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I can think of no better way to start this review than with a ghost emoji. Okay, maybe if it was a blue ghost emoji (get your priorities straight, Apple!).
Now that Count Chocula and Franken Berry have had their time in the ethereal spotlight, we must complete the monster cereal trilogy (if only it were a quintilogy; we miss you, Fruit Brute, and Yummy Mummy!) by highlighting the mischievous blue specter himself: Boo Berry!
Unlike the Count’s chocolate fanaticism and Frank’s strong strawberry love, Boo Berry takes a more polygamist flavor approach. You would expect an outright claim to blueberry, but his cereal claims to simply be “berry” flavored. Rather than being deterred by this vagueness, I take it as an open invitation to interpret whatever wild Snozzberry or Islandberry flavors my imagination desires.
It’s like the cereal equivalent of an abstract painting!
Rather than being blue, the light, corny ghost pieces of Boo Berry are a mellow indigo (it doesn’t show up well in photograph). Remember indigo? You know, the afterthought of the rainbow only known for being important in the Pokémon League?
Yeah, society needs more indigo.
The ghost pieces have that familiar, airy texture from the other monster cereals. They start off crispy enough to painfully cheese grate the roof of your mouth, but quickly devolve into sugary, mushy cornmeal. The added berry taste is fainter than the ghost voices they claim to hear on Ghost Adventures, while the corn flavor rules with a decisive, iron fist (that must be why it packs a reasonable amount of your daily recommended iron). It might just be the color playing tricks on me (that’s what I get for saying trick or treat), but I taste a hint of sweet, candied grape on the ghosts.
The marshmallows, on the other hand, have pastel pink, blue, and purple colors which look like they’re straight out of a discontinued Easter cereal. The ‘mallows have a much more potent fruity burst alongside their regular burst of sugar. After putting my dentist on speed dial, I ate a spoonful of just marshmallows (the things I do for science). The fruit flavor here can be best characterized as blue raspberry with blueberry undertones.
But it’s far from sour or tangy. Rather, it’s pleasant and fleeting, like the tropical vacation daydream you have at 2:40pm on a Wednesday workday. And just like how the boss inevitably rouses you from that dream by demanding fresh TPS reports, the happy pangs of marshmallow flavor are quickly swallowed up by their corn dictator…who is then quite literally swallowed, too.
Things get marginally better when Boo Berry is doused with milk, or as I like to call it, “melted ghost juice.” The pieces and mallows dye the milk a pleasantly spooky purple-indigo (which also doesn’t photograph well. I guess ghosts just don’t like having their picture taken.), and it tastes like a syrupy sweet grape-blueberry-raspberry trifecta. Unfortunately, this comes at the expense of the ghost pieces, which, drained of their flavor, become bland, corny skeletons.
Is it possible for a ghost to also be a skeleton? Either way, I see a crappy, Blockbuster-exclusive horror movie with that very premise happening in the near future. Oh, Blockbuster is long dead, you say? Well I guess we know who our vengeful spirit is.
But I digress. The sad truth of the matter is that, while I tend to think the complaints over the infamous “monster cereal recipe change” are exaggerated, General Mills’ change from an oat and corn blend to straight corn seems to have hurt Boo the hardest.
He used to have arguably the largest cult following of all the monsters (look no further than this video for proof; Roger, if you’re reading, we’d love to hear your thoughts), but now, it’s hard to imagine the barely berry corn pieces inspiring such fanaticism.
So while Boo Berry will always have a welcome place on our Halloween breakfast table, we can only hope that next year, his spirit will transcend into some higher state: one more worthy of his legacy.
The Bowl: Boo Berry
The Breakdown: The light, unfocused berry flavor is a ghost of what it once was, and it’s a ghost that’s easily busted by the unflinching power of corn.
The Bottom Line: 5 indi-ghosts out of 10
hm… except for yummy mummy (which got benched this year)i thought this would’ve been the only monster cereal i would’ve liked, but since it’s not that good and seems to be more froot loops like in it’s normal legacy state, i’ll wait for yummy mummy or try (at least once in your lifetime you have to, if you want to call yourself a cereal lover ^^) count chocula ^^
Dan…this is how I know you know what you’re talking about. You’re spot on about berry seldoming working with General Mills’ corn flour blend. I mean, even Trix has lost must of its snacking luster, although in milk it has a much fruitier showing. There must be something in the way Froot Loops is made that allows for that artificial fruit flavor to come through without the aftertaste (maybe more sugar? That glazed and baked structure?) I used to love fruit flavored cereals a lot, but these days it seems like they’ve lost their way. Aside from Fruity Pebbles, Froot Loops, and Whoops all Berries, most are just so-so.
Hey Adam,
In regards to Froot Loops, I think the glaze definitely plays a part, but the biggest thing is probably the mix of corn and oat flour. It provides a crunch, structure, and taste that pure corn simply can’t match.
As for fruit cereals in general, I don’t know if you’ve tried Chex Clusters, but it’s easily the best new fruit cereal I’ve tried in years!
https://www.cerealously.net/review-chex-clusters/
How does Fruity Cheerios hold up to Froot Loops? Are they more in the “bad” fruit cereal loop, ’cause of lacking sugar and compared to froot loops there is oat instead of wheat in it, or does it hold up pretty well on the fruity part?
(I’m just curious, ’cause as i already told you… fruit flavored cereal (or at least the EU version of froot loops, isn’t m kind of cereal at all ^^)