The Muesli Blog

Stop pining, winter‘s almost over!

donovan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:16:17 +0000

A little entry about pine nuts and winter‘s last leg…We‘re having some of our last snow falls here in Bavaria, and it doesn‘t look like the UK is faring much better from all of this awful weather and the seasons swinging back and forth. We’re really looking forward to some warmer weather so to make everyone feel a bit better we came up with a new pine nut mix at the office that‘ll help give an extra boost to get through the next few weeks. Spring officially starts in just one week on March 20th and I don’t know about you but I can’t wait to break out the bermuda shirts and the tropical pineapple muesli. But enough about things to come and on to pine nuts!. These nuts do actually come from pine trees, there are a variety of evergreens that produce edible nuts but we certainly wouldn’t recommend trying the ones in your backyard! Ours are specially grown and prepared to keep their all their essential oils, vitamins, and enzymes intact for the greatest benefit possible. They have a smokey, mellow flavor and contain lots of essential oils and tons of protein, as well as lots of other things your mom always said is great for you. But we aren’t the only ones who know that, a lot of wild critters feast on these evergreen seeds squirrels, songbirds, and quail. Plus the Italians use them in pesto. So be happy, sing a tune, and pop open a can of winter’s last leg muesli mix and munch away the next week until the sun starts shining, the squirrels come out to play and everybody can finally get into their swimsuits!!!

Mama mia! Espresso! Espresso!!!

donovan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 10:48:21 +0000

Espresso was created so people could get a quick coffee fix! But before we get into why, what are espresso beans?? I thought espresso was just some kind of coffee….They’re really just…*suspense*…coffee beans, usually Arabica. Espresso is a way of making coffee quicker by using pressure. An Italian, Luigi Bezzerea, invented this “espresso” machine so his employees wouldn’t take so long making coffee…that explains a lot about by grandfather….Now coffee’s a very complex world and if you’re eating espresso beans you may not have the time to read it all :-). So here’s a discussion about why espresso beans are such an effective way of waking you up even though they have less caffein than an espresso, and some more about espresso and coffee beans. But here’s some quick info: coffee beans are actually the seeds of a cherry like fruit that tastes like melon or jasmin. The majority of coffee comes from the Arabica tree which is considered to have the most flavor with out the bitterness of Robusta beans (commonly used in instant coffee) which actually have more caffein. Usually, the higher the tree is the better the coffee is because it takes longer for the fruits to mature and concentrate their flavors. The cherries are hand picked and it is a very labor intensive process to shell and sort and finally roast them (brings out the oils) and that’s what gives coffee it’s great taste. Baristas, Italian for barkeeper, are guys who love to make coffee and a counter culture that’s growing. There are a lot of ways to brew coffee including the drip, the french piston, and the italian espresso. But at the mymuesli factory we prefer to have little more time in the morning to enjoy our organic chocolate covered espresso bean mix just that much more.

2nd part in our “Better Know an Ingredient” series: The Fightin’ Apple!

donovan — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 15:58:01 +0000

A magnificent fruit, discovered by the Germans in 1904, they named it Apple, it which of course in German means “far from Doctor”. No, we’re just kidding. But the Americans do believe that Johnny “Appleseed” Chapman brought this bad fruit to the Americas (well he did plant tens of thousands in the American North East). I call it a bad fruit because its latin name is Malus domestica which is similar to the Latin word for “bad” or “evil” which, some scholars maintain, is why the fruit in the Bible is often said to be an apple. On the other side of the Mediterranean, the Greeks found it to be a forbidden fruit associated with scandalous behavior. They even thought that it caused the Trojan War - a young man named Paris had to decide the fairest of the all goddesses and he chose Aphrodite because she offered him the love of the most beautiful woman in the world: Helen of Troy. Although there are many tales of the escapades of the day, this especially offended the unspoken hospitality laws of the day….But it has a better rep in the UK as from the old English sayin’ “ate an apfel avore gwain to bed, makes the doctor beg his bread”. - Not only is it delicious and nutritious but this red delicious has lots of fiber too. Plus it gives your gums a massage! Crazy for a food that’s been cultivated for millennia. The “original” apple, still growing in the far middle east, is responsible for all the thousands of varieties growing today. Between apple pie and Bircher muesli…we don’t know what we would do without you…exept eat the rest of a delicious apple muesli we just tried. And if you’re still not satisfied, check out what Apple has to say about us.

Questions one doesn’t want to answer: Where do boxes come from?

donovan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 15:22:05 +0000

Begrudgingly, I blog about our trip to the box factory. Knowing what an energy intensive process it is and how environmentally harmful it can potentially be, I can’t say I was excited. But was I pleasantly surprised! They had an enormous solar energy field to feed their machines, and a lot of the paper they used was recycled or from renewable forests plus they’ve been able to reduce the amount of paper they use while strengthening the boxes.
Go figure!
So we all started the day early with coffee or tea and muesli as usual, hopped in the muesli mobiles and headed off to our local box dealer. We got the 411 on how boxes are made, differences between materials and machines, the different processes and so on…. it was pretty rad!:) long story short we designed a new box from 100% recycled paper and using even less materiel is used to make it. Plus we have a lovely and new, eco-friendly mymuesli design so you can show off your boxes as well as your tins! Max even wore the special pants for the occasion. Check out some of the pics:

Spring is near, mymuesli is in the air….

donovan — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 08:19:37 +0000

Well, almost! Though we think it’s better to enjoy these great grains than waste them (we’ve searched all over to find the best of them after all). We’ve been inventing and testing some new muesli mixes and muesli products here, so after a winter of hibernation and reflection we think we have the perfect new muesli products to launch in spring. But all we can say for the moment (it’s MX7 top secret!) is that they’re individually sized, in some forms you haven’t seen muesli in before, and all organic, all natural grains, and lots of fruits. And, always holding true to our ideals, nothing else is added. Currently, we’re looking for some unique shops in the UK to stock these muesli marvels (ok, I’m advertising, but you would too if you tried them!). So if you know a store where you’d like to find your muesli, write us an email. We may even pick some lucky UK customers to give us some feedback. But in the mean time try our spring mix or mix your own muesli and let’s hope that Punxsutawney Phil (the groundhog) was wrong this year!

