The Great American Granola Exchange
And my recipe for Clumpy Tahini Granola
A few weeks ago Julia Sherman, of Salad for President fame, asked if I’d be interested in participating in her next installment of The Great American Granola Exchange—and who am I to say no? It all started back in February as a way to help comfort those affected by the wildfires in LA, and the concept is simple. Sign up on Julia’s Substack and get randomly matched with another participant. Make a batch of granola, ship it off to your granola buddy, and receive a batch from them in return. Kind of like a chain letter, but more nutritious!
The first exchange drew 300 participants, and now she’s doing it again. She’ll be posting granola recipes from recipe writers like me over the next few weeks for inspiration. This week it’s my turn, so head on over to Salad for President if you’re interested in participating. Granola is kind of a choose-your-own-adventure prospect, so feel free to riff on my recipe or any of the others you’ll find on her Substack.
I happen to think my version is really good, but of course you can change up the fruits and nuts to suit your taste. I chose not to add coconut to mine, since it’s such a polarizing ingredient, but if you want to add it, sprinkle it on top for the last 10 minutes of baking to toast. This granola is meant to be crunchy with some cookie-like clumps, because isn't that the best part? It’s not too sweet, but it’s sweet enough.
You know how we sometimes describe someone as being “crunchy granola?” This means Birkenstocks, long hair, blue jeans, beads, etc. Like, still rocking the hippie look—for real. It’s easy to take for granted the link between hippies and granola, but the lack of access to food at Woodstock led Wavy Gravy (who helped with security at the festival, and made announcements from the stage) to proclaim that they were serving ”breakfast in bed for 400,000, man!” What he was referring to was GRANOLA. Paper Dixie cups filled with granola were distributed to those waking up in their sleeping bags. It was a relatively cheap and non-perishable way to get nutrition out to a whole lot of people. The connection between hippies and granola was cemented forever, and well, the rest is history. To read even more about this fateful connection and how it came to be, click here.
If you’d like to participate in Julia’s Granola Exchange, or just follow along, you’ll need to be a paid subscriber to her newsletter. Here's the link.
Peace, love, and granola forever.
Some other granola and granola-adjacent recipes from the archives:
Bircher Muesli
Bircher Muesli (which is essentially what we now call “overnight oats”) is the ideal summery breakfast. It’s highly customizable, and a terrific vehicle for all of the juicy fresh fruit that’s in season right now.
Coconut Hazelnut Granola with Olive Oil and Sesame Seeds
This clumpy, highly addictive granola comes from Jesse Sheehan’s book, Snackable Bakes. Steve’s comment about it? “I had no idea that fresh-baked granola could be so awesome!”
Gorp Cookies
These trail mix-inspired cookies are a perfectly portable snack to sustain you on a summer road trip. They are chewy, crispy, and chunky all at once, and they get even better as they sit—which makes them a great fit for your next picnic or cookout, too.
