When I think of quintessential hippie foods, granola is high on the list. But the oaty breakfast treat wasn’t a hippie invention at all. Granula was developed in the 1860s by Dr. James C. Jackson, and promoted as a health food. Jackson’s granula was made with graham flour and had to be soaked overnight in milk in order to be edible. In the 1880s, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg began producing his own granula and substituted oats for the graham flour. As you can imagine there was a law suit, and Kellogg changed his name to granola. Flash forward to the 1960s and granola made a comeback with hippie-types as an alternative to sugar-laden cereals. By the 1970s it was being mass marketed and becoming a breakfast food staple, perfect for hippies or health food-loving television detectives.
I decided to create a granola inspired by one of my favorite 1970s TV characters: Sargent Detective Kenneth Hutchinson, better known as Hutch, and one half of the duo Starsky & Hutch. Starsky and Hutch are often characterized as opposites, and this includes their diets. Starsky prefers pizza or salami for breakfast, while Hutch favors goat’s milk smoothies with blackstrap molasses and desiccated liver.
This granola is inspired by a yogurt concoction Hutch and his girlfriend Abby serve Starsky in the episode “Bounty Hunter.” I added molasses as a sweetener as a nod to Hutch’s special breakfast shakes. I chose unsulphured molasses for sweetness, not the blackstrap variety, which is very bitter.
The Recipe:
2 Cups Old-fashioned oats
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup sliced or slivered almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon salt
- Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl.
- Combine the wet ingredients and salt in a smaller bowl. Wisk together.
- Mix the wet and dry.
- Spread on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, stirring once after 20 minutes.
- Cool and store in an airtight container.
Sprinkle over plain yogurt, or eat with goat’s milk if you really want to be like Hutch. Serve with salami to please the Starsky in your life.
His and His Breakfast: Granola and Salami
For more about the history of granola, see the New York Times
This looks really good! I’ve never made my own granola before but this looks pretty easy to do. But although I’m a Hutch girl, I’ll be skipping the goat’s milk. When it comes to food, I’m with Starsky.
It’s really easy to make! I was in a coconut phase when I created this, but you could easily swap olive or canola oil for the coconut oil. And any dried fruit and nuts will do.