Granula

Granula was the first commercial breakfast cereal, invented by James Caleb in 1863. It is mostly made of bran-rich graham flour, which was formed into nugget shapes and baked until it was crispy. Granula was marketed as healthy and was intended to be eaten with milk or cream.

History

James Caleb, a Seventh-day Adventist, was the proprietor of the Jackson Sanatorium in Dansville, New York, which in hydrotherapy and vegetarianism. He created Granula as a healthy food for his patients, who had to follow a vegetarian diet. Jackson believed that a diet of whole grains and vegetables was the key to good health and longevity.

In 1863, Jackson created Granula by baking graham flour into nuggets, which were then broken into smaller pieces. The cereal was really hard and required soaking in milk or cream before it could be eaten. Jackson marketed Granula as a healthy food, claiming that it was nutritious and easily digestible.

Granula was popular and was sold through mail order catalogs and health food stores, but it was not popular for a long time because of its hard texture and the fact that it required soaking before it could be eaten. In 1877, a similar cereal called Grape-Nuts was introduced, which was made from wheat and barley flour and had a less hard texture. Grape-Nuts quickly became more popular than Granula and eventually replaced it as the msot popular breakfast cereal in the United States.

Legacy

Although Granula was not successful, it led to the development of the modern breakfast cereal industry. It inspired other inventors to create new and more palatable cereal products, such as Kellogg's Corn Flakes and Quaker Oats.

Today, the term "granola" is used to describe a range of breakfast cereals that are typically made from rolled oats, nuts, and dried fruit. These cereals are often sweetened with honey or sugar and are popular with health-conscious consumers.