NEW CAANAN, N.Y. —When the temperature hit 90 degrees last Wednesday, Joanna Ezinga of Granola Jo and Company spent the day in the Kinderhook, N.Y, community kitchen making 10 batches of granola. That’s 320 pounds of roasted oats, nuts, seeds, dried fruits and even chocolate.
Guests at Bed and Breakfasts, Appalachian Trail hikers, early risers at local restaurants, crowds browsing farmer’s markets for the first strawberries and milkmen making local deliveries may encounter Ezinga’s granola. In just eight months, “Granola Jo†has found a growing market in Berkshire County, Columbia and Duchess counties and even Manhattan, N.Y.
Ezinga only began marketing her product last fall, but she started making granola 20 years ago. Lots of people did in the 1970s, she said. Granola became a hobby, and she gave it as gifts for the holidays. It became a signature over time — people would know they were going to get some and would look forward to it.
Ezinga also spent the last 20 years working in the Berkshires for nonprofits. Most recently, she helped to found and direct the Berkshire Educational Collaborative, which worked with teachers for educational development. She designed an annual fall conference for some 1,800 teachers from every district in the county.
“I like to work in mass quantities,†she said. “On a serious note, the educational collaborative was a massive project in the schools and chambers of commerce.â€
The collaborative was based out of Berkshire Community College and linked up with arts and cultural institutions, she said. But the school systems largely funded it with teachers’ enrichment money, and in the wake of last year’s budget cuts, many schools no longer had the funding. The collaborative’s closing left Ezinga free to pursue other things, and friends began encouraging her to pursue granola.
Life as a full-time granola chef has not been easy, she said. She has been a competitive runner and triathlete for 20 years, but she said making granola is the most physically taxing work she has ever done. She recently started lifting weights, which helps when she is lugging and measuring the raw ingredients — 60-pound buckets of honey, sacks of oats and nuts — and hauling table-long containers of the finished granola.
Entrepreneurship is a difficult and lonely way to do business in any case, she said.
“Sometimes you find yourself in a place with the opportunity to try something new, with absolutely no guarantee that you’ll succeed,†she said. “I am by nature a person who enjoys challenge and risk: I look at something and say ‘why not?’ when other people look at it and say ‘why?’ Sometimes you’re at odds with the work, and sometimes you flow with it. When we can for a brief time unencumber ourselves from our doubts and our fears — all the reasons why something is not going to work — we can find tremendous energy and enthusiasm.â€
Ezinga’s granola is her own recipe and has evolved over time.
“There’s a lot of stuff that calls itself granola out there,†she said, “from low-end mass-produced brands that are mostly oats to specialty blends. I’ve tasted most of them.â€
Her granola is unique in its ingredients and preparation, she said. Most granolas are baked, but she roasts hers in a slow oven to bring out the flavors of the nuts.
“I use top-notch ingredients and I don’t skimp,†she said. “Pound for pound, nothing else has this kind of ratio.â€
For every 10 pounds of oats, her granola has 17 pounds of nuts, seeds and dried fruits, she said. The oats are organic, but the whole product is not. She is very picky, however, and will throw out batches if they don’t come up to scratch.
“This is what I do, and I do it with a lot of love and integrity,†she said.†When people eat this granola, I want them to have a unique experience. This is a reflection of me.â€
She has stuck with only one brand of granola so far. She tried making new blends and came up with several, but the logistics of introducing new blends to the market are tough, she said. So she has expanded laterally with her standard recipe and invented new products. She teamed up with Catherine’s Chocolates in Great Barrington to make a granola bark — slabs of milk or dark chocolate mixed with granola, drizzled with white chocolate. She also makes a trail mix, combining her granola with Catherine’s white, milk and dark chocolate. She is thinking of trying a cookie or biscotti next.
“I didn’t know anything about making food commercially,†Ezinga said. “I learned about the legal and health requirements, production, sales, distribution. I do it all.â€
In learning to market her granola, she has gone to trade shows and convinced Adirondack gift shops to carry the trail mix. She will spend every Saturday from early June to November at farmer’s markets, she said. Other customers can find her granola, packaged in brown paper bags like coffee beans, at Guido’s Marketplace, Bartlett’s Orchards, Other Brother Daryl in Otis, the Country Market in Egremont, Elm Street Market in Stockbridge, the Monterey General Store, Becket Country Store and Pittsfield Health Food Center. High Lawn Farm is offering the granola to its milk delivery customers, and Homer's Variety is about to carry it.
Ezinga has expanded so far, in fact, that she is outgrowing Anna Dawson’s community kitchen, where she now prepares her weekly batches of granola. She is planning to move the business to Poughkeepsie, N.Y., to a facility with a double spinning convection oven that holds 64 trays. There she will be able to make a 2,000-pound run of granola once a month.
“Everyone is creative,†she said. “I never thought I was before this. Now I hope to spark other people.â€
Information: www.GranolaJo.com.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.
Your Comments
iBerkshires.com welcomes critical, respectful dialogue. Name-calling, personal attacks, libel, slander or foul language is not allowed. All comments are reviewed before posting and will be deleted or edited as necessary.
No Comments
Dalton Day Returns This Saturday
By Sabrina DammsiBerkshires Staff
DALTON, Mass. — The town's popular Dalton Day festival is returning this weekend after a year's hiatus.
The event will kick off this Saturday at 11 a.m. and runs until 4 p.m. in the field in front of the Senior Center.
The community celebration was established in 2023 by the Cultural Council in an effort to increase resident participation at town meetings while also showcasing the area's welcoming, diverse, artistic and sporty atmosphere. In 2024, the event brought together 300 residents.
"The primary mission of Dalton Day is to foster a strong sense of community, build civic pride, and bring residents together through a shared celebration of local culture, music, and food," said Jeannie Ingram, Select Board member and cultural council chair, and Lori Venezia, executive assistant to the town manager.
The event provides an accessible and free platform for "civic education, community bonding, and supporting local businesses, artisans, makers, and culture more broadly," they said.
The festival strengthens the fabric of the town both civically and economically by connecting grassroots organizations with residents, fostering a shared sense of belonging, and providing free, family-friendly entertainment.
It also serves as an opportunity for community members to meet with local officials and a couple of state officials. State Sen. Paul Mark and state Rep. Leigh Davis will be coming from Beacon Hill to speak at the event.
Cassidy Flynn scattered five hits in a complete-game effort in the circle as Lenox upset top-seeded Hoosac Valley, 3-2, in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament. click for more
Brayden Durant struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game effort on the mound Saturday to pitch the Drury baseball team to a 6-0 win over Keefe Tech in the quarter-finals of the Division 5 State Tournament at Joe Wolfe Field. click for more
Jason Codey struck out 13, walked two and allowed just an infield single as the Generals earned a 7-1 win over Wahconah to claim their third straight regional title. click for more
Gracelyn Wright struck out eight, and Genevieve Lagess went 3-for-5 with four runs batted in as the Hurricanes beat Monson, 17-3, to claim their first Western Mass title in four years. click for more
