Malcolm and Jennifer Irvin make and sell Yippie Hippie Granola.
Truth be told, I’m a yippie hippie granola type from my days at Syracuse University when I braided and baked loaves of whole-wheat bread in my dorm room. That's my justification for spending $7 for a package for Yippie Hippie Granola at the downtown Memphis Farmers Market.
So what’s my explanation for spending that much money again for a 12-ounce bag of cereal? I have never had a better power-up for my day. Made in small batches with rolled oats, nuts, and seeds, Yippie Hippie Granola is mixed with a blend of hemp, rice bran, and walnut oil and sweetened with agave nectar, raw honey, and maple syrup. There’s even a little cinnamon, lemon juice, and Amaretto liqueur in the recipe.
What those last three ingredients do for me is turn cereal milk into a flavorful breakfast finale. Then, as the morning rolls along, I realize I feel good. Finally, at 1 p.m., I almost miss lunch. Surprise: I'm hardly hungry.
Here’s the story behind the development of Yippie Hippie Granola: When Malcolm Ervin couldn’t find a good low-sugar, low-fat, high-protein breakfast, he invented his own. At first, he and his wife Jennifer packaged Yippie Hippie Granola in quart Mason jars and gave them away to friends. Now the couple sells pounds of granola at the farmers market every week and recently snagged Whole Foods as a corporate account.
In addition to granola, Yippie Hippie also makes granola bars in half a dozen flavors, and each bar packs a 7-gram protein punch.
Yippie Hippie Foods, Inc., 2086 Nelson, Memphis, TN 38104 (yippiehippiegranola.com).
