If granola and yogurt is your morning speed, chances are you've come across muesli at some point. While many of the ingredients are the same, muesli, the Swiss cousin of granola, is different. So if you like granola, why mess with your routine? What's the big deal with muesli?
As some of you already know, I own a granola business here in Seattle, Marge Granola. I often travel around and do tastings, and a few weeks ago a wonderful Swiss couple come to my table and stared down my little sample cups of granola in disbelief. They sniffed it, they spoke back and forth between themselves, the husband took a photo with his iPhone. I eventually realized they didn't know what granola was, so I explained the components and how it's made. Their conclusion: You burned muesli! Why would you add maple syrup and fat to muesli?!
Muesli is unbaked so it doesn't contain sweetener or oil. People enjoy it like they do granola (served with milk or sprinkled over yogurt) or they soak it overnight to create a cool, porridge-like consistency that's particularly nice in the warmer-weather months.
Muesli isn't as common as granola in the US, and it can be a bit of an acquired taste. When I teach whole-grain baking classes, students are often confused: "So we eat it just like this? Raw?" An even harder sell, I find, is soaking the muesli overnight. (I like it, but I recognize that not everyone does, and of course that's okay!)
But the Swiss couple I met was onto something. While for (obvious) business reasons I want folks to buy granola left and right, it is nice to step away from the slightly-sweetened baked cereal to enjoy the pure flavor of oats, seeds, nuts and fruits. When you do, you begin to taste them more, and appreciate their distinctness and how they all compliment one another. The 'whoa, I'm eating raw oats' feeling goes away pretty quickly. Soaking the muesli overnight is said to be more nutritious and easier to digest. If you're low on time, you can even soak it for just 30 minutes and still experience the oats softening nicely into the milk, nut milk, apple juice or thinned-yogurt (use whichever you like).
I find that muesli is a nice reset button when I get into a breakfast rut. Plus, for those of you on tight weekday schedules, there's nothing quicker than muesli. No baking or fussing required, and if you like soaking it, you can toss it together the night before.
Do you eat muesli at home? How do you like to serve it?
A Few Recipes to Try:
• Toasted Oat and Coconut Muesli - Joy the Baker
• Bircher Muesli with Spiced Strawberry Sauce - My New Roots
• Apple Muesli with Gogi Berries - Food and Wine
• Honey-Toasted Fruit Muesli - 101 Cookbooks
Related: To Soak or Not to Soak: How Do You Enjoy Your Muesli?
(Image: Leela Cyd Ross)
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I have recently started eating Muesli, and have acquired a taste for it. I usually eat low sugar cereals, so this is a good option for me, over granola.
I love muesli! OK, here's what you do for the perfect bowl: The night bfore, put the muesli in a cup along with a little apple juice. Put that in the fridge and let it soak over night. In the morning, take the soaked muesli, add a little plain yogurt to it and a touch of cinnamon. It's the tastiest breakfast ever.
I prefer muesli to granola for breakfast, because I find most granola is too sweet for my taste. Granola to me is more of a hiking snack.
One of the cool things about granola is that it is so easy to make at home, and you can customize it for your preferences -- don't like it too sweet? No problem. I make mine heavy on the oats, light on the syrup and oil, NO HATEFUL RAISINS or other dried fruit and with plenty of nuts and seeds.
Yay, not having to eat raw oats like a horse!
I lived in Switzerland for a few months and came to love muesli! However when I came back to the states I slowly transitioned to granola. After reading this article I want to start having the sans-sweetener muesli (there are some Swiss brands at most grocery stores) with the caveat that it's best with Swiss yogurt! I've found Swiss Yogurt (Emmi is what they usually have in stores like Whole Foods or Fairway) is ideal because of the thinner European consistency. Trader Joe's also has good European-style yogurt. Of course I would move to Switzerland just for their amazing yogurt...
I always had both, sometimes even together!
A German friend of mine soaks them overnight in apple juice instead of milk. In ther morning she either drained the juice and had it with yogurt or had her musli with juice.
I seriously love Museli for breakfast or an after dinner snack. I'm munching in the last of the most recent batch made by my husband right now. We make our own but throw it in the oven for 5 minutes when making the batch to enhance the flavour of the nuts and seeds we add to it. We add dried fruit to ours so that its more appealing to our kids.
I have a packet of both mixed in a jar. I like having a little bit of crunch but not too much sweetness so this is a nice compromise. I serve it with Greek Yogurt and a Banana sliced through it. In Australia both muesli and toasted muesli (granola) are common.