In the late nineteenth century, W. K. Kellogg invented a cereal he called Granola, made of wheat, oats, and cornmeal. Kellogg’s inspiration for the name was the word granulated, the idea being that the cereal is made by cooking its ingredients until they become clumped, or granulated. Granita, the name of an Italian sorbet, likewise refers to that dessert’s granular texture, as does granite, a crystalline rock used as a building material. In the late 1960s, granola came to refer more generally to any breakfast cereal made from “natural ingredients,” including nuts and dried fruit.
A commonly used term to describe the various mixtures of oats, wheat, and other grains, fruits, seeds, and nuts.