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(Update: We reviewed Very Berry Cheerios!)
This ain’t Cheerios’s first time ’round the berry block.
In fact, it isn’t even their third, fourth, or, fifth. On this teetering cusp of 2016–2017, General Mills new Very Berry Cheerios has hit shelves, and it’s the sixth berry-flavored (arguably the seventh) Cheerios to every grace America’s fruit-loving taste buds. Let’s count ’em off, kids: buckle your seatbelts and grab those lottery numbers, because we’re going back 13 years in time.
In 2003, General Mills debuted Berry Burst Cheerios in three flavors: Strawberry, Strawberry Banana, and Triple Berry. A curious Wikipedia line claims that a Cherry Vanilla variety was also released, but a lack of fossilized Internet evidence leads me to believe that “Cherry Vanilla Cheerios” are just the world’s most obscure conspiracy theory. That or they’re a cryptozoological cereal whose rarity exceeds even Bigfoot’s.
Strawberry Yogurt Burst Cheerios came in 2005, and to this day, they have a cult online following of culture-coated oat addicts who beg for its return.
Though arguably not a true berry Cheerio cereal, Fruity Cheerios came out in 2006. They’re still around, but they look a lot like Froot Loops and don’t have a long-billed toucan mascot, so most tend to forget about Fruity Cheerios.
After a 10-year drought, we got Strawberry Cheerios earlier this year. Grade schoolers and cereal bloggers everywhere rejoiced, as we finally had a worthy companion for Cap’n Crunch’s Peanut Butter Crunch inside our homemade PB&J sandwiches.
(Sorry, JIF PB&J: sometimes it’s more fun to concoct your own combo.)
And now thanks to Junk Banter, who graciously passed along this new cereal spotting at ShopRite, we have Very Berry Cheerios. They seem an evolution of 2003’s Triple Berry Cheerios, as they combine strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and cranberries into purple-speckled doughnuts.
I can’t wait to try Very Berry Cheerios, because even though it’s from a different company, this cereal might actually taste like my beloved Kellogg’s Fruity Snacks. Come on, don’t tell me you haven’t had visions of those juicy blueberries dance in your head. If you’d like to share a fresh cereal scoop, click yourself right on over to our submissions page, or just email us at cerealously.net@gmail.com. There’s a good chance your picture could be featured on the site.
I remember buying several boxes of Cherry Vanilla Cheerios at Big Lots many years ago. I savored every bit. I have never seen them again. I wonder why, they were so good.
Publix generic cheerios, called toasted oats, has long been available in a triple berry flavor, with blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries (missing just the cranberries in this new Cheerios):
http://www.shopwell.com/publix-cereal-toasted-oats-triple-berry/cold-cereal/p/4141510505
I forgot to add that the Publix cereal is different in that it has freeze-dried fruit pieces, with regular cheerios rings, whereas this new cereal has the fruit powder added to the bland rings instead of fruit pieces.
Interesting. I’m curious whether the freeze-dried or powdered approaches would taste better (though I’d love to have both). You’ll have to let me know, since there are no Publix stores around me.