Cherry Cacao Granola: A lovely local collaboration!
An ancient grain makes its way into an Ethiopian-influenced granola
Looking for a lovely way to start your day? Teffola is a different—and delicious—take on granola that could be just the ticket. It’s based on the Ethiopian grain of teff, now being grown by a seventh-generation family farm in Addison, Michigan, about 45 minutes southwest of Ann Arbor. It’s long been a staple of Ethiopian eating, as the key ingredient in the classic sourdough flatbread injera.
Teffola is an inspiring collaboration with a local farm that promises all sorts of positive outcomes: it’s a chance to make the economics of a family farm more viable, it’s introducing a healthful new grain in a place where few people will have eaten it, and it’s bringing fantastic flavor to anyone who’s interested!
Claire Smith, a member of the seventh generation to work on the farm, shares:
We launched the Cherry Cacao Teffola in December of 2021! People love it so much.
What really sets us apart is our dedication to the ancient grains we celebrate in our products. Our namesake grain, teff, is grown on our seventh-generation farm in Southern Michigan—a climate vastly different from its natural Ethiopian origins. We started growing teff in 2015 after years of struggling to break even due to plummeting prices for traditional crops, like corn and soybeans.
At the time, Claire’s father had decided to try growing teff, and eventually, it turned the fate of the farm around. “If he hadn’t made that choice,” Claire says, “we wouldn’t be here.”
Teff, it turns out, was also part of a Michigan State University Extension experimental project back in the mid-2010s. The Smiths are now growing other grains as well—millet, oats, and buckwheat—but the teff has become the farm’s featured crop. A few years ago, Claire had the idea to create a teff-based granola. In its toasted form, the teff tastes particularly terrific! It’s good for you, too—teff is very high in iron and has long been said to contribute to the success of Ethiopia’s many star runners. It’s also gluten free; high in fiber, vitamin C, calcium, and protein; and even being used to help prevent diabetes.
For Claire, this work is not just about business—it’s about a caring, constructive way of being in the world. Evidencing the power of purpose, she says:
[Teffola is] handmade, and it’s delicious. But it’s not about granola. It’s about encouraging you to make those bold and brave decisions in your life. You are bold enough to make that leap. That’s our mission, that’s our story. I am daunted by that, but it’s the right thing. That’s what drives us. We have to take the leaps to do what can lead to so many amazing things, and [without that,] the world would be robbed of what [we] have to offer.
Doing something different like this isn’t easy. Austro-Hungarian-born American scientist Erwin Chargaff once wrote, “Life is the continual intervention of the inexplicable”—and sure enough, a recent teff crop at the Smith farm failed completely. They still have teff to use from last season, so the Teffola itself is okay, but farming anywhere is never without challenges, and growing sustainable and special crops makes it even tougher. Claire and her family have, as they have for so many generations, pushed past the hardship. It’s been great tapping into her passion and expertise, and it sounds like she feels much the same:
I cannot emphasize enough what an honor and amazing learning experience this project with the Zingerman’s Teffola has been. Working with so many different areas of Zingerman’s has been an absolute blast! And the response from the community has been overwhelmingly positive and encouraging—truly a testament to how much work and care both teams put into the project.
The toasted teff is blended with oats, almonds, pecans, Michigan maple syrup, dried Michigan cherries, ground cacao nibs from our friends at Askinosie Chocolate, and a bit of vanilla. It has a toasty aroma, and it’s only slightly sweet. It’s great with cold milk or yogurt. You can also sprinkle some on a scoop of Zingerman’s gelato. Or eat it by the fistful straight out of the bag. It’s that delicious.
