Monday, October 22, 2007

Northern Gold Granola

Granola is for hippies. This is what I used to think. Granola conjures up memories of my roommate stirring giant cookie trays full of oatmeal, honey, almonds, dried cranberries and my cinnamon. Everything was organic except the cinnamon. Then one day I began to think about whole grains. This was after I tried to stop eating white flour and sugar and subsequently my ravening appetite in the mornings went away. The wolf at the door was gone, sent away by granola. Most brands of granola paint themselves as healthy, but do not be fooled. The raisins are coated in coconut oil and there is twice as much honey as there needs to be. Northern Gold is a very satisfying kind of granola. You really do taste the grains, the honey, the almonds and the sesame. The list of ingredients is very short, which is a good sign for me. The cereal is roasted in such a way as to give it a caramelized flavor, which it then lends to the milk. I eat this granola every morning and sometimes for supper too with some fruit. My only problem is that my local grocery store ran out of the blueberry and raspberry flavor, which features freeze-dried bits of berry. These retain a very good berry flavor. I took this disappearance to be an ominous portent. Then the honey almond flavor went on sale and, gradually, it was gone. I am not sure what to do now, short of ordering an entire case from Northern Gold. Perhaps I will make my own. Or perhaps I will begin life as a granola lobbyist.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

I am facing the same issue. A.M.: what did you do? did you start purchasing Northern Gold from the company? did you find an alternative granola? If so, which one? I know you did not become a granola lobbyist because six years have passed, and the problem still exists.
R. Taylor

Hal Prince said...

I thought I was the only Northern Gold Granola fan left. My local Safeway recently stopped carrying it, apparently because I couldn't eat it fast enough to justify having it on the shelf. But you really can get it by the case from the Northern Gold company in Canada, which charges I believe $65 for a case of 12 boxes, shipping included. If you're like me, you don't have space for 12 boxes, and probably couldn't consume 12 boxes before the expiration date anyway. But you could always give it away to friends.

tomneff said...

Maybe we're the only THREE N.G.Granola fans left! I always thought that between the taste, nutrition provided and price that it was by far the best deal in the cereal aisle.

tomneff said...

I just went to the Northern Gold site and found this on their home page:

"Northern Gold's new facility in Junction City, Oregon is nearing the end of phase-one construction! We'll be starting operations there in the spring and summer of 2019."

On the home page is a artist rendering of the new plant. http://www.northerngold.com/

Hal Prince said...

If you live in the San Francisco Bay area, like me, there are no stores that stock Northern Gold (according to the company in Dec 2022). Also, there seem to be no places that will ship it to you. However, the WinCo grocery chain uses Northern Gold for their bulk granola (which you purchase from bins, by the pound), and there are WinCo stores in places like Brentwood, Pittsburgh, and Tracy, in case you are willing to drive a bit. About six months ago, one of these stores (forget which) was nice enough to order 3 extra boxes of Honey Almond for me, the bulk box being 8.8 pounds, and of course not normally sold to customers. I drove out and picked them up. Warning: this store was cash only.

If you want a more convenient way to buy it, you can always write a letter to Safeway/Albertsons and ask them to start carrying it again.