Tag Archives: strawberry

Review: South Korean Oreo O’s RED & Peanut Butter O’s!

What better way to celebrate a special day than with two special cereals?

Or to be more sentimentally apt, what better way to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Cerealously.net than with a new variant of this blogger’s all-time favorite cereal?

Yes, it feels like I’ve preached the virtues of South Korean Oreo O’s so many times in the past four years that it borders on trite fanboyism at this point. But guess what? It’s my party, and I can gush about longitudinal variances in cocoa and marbit potency if I want to.

Especially since this occasion’s significance surpasses any individual’s milky milestone. Despite being voted the best Oreo O’s in their class by D.G. Power & Associates for the past half decade, South Korean Oreo O’s have never gotten a new flavor variant—a tragedy when we see just how lame America’s rebooted OO’s cinematic universe turned out.

Technically, there were Honey O’s bearing the aqueous mascot of Oreo O’s—a crossover we’ll see again later in the this article—but now the Oreo name and implied legacy officially endorse Oreo O’s RED, which is a Chocolate–Strawberry combo far more interesting than Golden or Mega Marbit Stuf’d.

In honor of Cerealously 4th birthday, I will humbly endure the jolly good burden of eating four bowls.

Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Reviews. Tags: 7 rating, 9 rating, cerealously, international, oreo o's, peanut butter, strawberry. 3 Comments

Jun. ’19

Spooned & Spotted: South Korean RED Oreo O’s!

If you read yesterday’s review of Mega Stuf Oreo O’s and were equally miffed by its tepid take on the Oreo cookie’s fantastically vast sea of cereal possibilities, then I’ve got some good news for you—from across the widest ocean.

Perhaps sensing a disturbance in the cosmic balance of Oreo O goodness, the South Korean makers of the world’s finest sandwich cookie cereal have emerged from their hermetic caves of creativity with a new flavor worthy of the Seal of Oreo Imagination.

Channeling Taylor Swift, these new Oreo O’s dub themselves only as RED, leaving the breakfaster to interpret whether they are flavored with strawberries or the ichor of the Oreo O’s mascot’s vanquished enemies—whom he has presumably leveled with a milk tidal wave caused by a seismic body slam.

Not only are the omnipresent marshmallows tinted a charming rose-quartz, but the thick Oreo O rings—which you’ll notice are far different than America’s Oreo O’s—also bear clusters of red blood cells instead of white.

But wait, that’s not all! Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: international, oreo o's, post, strawberry. 3 Comments

May. ’19

Review: Kellogg’s HI! Happy Inside – Simply Strawberry

Oh, you thought cereal was for you and your taste buds? Nope, sorry buster: this cereal is specifically for your stomach. Your gut. Your food wallet. Whatever you call it, it better be ready for a healthy migration of gut flora, because Kellogg’s new HI! Happy Inside cereal line is here to culture abdomens everywhere.

We’ve been aware of HI! Happy Inside for a while now, but it was largely only available in location- or cost-prohibitive value packs. My local chains have finally begun to stock the stuff in smaller pouches, so I’m taking a cautious first spelunk into this protozoan belly of the beast with Simply Strawberry—ostensibly the fruity front-liner of this howdy-happy cereal trilogy that also includes Bold Blueberry and Cocoa Crunch.

I was hesitant to try this stuff to begin with, since, generally any healthy cereal that brands itself from head to intestine as an anatomical expedient ends up abandoning my appetite somewhere near the gall bladder. But as I wait for other new cereals that are less stomach-friendly and more gut-punchy, I figure it couldn’t hurt to brace my body for impact. Each HI! Happy Inside cereal boasts a three-in-one benefit of prebiotics, probiotics, and fiber, so even if I hate this stuff, maybe this review can still be cited for some kid’s science fair project. Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Reviews. Tags: 5 rating, kellogg's, strawberry. 6 Comments

May. ’19

News: Kellogg’s Simply Pop-Tarts Harvest Strawberry

How much time has to go by before a News post becomes an Overdue post?

At least I’m not alone: the existence of Harvest Strawberry-flavored “Simply” Pop-Tarts has apparently gone under the radar of every snack food journalist from the information super highway to the dusty backroads of the Wild Wildberry West.

And for good reason: the timeline behind these GMO-free Pop-Tarts is a little cloudy. Web searches reveal that they’ve been mentioned in early 2018, when it seems they were exclusive to school lunch programs, much like General Mills’ neufchatel-filled cereal bars. But I was able to date their current, Costco-exclusive 32-pack debut back to January of this year, thanks to a Kellogg’s newsletter for health and wellness professionals.

The irony here is that the nutrition facts for Simply Pop-Tarts are just as, if not more dietarily damning than a normal Strawberry Pop-Tart, with more saturated fat per pastry. But hey: at least it has half a gram more of dietary fiber and no green sprinkles!

No word on whether these will taste dramatically different than normal Strawberry Pop-Tarts—I expect to taste that harvest, whether it’s a touch of earthy dirt or the metallic sheen of an International Harvester combine—but without a Costco membership, I’ll ask that if you’ve tried them, leave a comment below. In the mean time, I’ll have to woo my grandma into xeroxing her membership card.

Or just try Google Express.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: News. Tags: pop-tarts, strawberry. 7 Comments

Feb. ’19

Review: Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Puffs Cereal

Let’s take a moment to admire the abject honesty of the current cereal industry. We’ve had our ups and downs, with the occasional public health outcry shaping the way our beloved commodity is branded. Sugar Frosted Flakes became Frosted Flakes. Sugar Smacks became Honey Smacks, which was refined for a period to just Smacks before reverting back to the mean. And now, in this present age of risk-taking in the breakfast aisle, companies are owning the fact that cereal is pretty much dessert. To the sugar-coated mound of donut and cookie (for breakfast?!) cereals, we’ve also seen the advent of ice cream offerings.

