Now we’re talkin’!
Perhaps sensing my grating distaste for granulated, tasteless rings, an unexpected source is about to relieve my weathered sweet tooth from the kind of breakfast blandness slowly eroding it like a suckled candy cane.
It’s aptly titled “Peanut Butter & Jelly Puffs,” a no-nonsense, respectably minimalistic name that nevertheless belies the sheer insanity of the stuff’s chuckle-some mascots, who could totally wipe the floor with the Apple Jacks mascots in a tag-team cage match—just look at that strawberry’s Medusa hair, and the peanut’s gravity-defying buck-nut tooth!
This isn’t the first time Aldi store-brand Millville has stunned us with a novel concept. Last year, my brain was warped by the goodness of Snickerdoodle Kookies, a cereal that led me to uncover Millville as a puppet brand of Post. So while it’s not entirely surprising that Post, who has been reliably delivering creative cereals for over a year now, is the one to fulfill my unending hunger for PB&J cereals, it still calls into question why they’re trying something so experimental exclusively at Aldi.
Perhaps, if Snickerdoodle Kookies is any indication, if Peanut Butter & Jelly Puffs goes over well, it will be picked up by Malt-O-Meal for a wider release. This would suggest that Millville is a trial kitchen of sorts for Post’s wilder ideas, which then supply Malt-O-Meal with testable flavors to release on the Post label proper.
No matter the grand strategic alignment, I am excited. Strawberry jelly is my preferred filling over grape, and I personally loved JIF’s interpretation of PB&J cereal from way back. Plus, the only other cereal of its kind I’ve had since was an embarrassment to lunchboxes everywhere, so here’s hoping Peanut Butter & Jelly Puffs puts a sticky-sweet smile on my face again.
And even if it doesn’t, PB&J is still a gateway taste to a Fluffernutter Cereal.
This is exciting, but pour a bowl out for our beloved Jif, taken before it’s time.