Granola

Granola is a breakfast food and snack food consisting of rolled oats, nuts, honey and sometimes rice, which is baked until crispy. During the baking process the mixture is stirred to maintain a loose, breakfast cereal type consistency. Dried fruit, particularly raisins or dates, are sometimes also added.



Besides being a breakfast food and snack food, granola is often eaten when hiking or camping because it is lightweight, high in energy, and easy to store; these properties are similar to trail mix.

Granola is often eaten in combination with yogurt or other cereal. It can also be used as a topping in pastries and desserts.

The names Granula, Granola and Ganolietta were trademarks in the late nineteenth century United States for foods consisting of whole grain products crumbled and baked until crispy; compare the contemporary Swiss invention, muesli. The food and name were revived in the 1960s, and fruits and nuts were added to it to make it a health food popular with the hippie movement. Granola made a major appearance at the 1969 Woodstock Music and Art Festival. The name is no longer trademarked except in Australia where it is by the Australian Health & Nutrition Association Ltd.'s Sanitarium Health Food Company.

Granola bar


"Granola bars" were invented by Stanley Mason  and have become popular as a snack. The granola bars are identical to normal granola except in their shape. Instead of a loose, breakfast cereal consistency, granola bars are pressed into a bar shape and baked into that shape. The result was a more convenient snack.

Another variety is the chewy granola bar. In this variety, the oats are not baked as long (or at all) for a chewy texture. Some question whether such a snack should be called granola at all; in fact, some manufacturers prefer cereal bar or snack bar.

"Granola" as slang
"Granola" is also used as a slang term (metonym) describing a person who is hippie-like, a modern bohemian, environmentalist, or leftist in outlook. The protagonist of Neal Stephenson's Zodiac delights in the nickname "Granola James Bond".

The term "Granola" is often used derisively by political Conservatives to describe Liberals as being mostly "fruits, nuts and flakes".