Pull up a chair, dear reader, and let Uncle Crumbles narrate the crunchy revelation of a humble formulation that went from pseudo-medical curiosity to a fad snack to ubiquitous topping and a portable source of nutrition.
Granola’s story is part medicine, part counterculture, and entirely snackable.
Granola’s ancestor, Granula, was born in 1863 when Dr. James Caleb Jackson at his Dansville, New York sanitarium baked broken, twice-baked graham-flour nuggets as a “digestive” food for patients — a rock-hard proto-cereal that had to be soaked in milk before eating. (*Smithsonian)
Shortly after, doctors and entrepreneurs in Battle Creek, Michigan (including John Harvey Kellogg) developed similar baked grain mixtures; a naming skirmish nudged Kellogg’s version toward the spelling we know today: granola.
Granola quietly lived in the realm of health food and sanitarium fare through the early 20th century, then leapt into broader culture in waves:
Timeline — Major Milestones of Munch
- 1863: Dr. James Caleb Jackson invents Granula at the Jackson Sanitarium — the first manufactured cold cereal.
- Late 1800s–early 1900s: Kellogg and other cereal pioneers commercialize baked grain cereals; the product drifts in and out of mainstream attention.
- Early 20th century: Trail foods and mixes (the ancestors of GORP: granola, oats, raisins, peanuts) grow popular among outdoorsfolk.
- 1960s–1970s: The health-food and back-to-nature movements revive granola; it becomes shorthand for outdoorsy, progressive living — kickstarted at none other than Woodstock ’69.
- 1970s: Granola is finally, masterfully crafted into portable form: bars and packaged snacks. These help mainstream granola as an on-the-go food.
- 2000s–2020s: The recipe-blogger boom and social platforms (Food52, The Kitchn, Pinterest, Instagram) turn granola into a DIY hobby, artisanal obsession, and full-on Granola Girl Aesthetic.
Across 150+ years, granola has appeared in many pockets, table settings, and occasions: as physician-prescribed breakfast at a sanitarium; a hiker’s energy handful on a ridge; a wholesome breakfast with milk or yogurt; a crunchy topping in bakeries and cafes; a lunchbox addition; and nowadays, a styled Instagram garnish on popular dinner dishes.
What seems like a magical snack is actually an ecosystem of recipes and wholesome ingredients — nutritious whole grains, seeds, nuts, fruit — that allowed it to move between medicine chest, campsite, and café counter. Granola can be anywhere precisely because it can be anything. Thus I, Uncle Crumbles, have made it my mission to constantly invent and reinvent granolas of all kinds.
From its very start as a health food, granola has done more than feed people. It has always been a set of signifiers: hearty health, outdoor cred, artisanal authenticity, and later, internet-era craftiness and creativity. From “Granula’s” medicinal origins to modern small-batch blends and influencer posts, the grainy clusters trace a winding path, connecting us all from 19th-century reformers to 21st-century lifestyle, reinventing itself all along the way. Not unlike a certain mustachioed granola inventor.
– U.C.
