Ever since the hippie movement, we have known that a bowl of muesli in the morning makes you fit, happy and ready for an exciting day. While the flower children were still happy and satisfied with a soft muesli as a healthy breakfast, refinements developed over time.
The Bircher muesli scored points with lots of fresh fruit. Alternative milks and new ingredients were tried out, and so the demand for more bite for the first meal of the day almost automatically arose. Today we know it as granola or crunchy muesli.
Discover the Verival granola range now
What exactly is granola and crunchy?
An American doctor created crunchy food for the patients at a sanatorium, probably to offer them something savoury in addition to healthy food. He served wholemeal oats that were baked with honey to give them a crispy, crunchy consistency.
We call roasted oats that have been gently baked in a specially developed baking process granola. At Verival, these crunchy muesli mixes are certified organic, vegan and gluten-free. The vegan version does not contain any honey or maple syrup and uses raw cane sugar instead. You will not find any palm oil as an ingredient under this label.
What makes the granola so crunchy?
Baked oat flakes
The crunchy effect of the Granola Crunchys from Verival is provided by the gently baked wholegrain cereals and popped wholegrain and rice crispies. The airtight packaging allows the crunchy granola to be used again and again as a topping for yoghurts, porridge and many desserts.
Nuts, kernels and seeds for crunch
Of course, nuts, seeds and kernels provide a real bite and a crunchy taste experience. Nuts and seeds, together with cereal flakes, are the basis for granola. The kernels and nut mixes are available from Verival.
Berries and dried fruit
A crunchy muesli is refined with dried fruit, fresh berries or coconut chips. Wild berries such as blackberries and raspberries, but also strawberries, are well suited for mixing.
Honey or maple syrup and agave syrup
Honey not only gives the crunchy its sweet taste, but also makes the oats extra crispy. The gentle baking process caramelizes the sugar and gives the granola its consistency. Instead of honey, you can also use maple syrup, agave syrup or cane sugar.
Other granola ingredients
Spices such as turmeric, cinnamon or cocoa mixed with fruit muesli create an exotic and exquisite flavor composition.
Delicious crunchy from Verival – healthy breakfast for the whole family
Enriched with dried fruit, berries or seeds, there are no limits to the flavor variations of your crunchy muesli. At Verival, you can choose from the flavors orange-acerola, blueberry-apple or chocolate in the Crunchy Fruit Mix.
In addition, Verival does not use any additives or cheap sugars. The products are certified organic and of the highest quality.
Here you can find all Verival crunchy mueslis.
Beware of hidden sugars in ready-mixes
You can easily make healthy granola at home. When you make your own granola, you can control the ingredients and, if necessary, the calories. Because nuts and candied dried fruit already contain fats and sugars, you can avoid real calorie bombs by choosing what you add to sweeten and spice them up.
By controlling the nutrients in the ingredients of your granola, you can prevent your crunchy muesli from becoming a mishmash of unhealthy nature and a secret calorie bomb by using commercial molasses and, for example, evaporated sugar cane juice. Granola naturally has more calories than regular muesli because it has been caramelized with honey, agave syrup or maple syrup.
This causes the oat flakes to stick together like brittle. For toppings, you probably just need to separate and crush them a little, but for crunchy muesli, you should grind them up. Nutritionists like diabetes educator Dr. Rahaf Al Bochi recommend a quarter cup of granola as a moderate guideline if you want to watch your sugar, calories and carbohydrates. The educator also suggests that instead of a huge portion of crunchy muesli, it is better to have a mixture of roasted flakes and lower-calorie whole grain flakes for a healthy breakfast.
Simple do-it-yourself granola recipe
Now it's time to get cooking. With this basic recipe, you are the “King or Queen of Crunchy”. To make your own crunchy granola, you need a baking tray lined with baking paper. Use a mixture of oats, nuts (hazelnuts, cashews, etc.) and seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.) or seeds (sesame seeds, chia seeds, etc.) as the basis for the crunchy morsels. To sweeten the dry mix of ingredients, you can drizzle it with honey, maple syrup or a similar sweetener. A pinch of salt is the perfect finishing touch to your homemade crunchy muesli.
Mix everything together in a large bowl. Add a small dash of rapeseed oil, sunflower oil or another vegetable oil of your choice. Then preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius (fan-assisted). You can spread the mixture out on a baking tray while you do this. Put the tray in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes. The baking time varies slightly from oven to oven. Make sure that your homemade granola is a nice golden brown but not too dark.
Once everything has turned a nice golden brown color, you can add dried fruit. Let the granola cool and then seal it airtight. If you have used fresh berries such as strawberries, blackberries, blueberries or raspberries, your granola should be used up quickly.
In this case, you should work with small, bite-sized portions. If you have only added spices to round off the flavor, the granola should be used within two weeks.
To make granola bars, simply press the mixture into a cohesive form and let it cool. Then you can cut out small bars.
In our shop, you can easily buy your granola, enjoy it at home and discover many more great breakfast recipes.
Find out everything about granola now – click here for delicious crunchy recipes
