Wheaties may be the breakfast of Champions, but are you the champion of breakfast cereals? See if you can identify Cocoa Pebbles from Cocoa Krispies and Cap'n Crunch from Kix. Crunch your way through this quiz, and then come back here to share your score and dish on your favorite cereals!
Sometimes we forget that all the products in a supermarket are actually invented by someone. They all don't just "come about" in some way. Take cereal. There are many brands and styles, but a lot of the cereal is actually the same. The difference might be in the shape of the cereal or the mascot on the box or something you add to the cereal.
But Cap 'n Crunch has a distinct taste, and the inventor of that taste, Pamela Low, passed away last week.
We here at Slashfood have known for sometime that there was another player in the cereal restaurant game besides Cereality. The Surreal Bowl, which opened in Florida this past May, hinges its concept on allowing customers to combine sugary cereals.
Chicago-based Cereality thus far has had no problem with The Surreal Bowl. Not so for Cerealicious. The grandaddy of the breakfast restaurant sued the Canada Ohio-based copycat for trademark infringement and unfair competitive activities in franchising its business. I'm guessing the suit was prompted by Cerealicious' plans to open in the Ohio market.
Cereality just settled its federal lawsuit this week, hailing it as a victory for trademark protection. Guess this means I'll have to call my investors and tell them that Cereal Killers is a no-go.
Scientists have answered one of the great unsolved problems of the age
- they have found the secret to the perfectly crunchy cornflake.
French boffins down in Nantes have looked at the the cornflake’s 'alveolar structure' (whatever the 'ell that is!) and have
identified the factors affecting its crunchiness. They also used a 'pioneering mechanism' to test the acoustic
performance of the 'crunch' and discovered the exact sound that gives the most satisfactory noise when eaten.
Comparing why the Argentine Plata corn stays flaky when most European varieties do not, they found that crunchiness
depends not so much on the manufacturing method as on the 'alveolar structure', in particular the 'interface
between proteins and starch'. Professional tasters decreed which flake made the most satisfying sounds in the
mouth, and which went soggy in milk and stuck to their palates. Terrible things soggy cornflakes. Keeps me awake at
night.
Cranberries and blueberries are the "in-food" with respect to health (apart from
doughnuts, of course, but they go soggy in milk) as we foodies keep harping on about. This cereal is an
own-brand for the up-market UK supermarket chain Waitrose. I am hoping that dried
cranberries and blueberries are as beneficial as the fresh version, since I eat a bowl of this practically daily;
fiber and un-refined cereal grains are in there, too.
The ingredients include oatflakes at 62%, but sugar is next on the list. And why would they sweeten the blueberries
and cranberries and coat the former with a glazing agent?The list also has sesame and sunflower seeds listed; so
super-food all round.
Waitrose Oat Crunch cereal with Dried Canberries and Blueberries £1.59 for
1kg.