MahA Granola is unlike anything you’ve tasted before
Maha in Sanskrit, an ancient language of Hinduism, means great or unlike others.
That’s what mother and son Susan Dinneny and John Dinneny are trying to create with their MahA granola.
“Our granola is definitely different from what you usually find in the stores. Usually granola has four or five grams of sugar in the store,” John said. “(Ours) is gluten free, there’s no added sugar, it’s sweetened with honey.”

He said their granola, which can be found under their brand name Jamming Foods, is made on his grandfather’s Spring ValleyTurkey Farm in Old Bridge — they started making granola a year and a half ago. They locally source a variety of nuts, which are the primary ingredient, and blend them with all natural oats. Honey is then drizzled on, and then it’s baked for 20 minutes.
“We bake ours for 20 minutes for the softness,” John said. “A lot of people’s main complaint about granola is that it’s too crunchy. A lot of the older folks or younger children tend to chip a tooth on it. We try to take what everybody dislikes about granola and try to flip it on them.”
John, 25, has a full-time job as a construction worker and his mother is a fifth grade teacher. But the two talk more and more about making Jamming Foods their primary job.
The farm, where the two make their granola, operates as a turkey farm most of the year. The other part of the farm consists of beehives, where a beekeeper comes once a week to harvest the honey for the granola.
John has worked on the farm since he was 12 years old — it previously was a goat and chicken farm.
“I don’t have kids, but anyone who has a farm knows that if you have goats or chickens, they become a part of your daily life,” John said. “When the chickens are happy, they make eggs. You really can see the (by-product). Not only that, but it teaches you a lot about hard work. You can’t take a day off. There’s a lot of discipline involved.”
Jamming Foods plans on coming out with new products throughout the year. If you attend the Asbury Fresh market on Sunday, you might be able to catch some samples of their new creations, like hummus and sugared cranberries.

“The feedback has been really good. We can see what we’re doing,” John said. “When we talk about making MahA a full-time job, it’s becoming less and less a fantasy.”
Visit mahagranola.com or follow them on Instagram for more information.
