerned with the amount of fat than the source of the fat, which is entirely vegetable. “Granola is not a low-fat food,” he says, “but a small serving can be satisfying and provide good energy until lunchtime.”

Cafe Fanny granola can be ordered by calling (800) 441-5413. The price is $3.75 a pound, plus shipping, with a five-pound minimum. Locally, Trader Joe’s markets sell nine different granolas, flavored either with fruit juice or malted barley in place of sugar. Two of them provide less than 1 gram fat per serving and contain no coconut or oil--or wheat, for that matter (they’re rolled oats, corn and psyllium). Trader Joe’s granolas run $1.29 a pound to $1.49 for oat bran varieties.

In this country granola was first associated with hippies and the radical ‘60s and early ‘70s, but its roots go back to the end of the last century, when the Swiss nutritionist Max Bircher-Benner concocted muesli, a German dialect word for “mixture.” Muesli contains a variety of whole cereals, dried fruit, nuts, bran, wheat germ, sugar and dried milk solids, but it isn’t baked so it isn’t as crunchy as granola.

Try your hand at making granola at home. The first recipe is from Sarabeth Levine of Sarabeth’s Kitchen in New York City. Levine prefers adding raisins at the last minute as a garnish, because they tend to dry out, she says. If you cut down on the amount of honey in the recipe, the granola will not be as crunchy.

In the second recipe, almonds can be substituted for the pecans, and dried pears or apricots can be substituted for the apples. The cooking time will depend on how deep the granola is in the pan. If you like granola toasty brown, leave it in the oven for a minute or two longer, but take care because it can burn easily.

SARABETH’S MORNING CRUNCH

7 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 cups honey

1/2 cup maple syrup

4 cups unblanched, sliced almonds

1 cup sunflower seeds

1 cup unprocessed bran

1 cup flake coconut (preferably Baker’s Angel)

Raisins

Place oats, honey and maple syrup on baking tray and rub together with fingers until well combined. Place tray in 350-degree oven and toast until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool.

Place almonds on tray and toast 18 to 20 minutes, until golden brown in 350-degree oven. Toast sunflower seeds at 350 degrees on separate tray, about 10 minutes until lightly colored. Cool.

Place baked oats, almonds and sunflower seeds in large bowl. Add bran and coconut and toss with hands until well-mixed. Garnish individual servings of granola with 1 to 2 tablespoons raisins. Granola will keep for weeks in airtight container. Makes 15 cups.

APPLE-CINNAMON GRANOLA

4 cups quick or old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 cup wheat germ

1 cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup canola oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup golden raisins

4 ounces dried apples, cut into small pieces

Combine oats, coconut, wheat germ, pecans and cinnamon in very large bowl. Toss well.

In separate bowl, stir together honey, canola oil and vanilla. Pour mixture over oat mixture and toss to combine well.

Divide mixture equally between 2 jellyroll pans and bake at 350 degrees 15 to 18 minutes, or until lightly brown. Shake or stir pan once or twice while mixture is roasting. Cool.

Transfer mixture to large bowl. Add raisins and dried apples. Toss well. Store in tightly covered container. Makes about 8 cups.