Granola. By a company called GrandyOats. Now take away the oats and other grains, go “Paleo” with roasted nuts and seeds, and add coffee and coconut. It’s not the stuff of Paleolithic humans, but it has the crunch granola-lovers often crave. It’s a smooth blend, without the bumpy ride of chunky ingredients. You wouldn’t know the oats are missing unless you read the label.
The product is gluten-free, organic, and made in a solar-powered bakery. But given that we usually associate granola with the 1960s commune era — healthy and inexpensive, made by laid-back hippies — adding coffee may seem a contradiction.
To be sure, the caffeine level is low, but the coffee taste — by adding just the right amount — is unmistakable. There’s also a mild chocolate echo.
This granola lacks the natural sugars that are in oats, and no refined sugars are added. Instead, the touch of sweetness comes from the coconut and maple syrup. It adds up to 5 grams per third of a cup.
The GrandyOats name is confusing unless you are familiar with the company’s other granolas. It’s been in business since 1979, operating in Hiram, Maine. This is the firm’s first non-grain granola. Others in the company’s “Coconola” line feature chocolate and hemp. The coffee crunch recipe took a year to develop, with the help of Cambridge cookbook writer Lise Stern and fair-trade coffee from Wicked Joe. “Early versions were gritty,” says Aaron Anker, the company’s chief granola officer. “We settled on a medium roast, but ground finer than expresso.” Coconola is made in small, 35-pound batches.
Available at Formaggio Kitchen South End, 268 Shawmut Ave., Boston; Boston Organics (a local delivery service) www.bostonorganics.com; and online at: www.grandyoats.com or www.amazon.com. List price is $7.99 for 9 ounces.
RACHEL ELLNER