Kids, Ho!: Pirates and Princesses be Prepared!!!

donovan — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:15:36 +0000

Muesli for kids!!! Who could have thought of it? A lot of people probably did, but do you hear about it? No, because kids only want to eat tasty things for breakfast and we mingled just that: a muesli kids adore. It was not easy, but we succeeded with the help of our nutrition expert, Sandrine, because we know that parents want a lot more than just for their kids to be happy, you want them to be healthy and grow up strong too: that’s why there are lots natural vitamins and nutrients that help keep your kids healthy and happy without those sugar highs (there is no added sugar, or added anything for that matter) just rice puffs with cocoa, bits of chocolate (chocolate has a calming effect when there only a little bit of sugar like in our chocolate) lots of good grains and fun fruits to help them get their daily 5. Try our muesli kids sample pack or one order one of our pirate muesli or princess muesli (order the four packs to get an even better price). Plus we back it up by our finish-guarantee, they’ll finish the tin, we guarantee it!

Not new in the UK! Bircher muesli - but our Bircher site certainly is!

donovan — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 10:56:24 +0000

Hola faithful UK users - today, muesli is still on our plates (so is our new Bircher page) but we’re taking a trip in time back to the holy hiking paths where muesli was discovered by Bircher, or Dr. Bircher to us. He was a Swiss physician who came across a strange dish on one of his journeys through the Alps. Wanting to create something healthy for his patients, he remade the dish once he arrived at his hospital so everbody would have a more balanced diet and get a lot of the nutriments he felt they were missing. In addition to oats, he added lots of fruit and nuts to make sure nothing under the sun’s rays was left out. This thinking was, appearntly, rather revolutionary for the time even if we take it as common place today. But we don’t want to make too many claims unless we’ve tried and tested them, so here are some other sites you can check out for gourmet Bircher-muesli or for a bit more history. You can order the porridge for a great Bircher-basis to create your own healthy Bircher-muesli or why not try our favourite Bircher mix we found after a lot of testing? Don’t forget! Every 6th tin of your individual mix is free! And, if you’re feeling creative, make up a story about a possible mascot, for exampel: What do you call a Chinese elk when in Canada?: Moose Lee! Bruce’s Canadian brother? There may just be some free muesli at the end of the rabbit hole…
We have one more suprize so check back tomorrow for the last edition in this series!

New in the UK! The mymuesli spoon makes wonders happen

donovan — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 09:21:12 +0000

look it up and down, talk about it, make friends with it, no seriously, do it.
It’s just that good. We created and designed this muesli marvel with the perfect ergonomic dimensions and balance so it fits just right in your hand and looks, might we add, absolutely perfect on your breakfast table. It has the mymuesli logo elegantly written on the handle and comes in a custom-made box highlighting its features. Perfect as a gift for the avid muesli fan or as something sparkling to brighten your mornings. Check it out here. We’re launching some newfangled products in the UK so check back in the next day or two and be the first to show them off to your breakfast bunch!

Start your day the Sarah way, with a bowl of crunchy muesli

donovan — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:29:52 +0000

Sarah Williams got the formula right, she likes to start the day off with a bowl of muesli before training sessions early in the morning. She’s the only athlete from the UK to win a gold medal in the Olympics so far so we’d like to congratulate her and dedicate this blog to her and her sport: Skeleton. They can reach up to 85 mph on the ice…head first! You’ve gotta be pretty brave to face those 5 g’s on corners with nothing but a helmet between you and rock hard ice! We here at the muesli workshop are pretty content with our hardships here so we don’t think we’ll be pulling any G’s any time soon. Amy (according to her article) wakes up at 7am to a bowl of crunchie muesli. After a morning delight she’s of to the ice track with her team. She walks the track and visualizes every turn, it takes up to an hour and a half on their 1.5 to 2.0 km track. Then she warms up with a small circuit of exercises. Next, screeching at break-neck speeds head first down the ice highway! But, unfortunately that’s not all. She still has to inspect the sled (before big meets that can take hours…), watch the other racers to learn what they do, go over tapes with her ice coach to try to squeeze every tenth of a second out of her run, and work out! Now that’s dedication!! So we’d like to congratulate this Olympian for her medal and we wish the best of luck to everyone at the Olympics. May your muesli win you another gold!

on another note try our crunchy muesli mix for Olympic champions big and small

figs for your figure (figure skating that is!)

donovan — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 10:02:35 +0000

The Greeks knew that: they made it illegal to export these tasty wonders (you could even suffer the death penalty!) just so their Olympic athletes could munch on them and perform at their best. But don’t worry, we don’t think Canada will start hoarding their figs anytime soon. At vancouver, the fig will certainly be center stage with its tons of good-for-winter nutriments, even if it isn’t as fruity as you may think. It’s actually a “false fruit”, like strawberries (who knew fake could be so good!?), because the flowers are on the inside and become the crunchy seeds we’re so fond of. But despite these oddities this ingredient is nature at it’s best. Not only can it vaunt it’s exquisite nutriments but it follows the season perfectly, fully ripening and partially drying on the tree before going in your muesli. Plus these olympians can be used for just about everything: baking and jams, you can dry them or freeze them or, what we recommend, put them in your muesli! We tried a fruity fig mix that you can check out or have a trip to the mixer to find your heart’s desire.