Relative Healthfulness
Advantage homemade. Both granolas have whole oats as their main ingredient, but the Kellogg's is high in refined sugar and contains palm oil. The homemade version contains protein-rich pecans and uses only a small amount of honey, brown sugar, and vegetable oil.
Time Commitment
It took me an hour to make granola from scratch.
Leftovers Potential
Homemade granola keeps for at least a week or two, stored in an air-tight container. Kellogg's product is stamped with a 'Best By' date a year out; a call to the company's consumer affairs line confirmed that Kellogg's does not differentiate shelf life between opened and unopened boxes.
What The Testers Said
First let me introduce our panel.
THE HEALTH NUT
A delicate eater, the health nut is calorie conscious but also likes to eat well
THE FOODIE
Calorie agnostic, our foodie judge has a sophisticated palate and a love of cooking
THE DUDE
Ambivalent toward food trends and health concerns, this guy just wants to be fed when he's hungry
THE KID
Between ages of 9 and 12 years old, not jaded, typically not into strong flavors
Testers sampled both granolas blind, alone and with milk. Everyone had a dramatic preference for the homemade, citing both a more satisfying texture and greater complexity of flavors.
The Health Nut: Homemade; "The store-bought is bland. It doesn't taste like anything besides sugar."
The Foodie: Homemade; "The homemade has this wonderful saltiness and brown sugar sweetness. It's loaded with toasty flavor."
The Kid: Homemade; "The other one is too hard, and it hurts my mouth."
The Dude: Homemade "It's not even close. I love the toasted flavor of the homemade, and all the nuts and fruit. I would eat this every day, and wouldn't eat the other one by choice."
The Verdict
Make it.
In this edition of Fake It or Make It there was no contest--four out of four testers preferred the homemade granola for its salty sweet, oven-baked flavor. From a nutrition perspective, too, the homemade makes for a more balanced breakfast or snack while the Kellogg's is little more than a sugar delivery system. If you're a regular granola-eater, it's worth investing a little time in your own. --Elizabeth Gunnison
