Is granola a healthy food? Should you serve it to your kids as a snack? The answer is yes and no – depending on where it comes from. Making your children’s snacks is a healthier route because you can control the amount of fat, sodium and ingredients that are used as opposed to many of the granolas purchased in the store. You probably think that making granola is a time consuming or even difficult process but that is simply not the case. In fact, it is actually so easy you can make it with your kids, and in this video with the Beverly hospital chefs 12 year old Martina Gallo helps them out.

Granola is good for breakfast, lunch, or as a snack. It is versatile so you can have it plain or mix it up with other ingredients such as plain yogurt and with fresh fruit. The basic ingredients for a granola are oats, nuts, dried fruit, oil and a sweetener or sweeteners. What kind of sweeteners and oil you use will determine the healthiness of the granola.
In this recipe they use canola oil and brown sugar and maple syrup. Kids like the natural sweetness of maple syrup and brown sugar. When these are combined with the crunch of the toasted oats, nuts and dried fruit it is a real winner.

The history of granola is interesting to say the least. Called “granula” at first, it was invented in 1863 as the first of what we think of today as the common breakfast cereal by a Dr. James Jackson. Later Dr. Kellog invented a less boring health food called granula and after being sued by Dr. Jackson changed the name to granola. C.W.Post later made another version that he named Grape Nuts. When the hippie health movement got going in the 1960’s and 70’s, they brought it back and added some other ingredients such as dried fruit and nuts.

Once it went mainstream, the taste of granola often became as important if not more than the health benefits. Manufacturers started to include sugar and high cholesterol fats. That is why if you want a truly healthy version you need to read the ingredients label carefully or make it yourself using a recipe such as this one.