The muesli that comes in a bag: raw flakes, dried fruit, and nuts, mixed and kept dry. Pour milk over it and give it a few minutes to soften. It’s the simplest to make, since nothing is cooked.
Picks
Soft, wholesome, and lightly sweet from the fruit.
- Choosing the grains: Rolled oats with wheat or barley flakes
- Toasting or soaking: Raw
- Fruit, nuts, and seeds: Classic, 3:1:1: raisins and chopped apricot, almonds or hazelnuts, sunflower seeds
- Milk, yogurt, or juice: Milk, left 5–10 minutes
Where it comes from
Muesli spent its first half-century as hospital food: Bircher-Benner’s dish was served to patients around 1900 (see Bircher muesli). It became a commercial product in Switzerland in 1959, sold dry in a bag, in raw and toasted versions. A dry mix can’t hold fresh apple, so the fruit became dried fruit, and the soak became a few minutes in milk.
| Constraint | Pick it explains |
|---|---|
| Sold dry, kept on a shelf | Dried fruit in place of fresh apple |
| Eaten at home, in the morning | Milk poured over, not an overnight soak |
Why these picks
- Raw. No oven, so it’s made in the time it takes to stir it together, and it keeps for months.
- Mixed flakes. Raw oats on their own go soft all the way through; the firmer flakes keep some chew.
- Waiting. Ten minutes in milk takes the raw, floury edge off.
How it fails
- Floury and bland: eaten straight after pouring. Give it the 10 minutes, or toast it (see Crunchy muesli).
- All the fruit at the bottom: the pieces were too big or too few. Chop to raisin size.
Variations
- Fruit and nut: about 2:1:1, with dried apple, apricot, or papaya and more almonds or walnuts.