Pumpkin dominates fall. Gingerbread and peppermint have a stranglehold on winter, while sugar cookie and eggnog watch on with buttered jealousy. Carrot cake has carved out a weird spring niche. Strawberry, s’mores, and good ol’ American apple pie vie for summer dominance.

So many flavors have seasonal attachments. But where does maple belong? Maple has long been a jack of all seasons, a flavor that we take for granted since it’s always available in glass bottles, plastic grandmother figures, and those charming metal carafes they supply at Denny’s.

But I think maple deserves its own season. You know what, “deserves” isn’t strong enough: maple has worked hard for our waffles and taste buds, so it demands a time of the year to call its own. Early September is a good time to start, because it’s just too early for most people to go off the pumpkin deep end, and it’s slightly too late to use those overripe strawberries in a shortcake. Some might argue that March is a better time, since that’s maple syrup harvesting season, but this review needed a creative introduction, so give me a break.

Here’s to you, maple. Let’s celebrate with Peace Cereal’s Maple Pecan Granola, which contains none other than real maple syrup.

This is probably only neat to me and maybe one other packaging nerd out there, but this granola comes in a box with a pronounced, rounded front corner. I have no idea why Peace Cereal did this, so I can only assume it was done to make me think deeply about why. Like a cardboard Buddhist koan, this box corner is supposed to bring me inner Peace.

Or maybe it just really wants me to notice that it’s non-GMO.

Don’t let the above image deceive you. I have to confess that I ate through this stuff like a Hungry Hungry Hippo who just woke up from a coma. By the time I remembered I needed to photograph it, there was little left but crumbs. The actual size, texture, and “weight” of the oat clusters is pretty typical. With sizes ranging from “thumb” to “pinky” and a crunch that won’t pop eardrums but will still hurt if munched too recklessly, this is a quintessential “granola granola.”

If I had a nickel for every quotation mark in that paragraph, I’d be halfway to a dollar store Milky Way.

Studious granola fans will remember that earlier this year, I reviewed another maple pecan granola from Sweet Home Farm. Peace Cereal’s Maple Pecan Granola is like a complete flavor inversion of that one. Whereas the other maple pecan granola I tasted packed lots of golden maple flavor and occasional bursts of pecan saltiness, Peace Cereal went nuts with the pecan flavor.

If I had a nicked for every use of the words “maple” and “pecan” in that sentence, I’d be swimming in a pool full of Milky Ways tonight.

The pecan bits here are modest in size: no one would call them whoppers, they’re nowhere near the size of Whoppers malted milk balls, and they’re laughably small compared to a Burger King Whopper hamburger (note: if you’ve ever seen a pecan as big as a BK Whopper, please donate it to the Smithsonian).

But size doesn’t matter here, because there’s still a pleasant nuttiness that blankets every granola cluster. It’s like the tasty pecan equivalent of the almond extract that glazes every Honey Nut Cheerio.

The maple syrup flavor, meanwhile, is subtle—so subtle that it has to fight for flavor supremacy against several other syrupy flavors. Behind the pecan overtones is a tasty combo of buttered maple syrup, vegetable oil, toasted barley malt syrup, and floral honey. All together it tastes a bit like a French Toast granola bar, which is a product idea I’ll now be snail mailing to Quaker’s headquarters until the Quaker oats guy himself tells me to stop.

Even when they’re crumby, these Maple Pecan Granola bits don’t taste crummy when scattered in milk, yogurt, kefir, filmjölk, or any other cultured beverage (even a cappuccino, if you’re talking that kind of “cultured beverage”). The nut flavor diffuses into the yogurt, producing a pleasantly homogenous pecan treat.

Overall, Peace Cereal’s Maple Pecan Granola may be too light on maple flavor for my tastes, but it’s a must-have for pecan fans, especially now that the rarity of Honey Bunches of Oats with Pecan Bunches has left the cereal aisle virtually void of pecan flavor.

But hey, that gives me an idea: Pecan Pie Cheerios for November, anyone?

The Bowl: Peace Cereal Maple Pecan Granola

The Breakdown: Maple maniacs be warned: this won’t satisfy your syrup-addicted sweet tooth. But for pecan purists, this is a nut-rich granola worth turning into a cartoon hippopotamus for.

The Bottom Line: 7.5 trees eating granola in a forest with no one around to hear it out of 10

(Quick Nutrition Facts: 250 calories, 3 grams of fiber, 13 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein per 1/2 cup serving)

***Note: this granola was one of several samples sent to me by Attune Foods. I’d recommend checking Walmart, Whole Foods, or online if you want to find your own.***