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Substitute nuts and seeds as you wish, provided the toasting time is fairly close for all. If
not, toast them individually. (See roasting chart.) You can use dried fruits of any kind instead of,
or in addition to, raisins. For reduced fat content, add more dried fruits and less nuts and seeds.
Adapt the recipe to suit your diet and individual taste. But first try this original.
Ingredients
4
2
2
2
cups regular rolled oats
cups walnuts, coarsely chopped
/3 cup unsweetened dried coconut (fine or medium grated)
/3 cup raw sesame seeds
¼
cup raw wheat germs
6
6
tablespoons vegetable oil
tablespoons honey or brown sugar
1
¾
1
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
teaspoon ground cardamom or cinnamon
½ cups raisins or dried fruits
Procedure
. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Mix oats, nuts, seeds and wheat germ by hand in a
large bowl.
1
2. Warm the oil in a small pan, add honey (or brown sugar) and stir gently until well
blended. Add vanilla and cardamom (or cinnamon) and blend.
3. Drizzle over the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix thoroughly by hand.
4. Spread the mixture in a thin layer in one or two baking pans and roast in the preheated
oven for 15 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes for even toasting.
5. Remove from the oven and let cool for half hour. Put the granola back in the bowl and
stir in the raisins or dried fruit by hand.
Store in airtight jars in a cool place or in the refrigerator.
Makes 2 pounds 3 ounces or 1 kg, about 10 servings.
Most seeds resist rancidity, because they are still in an airtight tough outside cover. They
have a long shelflife until you grind them and break the skin. Other seeds have different
protection—shells like nuts, such as pumpkin and sunflower seeds. Once you break that shell,
they no longer have such protection and their shelflife is short—at room temperature a matter of
weeks before you taste the first sign of rancid oil.
Industry standards are a good guide for us for keeping quality. Warehouses keep shelled
nuts 3 to 4 months in cool, dry warehouses (a condition few of us can duplicate in our pantries),
but as long as a year under refrigeration. With low-oxygen packaging, shelflife extends to 2
years. In the freezer, well-packaged shelled nuts keep for 2 years.
Vacuum-packed nuts are well-protected, but oxygen is not fully excluded from the
package, so eventually they turn rancid, too. Canned nuts also have good protection. They are
either vacuum-packed or oxygen is replaced by an inert gas to prevent rancidity. Once you slice
or chop nuts, they deteriorate even faster because you suddenly exposed much larger surface to
the oxygen in the air.
Even though coconuts and chestnuts are perishable subject to mold and desiccation,
play © erdosh 291
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