Dr. Cow

DR. COW When I stepped into the home of Pablo Castro and Veronica Schwartz, owners of tiny Williamsburg-based health-food business Dr. Cow, I was surprised to see an animal skin on the floor of their entryway. Although the two Argentines hail from one of the world's beef-eating capitals, Dr. Cow and its owners are both staunchly vegan.

"In Argentina you have to eat meat, or you have a lot of difficulty with your parents," says Castro, who let me know that the animal skin belongs to a roommate. "'How are you going to get your protein?' This is how my father introduced me to amaranth and quinoa. He said 'Pablo, this is how you are going to get your protein.'"

Amaranth and quinoa are the two protein-rich grains that figure prominently in Dr. Cow's principle product, an unconventional granola that includes ingredients like fresh thyme, orange rind, hemp seeds and flakes of sea salt. Until recently, amaranth- and quinoa-enriched biscotti and chocolate bars were offered under the Dr. Cow label, then dropped in an effort to re-focus exclusively on raw foods.

Not coincidentally, the new direction of Dr. Cow occurred around the same time that Schwartz, 28, and Castro, 33, a birdlike couple with dark hair and translucent skin, adopted a raw food lifestyle. The main principles of a raw food diet revolve around preserving the enzymes that are natural to a food before it is cooked. Because the body will not have to produce its own enzymes for digestion, one of the purported benefits of the diet is a dramatic increase in energy.

"This is like old-school, old-style," Schwartz explains in wispy, accented English. "Before Christ, they did it like that." In addition to their original granola, which uses heat in its preparation, Dr. Cow will introduce a raw version this spring.

The Dr. Cow snack is less like a granola than it is a super-refined trail mix. The delicacy with which it is put together shows the influence of Schwartz's former life as a pastry chef at the well-regarded Theater District restaurant Marseille. The amaranth is popped not by machine but in a heated skillet, the pistachios and almonds are hand-sliced, and the maple sugar that sweetens it is cooked to a caramel-like consistency and laced throughout the mixture.

In its raw incarnation, innovations include nuts that are dehydrated rather than roasted to achieve desirable crunchiness.

Trouble is, the product is easy to overlook. The package is a no-frills glass jar with a tiny, abstract label, and there is no inkling on the outside that the stuff inside tastes so good. It's a pity that the concoction, with its millet-like spheres of puffed amaranth, toasted pumpkin seeds and sliced nuts, is a dead ringer for bird feed. Try it anyway. Dr. Cow granola is available in a few locations—the Bedford Cheese Shop, Marlow & Sons and St. Helen's Cafe in Williamsburg, and Jack's Coffee in Manhattan—and by contacting Dr. Cow directly.

718-496-7212, dr-cow.com