Location: Home > food > Taste Test: Fruity Cheerios
Taste Test: Fruity CheeriosPosted May 6th 2007 3:31PM by Sarah J. GimFiled under: Breakfast, Grains, Culinary Kids, New Products, America, SugarIt's been a long time since I've eaten a bowl of cold cereal, which is surprising, since my lifestyle right now is even more turbo-charged than it was when I was eating a bowl of Special K standing over my kitchen sink at 11 PM every night for "dinner."However, it was a nice surprise to be offered the opportunity to try a new extension of the Cheerios line of cereals: Fruity Cheerios! Not only had it been a while since I've had cereal, but it's been a while since I'd eaten something so...colorful.Fruity Cheerios is aimed at kids (and adult kids, I suppose, depending) who want a "fun" sweetened cereal, but who have Moms and Dads who want to keep their kids from bouncing from floor to ceiling on a sugar high and rotting the teeth right out of their heads. According to the box, Fruity Cheerios has 25% less sugar than the leading fruity cereal (which I am guessing is either Froot Loops or Frooty Pebbles), has 12 essential vitamins and minerals, and is "an excellent source of whole grain." This is, of course, all very important information when you're looking at the box in the grocery aisle, but nothing matters more than how those tiny fruity rings look and taste.The box is totally colorful, and if I didn't ever see the words "whole grains" on there, I would naturally assume that this was going to be a rainbow of sugar flavors - perfect disguise for kids. I have to admit, the little O's jumping out of the spoon made me think eating this cereal was going to be as fun as a water park in the summer time.Let me tell you how good Kellogg's is at branding. Kellogg's is the maker of Froot Loops, which are colorful fruity Os that are about the size of quarters. Cheerios are made by General Mills and whatever "flavor" Cheerios they are, the rings are much smaller, about the size of a dime. Kellogg's Froot Loops is so good that when I poured the Fruity Cheerios from the box, I totally expected them to be the same size as Froot Loops. They weren't. Cheerios are Cheerios, no matter what color makeup they're wearing.I tasted the Cheerios first just plain, without milk, and I was pretty surprised at how balanced they were. I had totally braced myself for an overwhelming sweetness, so sugary that it might taste "sandy," but while they were sweeter than say, Honey Nut Cheerios, they were nowhere near what I remember of Froot Loops. I probably would have been fine eating Fruity Cheerios right out of the box as a snack.With milk (I have to use soy milk), they were even better, though one of the things that I don't love about Cheerios in general is that they don't have an inherent "crisp." It's not that they get soggy (which all cereal will do eventually), but compared to something like a corn flake, they have more of a hard crunch rather than a crisp.Since I am not a cereal eater anymore, I know I won't go out and but this myself, but Fruity Cheerios are good enough that I will end up finishing the box.
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