Apple Orchard Granola: Full of Memories, Dolly Parton, Indiana and SMU

Some flavors are created in a kitchen. Others seem to carry a whole lifetime inside them.

Our APPLE ORCHARD GRANOLA is a little bit of both.

We were all saddened to hear about the passing of Dolly Parton this past week. I’ve always loved the way Dolly talked about songwriting. So many of her songs came from her own life: people she knew, places she loved, things that made her laugh, and memories she carried for years.

I certainly wouldn’t put making granola in the same league as writing “Coat of Many Colors,” but I understand the concept. The older I get, the more I realize that many of the things we create are simply little pieces of our lives coming together.

And that is exactly what happened with APPLE ORCHARD GRANOLA.

It Started in Maine

Last year, I traveled to Maine to visit my daughter, and one of the highlights was a trip to Bailey’s Apple Orchard in Whitefield.

There is something magical about standing among rows of apple trees, picking one yourself, and eating it right there. We must have tasted a dozen varieties, laughing our way through the orchard and declaring each new apple the best one yet. It was one of those simple afternoons with my daughter that I know I’ll remember for a very long time.

Eventually, we settled on Cortlands.

They were wonderful. Sweet, tart, crunchy and delicious.

Apparently, simply remembering them wasn’t enough.

When I flew home to Dallas, I had apples tucked into practically every available corner of my luggage, including inside the arms of my sweaters and tucked into my clean socks for cushioning. 

The airport security guy gave me a few sideways glances as he worked his way through all those apple-filled socks and sweaters.

Who travels home from vacation with that many apples?

Me, apparently.

I wanted everyone at White Rock Granola, especially our chef, to taste them. When I discover an ingredient I love, my first thought is usually, “You have GOT to taste this, and we need to make a granola with it.”

Meanwhile, Back in Texas…

At almost exactly the same time, SMU approached us about creating a low-allergen, fall-inspired granola for the football team.

Chef Katie wanted something the students would really enjoy, with a special autumn twist that would work well in parfaits and help fuel long days of classes, practices, workouts, and games.

Suddenly, all these ideas were coming together:

Fall. Football. Apples. Maine. That amazing day in the orchard.

And then another part of my life worked its way into the story.

Once a Hoosier, Always a Little Bit of a Hoosier

I spent four years of my childhood in the Connersville area of Indiana, and some of my warmest memories come from that time. My dad was an engineer at Philco Ford and Mom was the administrator of a nursing home.

I’m the youngest of five children, and some of my favorite days were spent at the Devinney farm. Their family had what seemed like a castle full of kids, and when you combined their bunch with ours, there was no shortage of noise, laughter, work, or somebody getting into something.

Harvest time was especially memorable. Families came from all around to help. The men worked in the fields, the kids pitched in where we could, and the ladies prepared enormous tables covered with homemade food.

Those meals are still among my strongest memories of Indiana. Everything somehow tasted better because everyone had worked for it and everyone shared it together.

That is why watching the flooding in Indiana this month has been especially difficult. When you have memories tied to farms and fields, you can picture the families behind those images and understand how quickly a season’s work can be changed by rain, heat, drought, or storms.

It is also why supporting American-grown ingredients feels personal to our team. Behind the apples, oats, pecans, and other ingredients we buy are farmers dealing with weather, equipment, labor, costs, and countless things beyond their control.

Finding the Right Apple

Once we decided to create an apple granola, we faced another challenge.

Fresh apples are incredible straight from the tree. They aren’t necessarily great inside a bag of granola that needs to stay crunchy for several months.

We wanted real apple flavor without pieces that became too chewy or disappeared into the granola, especially since SMU planned to use it in parfaits.

That’s when our fruit supplier, Hanks Brokerage, came through for us.

They helped us locate American-grown apples that had been freeze-dried to perfection. They were crisp, flavorful, and exactly the texture we needed.

Even better, I learned that Cortland is a popular American commercial apple variety, so there’s a very good chance that the apples that inspired the flavor may have found their way into the finished recipe too. 🍏

Then our chef went to work – and APPLE ORCHARD GRANOLA was born.

There’s a Story in Every Bag

Maybe that’s why this flavor means more to me than just another recipe.

Perhaps that is the Dolly Parton connection after all.

The best things we create don’t always begin with a marketing meeting or a spreadsheet.

Sometimes they begin with a daughter.

Or a childhood memory.

Or a football team.

Or a farm table.

Or an apple eaten right off the tree.

For us, this time they found their way into a bag of APPLE ORCHARD GRANOLA.

And I think that makes it taste just a little bit better.

- Andrea :)