Grab some granola and ‘go with the flow’
Got granola? It’s everywhere from store shelves to farmers’ markets to brunch menus, featuring fresh flavors like cardamom sesame and cocoa chia. So, in honor of Woodstock’s 50th anniversary, raise a spoon and celebrate this hip-again former “hippie food,” made famous during “three days of peace and music.”
“I actually grew up in Woodstock in New York. I was a little too late for the festival,” said Saul Schwartz, co-owner of Sweetwater Baking Company, located at Camphill Village Kimberton Hills. “Quaker Natural, that was probably my first granola. I loved that as a kid.
Now he and his wife make their own, working with “the people in the (Camphill) community, some of whom have intellectual disabilities,” Schwartz explained. “Everything we do is done in small batches with a lot of care.”
That includes soaking the oats in water and buttermilk overnight, which “starts the process of making them more digestible” and “gives it a unique texture,” he added. “I have granola every morning with my breakfast … yogurt, fruit and granola.”
The combo’s also a favorite at Wolff’s Apple House in Media, where shoppers can buy ingredients and enjoy occasional samples.
“Our yogurt parfaits, they’re really popular,” said grocery manager Lisa McWaters, pointing to a shelf of crispy cranberry pecan granola, just one of the types she carries.
“I think 80 percent of our customers tell us they eat it with yogurt,” agreed Sheila Kline of Sheila’s Crunchy Delight in Birdsboro. “There’s a lot you can do with granola. You can bake with it. You can cook with it. You can make into a savory thing.”
She’s been tinkering with recipes since the ‘80s, but her aha moment came after successfully reviving a burnt batch.
“My mother-in-law said, ‘You should sell this. This is so good,” Kline recalled. “It’s baked a little harder than most of the commercial ones,” available in blends like banana walnut, maple bourbon and tropical coconut.
“We have granola all the way from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ - apple to z’mores,” her husband, Larry Gingrich, said with a laugh. And she replied, “You can see why he’s my salesman.”
Groovy granola to the rescue
“What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for 400,000!” That’s what Woodstock emcee Hugh Romney, aka Wavy Gravy, told hungry fans facing food shortages in August 1969. The solution: free granola. You dig?
Commune members had stocked “1,500 pounds of bulgur wheat, 1,500 pounds of rolled oats, 225 pounds of currants and lots of nuts and dried fruit,” according to “The Road to Woodstock” by Michael Lang, the festival’s cocreator.
They “loaded an open-bed truck with garbage cans lined with plastic and filled with granola,” he wrote. “Once ready, they guided the truck through the crowd” … and into the history books.
Apple Crisp Granola
INGREDIENTS 20cups rolled oats
1 1⁄2 cups sunflower seeds
3⁄4 cup flax meal
1 1⁄2 cups brown sugar
1 cup pecans
3 tablespoons lemon zest
4 tablespoons five-spice powder
4 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon anise extract
1 tablespoon lemon extract
1⁄2 cup vanilla
2cups oil
1⁄2 cup honey
3 cups chopped dried apples
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix all dry ingredients together and mix well. Mix all wet ingredients together and beat well. Pour the wet over the dry and mix well. Bake at 400 degrees for 30minutes, or until desired browning is done. Add the dried apple when granola is cool.
Savory Granola
INGREDIENTS 2 egg whites 2 tablespoons coconut oil 2 cups puffed rice cereal 1 cup rolled oats
1 cup of mixed nuts 2 teaspoons curry powder 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1⁄2 teaspoon of sea salt
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together egg whites and coconut oil. Mix in puffed rice cereal, rolled oats, mixed nuts, curry powder, cinnamon and sea salt. Mix altogether and spread on a baking sheet. Bake for 30 minutes. This recipe can be used as a snack food or is great for a topping of fish, chicken, salad or any kind of casserole.
Baked Granola
INGREDIENTS
1⁄4 cup oil
1 tablespoon sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 1⁄2 cups milk
3⁄4 cup plain or vanilla yogurt
2 teaspoons baking powder 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 pound of Sheila’s Crunchy Delight (any flavor)
INSTRUCTIONS
Mix wet ingredients in a 13-by-9-inch pan. Mix Sheila’s Crunchy Delight, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well in pan. Bake for 30minutes at 375 degrees. Serve warm or cooled. Great for breakfast or dessert!
Chocolate Chip Granola Cookie
INGREDIENTS
1 cup all-purpose flour
1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1⁄2 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1⁄3 cup packed light brown sugar
1⁄3 cup granulated sugar 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla 1 large egg
1 1⁄2 cups Chocolate Chip Sheila’s Crunchy Delight
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 350degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter, sugars and vanilla in a medium bowl with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then beat in egg until combined well. Reduce speed to low, then add flour mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in Crunchy Delight. Drop mounds of batter about 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes and cool on sheet for 1 minute and remove to a rack to cool completely.
“Wehave granola all theway from ‘A’ to ‘Z’ - apple to z’mores.” — Larry Gingrich