Granula

{{short description|First manufactured breakfast cereal}}

{{not to be confused with|granola}}

Granula was the first manufactured breakfast cereal. It was invented by James Caleb Jackson in 1863.{{Cite web

| title = Dansville History

| work = Dansville Public Library

| accessdate = 2013-11-14

| url = http://dansville.lib.ny.us/historyo.html#castle

| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140331204134/http://dansville.lib.ny.us/historyo.html#castle

| archive-date = 2014-03-31

| url-status = dead

}}{{Cite web

| title = Granola History

| work = The Nibble: Great Food Finds. The Magazine about Specialty Foods

| accessdate = 2013-11-14

| url = http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/main/cereals/granola-girl-cereal.asp

}} Jackson and many of his contemporaries believed that the digestive system was the basis of illness. He therefore began experimenting at his upstate New York health spa with cold cereal as an illness cure; the development of Granula was the outcome of his experiments.{{cite web |last1=Eschner |first1=Kat |title=The First Breakfast Cereal, Granula, Had to Be Soaked Before Being Eaten |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/first-breakfast-cereal-granula-had-be-soaked-being-eaten-180962340/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=January 3, 2024 |language=en |date=March 7, 2017}}

Granula could be described as being a larger and tougher version of the somewhat similar later cereal Grape-Nuts. However, it consisted primarily of bran-rich graham flour made into nugget shapes. The cereal had to be soaked overnight before it could be eaten.{{Cite web

| title = The Early Days Of Breakfast Cereal

| work = MrBreakfast.com

| accessdate = 2013-11-14

| url = http://www.mrbreakfast.com/article.asp?articleid=13

}}

The cereal was manufactured from a dough of graham flour rolled into sheets and baked. The dried sheets were then broken into pieces, baked again, and broken into smaller pieces.{{Cite news

| last = Greenbaum start

| first = Hilary

|author2=Dana Rubenstein

| title = Who Made That Granola?

| work = New York Times

| accessdate = 2013-11-14

| date = 2012-03-23

| url = https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/25/magazine/who-made-that-granola.html?_r=0

}}[http://www.foodreference.com/1906/html/recipes1906breakfaststk_13.html 1906 Recipe for Granula], Sister Amanda Witmore, McPherson, KS