Ingredients

Why These Ingredients

We read labels too. When we set out to make a granola we'd be proud to put on our own table, the hard part was never the recipe — it was the sourcing. Finding real, organic, non-GMO ingredients that each earn their place took work. So here's the honest version: every ingredient in the jar, what it does, and why we kept it.

The foundation

Where every bowl starts

The base

Whole rolled oats

The heart of every flavor, and we use the whole rolled grain — not instant, not refined. Whole oats keep all three parts of the kernel intact, which is where their fiber, protein and minerals live. They're best known for beta-glucan, a soluble fiber that's good for the gut and a big part of why a bowl actually keeps you full. Everything else is built around them.

The pop

Organic quinoa crisps

The little crunch you notice mid-bite. Lightly puffed quinoa adds a delicate, toasty snap that breaks up the clusters — plus quinoa is one of the few plant foods that's a complete protein, with all nine essential amino acids. It's the texture trick that makes our granola feel light instead of heavy.

The crunch

Almonds

For bite, richness and staying power. Almonds bring good unsaturated fats, plant protein and vitamin E, and their natural crunch plays against the soft oats and chewy fruit. They're also part of what makes a small bowl satisfying for longer.

The fruit

This is where the flavors split

13.8%Real fruit by weight

We pack in real fruit — when most granolas run just 4–8%. Each flavor gets its own fruit, chosen for taste and for what it brings to the bowl.

Blueberry

Non-GMO dried blueberries. Sweet-tart, and one of the most antioxidant-rich fruits there is.

Mango

Organic dried mango. Bright, tropical and naturally sweet, for a sunnier bowl.

Banana Crumble

Organic dried banana. Soft, mellow and dessert-like, with real banana-bread comfort.

Coconut

Organic dried coconut. Toasty and rich, adding a little extra texture alongside the flavor.

Cranberry

Dried cranberry. Tart and bright — second only to blueberries for antioxidants — to cut the sweetness.

How we sweeten — gently

Three sweeteners, kept light on purpose

Each one does a slightly different job, so we can get real flavor and good clusters using less sweetener overall.

Honey

Sweetens and helps the clusters hold together as they bake.

Milled cane sugar

Caramelizes in the oven — where a lot of that golden, lightly-toasted flavor comes from.

Barley malt syrup

The quiet one — lower in sweetness, with a mellow, malty, almost-caramel note that rounds out the flavor and binds without tipping into "dessert."

What holds it together

Real clusters, no gums or fillers

Rice flour & cornstarch

Simple starches that do one job well: hold the clusters together. When they bake with a little moisture and the sweeteners, they crisp up and act as a natural glue — that's how you get clusters you can actually pick up instead of loose dust at the bottom of the bag. No gums or fillers needed.

How we toast it

A straight answer on canola

Expeller-pressed canola oil. A light, neutral oil that lets the oats toast evenly without breaking down or adding any flavor of its own — so the oats, fruit and spices come through, not the oil. We know canola gets a bad rap, so here's the honest version. Most of the criticism is aimed at two specific things, and neither describes how we make granola.

The worry

Chemical extraction. Cheap canola is pulled from the seed with a solvent (hexane) under high heat, which can degrade the oil before it's bottled.
High-heat, repeated frying. The studies people cite involve oil heated to ~365°F for hours, often reused day after day.

How we make it

Expeller-pressed. Squeezed out mechanically with pressure, not chemicals — no solvents, no hexane residue. That's why we specify it on the label.
Baked low & slow. Roughly 300–325°F, well under canola's smoke point (~400–450°F), once, and never reused. A granola oven, not a deep fryer.

Major nutrition authorities — including Harvard's School of Public Health and the FDA — consider canola a heart-friendly oil: low in saturated fat, high in monounsaturated fat, with some plant-based omega-3. Among common cooking oils it's actually more heat-stable than corn, soybean, sunflower or safflower. We're not asking you to take "seed oil" on faith — we chose the cleanest version and use it the gentlest way.

Why this oil and not another

The alternatives, honestly

Coconut oil

Mostly saturated fat and solid at room temperature — hardens clusters into something dense and waxy, and its flavor competes with the fruit and spice.

Butter

Browns and burns at granola's bake times, and adds a dairy allergen. We'd rather keep the jar simple and plant-based.

Olive oil

As good as it is, its peppery, savory flavor overpowers a delicate breakfast cereal — plus a lower smoke point.

Sunflower / safflower / corn / soybean

Higher in the fragile polyunsaturated fats that oxidize fastest under heat — ironically the real target of most "seed oil" worry.

The one people are surprised we skip: avocado oil

It's the trendy "clean" choice, but the problem is purity. There's no FDA standard of identity for avocado oil yet, and when UC Davis tested the market they found ~82% of samples were rancid before their expiration date or cut with cheaper oils like soybean — in a few cases, bottles labeled "pure" were almost entirely soybean oil. And the refined avocado oil used in most packaged foods goes through an RBD process (refined, bleached, deodorized) that strips out the very antioxidants people buy it for. We'd rather use an oil we can source with confidence than one where the label and the bottle often don't match.

Our signature warmth

The part you can't quite name

Herb & spice blend

Cardamom, fennel seed, fenugreek, nutmeg (with a touch of sugar to carry it). Fenugreek has a natural maple-caramel warmth, cardamom adds a bright floral lift, fennel brings a soft sweetness, and nutmeg grounds it. Used lightly, they give the granola a cozy, aromatic depth without ever tasting "spiced." It's our fingerprint.

Salt & natural flavor — the finishing touches

Salt — just a pinch. It isn't there to make things salty; it's there to make everything else taste like more of itself, sharpening the sweetness so the oats, fruit and spice all read clearer. Natural flavor is used sparingly to keep each batch tasting consistent, jar after jar. No artificial colors, flavors or preservatives, ever.

Just as deliberate

And what's not in here

Artificial colors
Artificial flavors
Preservatives
GMOs
High-fructose syrup
Hidden fillers
Synthetic sweeteners
Plastic bags

We pack in glass on purpose.

Allergens: Contains wheat and almonds. May contain other tree nuts. Made with non-GMO granola.