Make your own muesli

Having a hard time finding your favorite breakfast addition among the granola varieties on shelves? Here's why. 

  • Many Swedes who move to the U.S. miss muesli, which is readily available in a variety of brands in all grocery stores back home. But muesli is fairly easy to make at home.
  • Make your own muesli
    Most Swedes know it’s nearly impossible to find decent muesli (or müsli) in the U.S. Granola, yes; muesli, no. But there are differences between the two. To begin with, they have different origins: Dr. Bircher-Benner, a Swiss nutritionist, developed muesli at the end of the 19th century, while granola was developed in the U.S. in 1894 by Dr. James Caleb Jackson at the Jackson Sanitarium in New York. Both granola and muesli contain a mixture of grains (like oats), nuts, dried fruit, and sometimes bran and wheat germ. Though muesli may contain sugar and dried-milk solids, it can be unsweetened. Granola is typically toasted with honey and oil, resulting in a crisp texture and sweet glaze not found in muesli. Both of them offer nutritional benefits, and both of them are easily made at home.

  • The muesli most Swedes are used to comes unsweetened.
  • Home-made muesli
    Ingredients:
    4½ cups rolled oats
    ½ cup toasted wheat germ
    ½ cup wheat bran
    ½ cup oat bran
    1 cup raisins
    ½ cup chopped hazelnuts
    1/4 cup packed brown sugar
    1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
    Instruction:
    In a large mixing bowl combine oats, wheat germ, wheat bran, oat bran, dried fruit, nuts, sugar and seeds. Mix well. Store in an airtight container. It keeps for two months at room temperature. Eat with milk or plain yogurt and add fresh fruit if you'd like.