I’d be remiss to not point out that Cocoa Puffs did not invent the concept. As with so many deliciously carbed rituals, the Italians did it first. So while Sicilians are enjoying their literal gelato sandwiches early in the day, apparently the norm in Naples is that unique blend of strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate for which the region is named. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Sonny’s history lesson is a little vague on that one.

Trader Joe’s inexplicably decided to counter the Neapolitan Cocoa Puffs with… Neapolitan Puffs Cereal. But it’s what’s under the hood that counts, and Joe has made some special modifications. TJ looked at a fairly good cereal that does not contain beans and said, “No. This will not do.” Instead of corn, oat, or even wheat, Neapolitan Puffs is made with a similar blend of beans found in the divisive LoveGrown cereals.

Personally, I quite like the subtle beany aftertaste and uniquely forgiving crunch of Comet Crispies. At the same time, I respect that it’s not everyone’s jam (if peanuts are a legume, does that make peanut butter just bean jam?), so you can expect a fair assessment here, as well. Continue reading →

Posted by jared m.. Categories: Reviews. Tags: 7 rating, chocolate, ice cream, strawberry, trader joe's, vanilla. Leave a comment

Feb. ’19

Review: Fiber One Strawberries & Vanilla Clusters

There is a storied era in my life, one marked by a fleeting—or perhaps flaking—fixation with Fiber One. This was no regular phase (and yet, it very much was); in fact, I look back at it fondly as the deliberate death and rebirth of my true cereal passion.

At the time, I grew worried that my sugary cereal habits were contributing to a hollow hunger dissatisfied with airy rice and now-empty bowls of emptier calories. To make up for it, I dived headfirst into every cereal Fiber One released at the time, to knock off those gnawing cravings with a real gut-buster/duster/cluster. Chocolate Squares, Honey Squares, Honey Clusters, and even original Fiber One—a bona fide gut-readjuster at 55% of your daily recommended fiber per 1/2 cup serving…

…which I’d eat a full cup or more of before even leaving the house. Some say the gargantuan belly gurgles that followed were nationally registered as deep-sea sonar anomalies.

I eventually grew tired of these breakfast bombshells and used the experience to synthesize a happier balance of morning sweets and sticks, ultimately making me a more well-rounded cereal blogger. That’s why I’m more than happy to both review and defend Fiber One from dismissive cereal critics. Because if a Fruity Pebbles-centric diet has left you groggy and gravelly, something like these new Strawberries & Vanilla Clusters might just mix things up without churning them up. Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Reviews. Tags: 7 rating, fiber one, general mills, strawberry, vanilla. 2 Comments

Feb. ’19

Spooned & Spotted: Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Puffs Cereal

You ever see Carpenter’s The Thing? You know, the one with the cute dogs and frosty alien visitors that nefariously replicate human life? Well in its 1951 ancestor film, the evil extraterrestrial is made of blood-lusted plant life. Now I’m not saying we should call up Kurt Russell, but it seems like Trader Joe’s latest cereal might have mixed the parasites with the parsnips, because it appears to be a familiar flavor with more vivid veggie DNA.

Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Puffs likely their Cocoa Puffs-mimicking concept and flamboyantly show-stopping box design as a glamour, to hide its most basic ingredients: beans and brown rice. Now, I will concede that there is a niche of noshers out there whose mindful eating habits would be excited by a more excitingly flavored, gluten-free alternative cereal, but in my experience most beaned breakfast cereals can never seem to properly complement (let alone mask) the lingering legume flavors of its constituent ingredients.

Not to mention the fact that Cocoa Puffs Ice Cream Scoops were a clumsily taste-balanced mirage of perfumed maize, in their own right. Two cones way down.

I’m not saying the deck is stacked against Trader Joe’s Neapolitan Puffs, but I will say that if whatever pallet of wine the cereal is stacked against in the TJ’s were to topple onto it, it likely wouldn’t be a great loss (and may taste way more intoxicatingly juicy).

Thanks to redditor /u/obleake for sharing this photo. If you have a fresh cereal scoop of your own, ice creamed or otherwise, we welcome them on our Submissions page.

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Specials. Tags: chocolate, strawberry, trader joe's, vanilla. 4 Comments

Jan. ’19

Review: Cap’n Crunch’s Strawberry Shortcake Crunch

“Let them eat cake.” — Cap’n Horatio Magellan Crunch

Well, probably. The origin of that quote is disputed by historians, biographers, and cereal box scribes, so it may very well have been everyone’s favorite breakfast boatman. After all, the never-aging Cap’n appears to be forever sailing in some timeless sea or milky non-place, so an 1843 quotation would feel like yesterday to such a mustachioed morning mainstay.

I’ve been analyzing Crunchian flavor trends already, but Cap’n “Deliciousness of the Endless” Crunch seems to have a growing fixation on cakes. After all, doughnuts are pretty much fried cakes—as are pancakes—so his latest variety may suggest more crunchy cakes in the future.

It’s called Strawberry Shortcake Crunch, and whatever mild conceptual surprise it brings is compounded by its genuinely interesting choice to pair Crunch Berry pieces with loops instead of classic Cap’n chests. Was this done to simply mimic a round, puffed pastry? To make it easier to squelch whipped cream into every piece? Or perhaps to nefariously lure Sonic the Hedgehog into his watery grave?

Because I don’t know about you, but I can’t rule out that Cap’n Crunch is just Dr. Eggman in disguise.

Continue reading →

Posted by dan g.. Categories: Reviews. Tags: 6 rating, cap'n crunch, quaker, strawberry. 4 Comments