The one thing that I absolutely love about
Halloween is that as far as tricks and treats go, you truly never know what you
are going to find.
I know back in the days when I used to don a
Halloween costume and wander the streets armed with the strongest pillow case that
I could find, I would stay out all hours of the night trying to gather whatever
goodies I could get. Then when I got
back home, after my parents would sort through the candy, checking through it
for unwrapped pieces of candy or treats that could have been tampered with
(because as much as we all would like trick-or-treating to be a safe and
positive experience, I know that this isn’t always the case), I would have
first dibs.
Growing up with two siblings who were a
considerable age older that I was, and having both of them quit
trick-or-treating around the same time I began, I really had to watch them like
hawks. Otherwise, they would have
gobbled up the really delicious chocolates, candies, and potato chips, leaving
me with licorice lollipops, raisins, Popeye candy sticks, and those disgusting
taffy-like candies in the black and orange wrappers.
Yeah.
Those. Apparently they’re known
as Mary Jane Peanut Butter Kisses. And,
apparently, I was wrong in thinking that it was impossible to completely screw
up something as delicious as peanut butter.
Luckily, those candies happened to be my mom’s
all-time favourite...and considering how long I stayed out on Halloween night
to get candy, she often had enough of them to last her until Valentine’s Day!
Thank goodness that you can only get those candies
once a year on Halloween. But the truth
is that there are so many other Halloween foods that you can only get on
Halloween, and 2012 seems to be a year in which you never have a shortage of
brand new, limited time only treats...well, provided you live in Canada.
For one, I think we Canadians are the only ones in
the world (unless there are specialty shops in the United States) that have
modified the sweetness of a Cadbury Creme Egg into the green-centered spooky
Cadbury Screme Egg! This is the first year that I have ever seen
them being offered as a Halloween treat, and although I am typically not a fan
of them (even someone with a notorious sweet tooth as myself finds them too
rich), I might end up sampling a couple of them to see if they are just as
delicious as their Easter counterparts.
I notice that some of Nestle’s most famous
chocolate bars in Canada have changed their names as well to reflect the spirit
of Halloween. When else can you find “Scaero”
(Aero), “Scaries” (Smarties), or “Coffin Crisp” (Coffee Crisp)? I don’t think you’d be able to find them at
Christmas!
Even at the breakfast table, you could find some
rather spooky characters hanging around your home right around Halloween. I should know, I ended up practically begging
my parents to throw in a box of my favourite cereal that I could only get
during the month of October.
That cereal was “Count Chocula”, and it happened
to also be the first of five monster-themed cereals that the General Mills
company released beginning in the early 1970s.
And, since I’ve brought this up, why don’t we take
the opportunity to talk about Count Chocula, and the other cereals that could
be served as part of a nutritious, if not spooky breakfast?
In October 1971, General Mills issued the first
two cereals in the “Monster” line. Count
Chocula was the first to be released, and simultaneously was the only Monster
cereal that I actually liked. But then
again, I have a chocolate addiction so strong that I am surprised that I haven’t
been checked into “Chocoholics Anonymous” yet.
No longer did I have to buy Lucky Charms and Cocoa Pebbles and mix them together! The cereal came with chocolate cereal pieces
and marshmallows! This was the perfect
cereal...well, in the eyes of a six-year-old boy, anyway.
The mascot of Count Chocula was obviously
supposed to be a Count Dracula knockoff.
During the earliest commercials for Count Chocula, voice artist Larry
Kenney voiced Count Chocula taking lots of inspiration from Bela Lugosi!
But did you know that Count Chocula wasn’t the
only cereal to be released in October 1971?
Also on the market was “Franken Berry”, a pink, strawberry-flavoured cereal
with a giant pink Frankenstein inspired monster as its spokespersonmonster. In the commercials, Franken Berry was voiced
by Bob McFadden, channeling Boris Karloff.
There were lots of kids who loved eating Franken Berry cereal, but three
months after the cereal went on the market, parents and kids started to notice
one major side effect caused by the cereal.
Because the dye that was used to colour the cereal was one that was
unable to break down and digest it, the end result meant that when children had
to use the washroom...well...it came out pink!
(If there was anyone out there who was around in
1971/1972 trying this cereal for the first time reading this blog right now,
can you verify this to be the truth?
Because if that is the case, that would be quite disturbing!)
I’m not even going to test this theory out myself
because I happen to hate strawberry flavoured food. I have an allergy to strawberries anyway, and
I cannot stand artificially flavoured strawberry cereals. But I imagine that food dyes have come a long
way in forty years. At least, one can
hope.
In 1973, a third Monster cereal was released, and
this one was particularly special because it was widely reported to be the very
first example of a blueberry flavoured cereal ever used. That cereal, of course, was “Boo Berry”.
Boo Berry was a little blue ghost who was voiced by Paul Frees, and the
actor that he got inspired by was Peter Lorre.
You can view the commercial for Boo Berry below.
You know, one thing that I always regretted was
that I never got the chance to try Boo Berry cereal. I may have hated strawberry flavoured things,
but I was always a fan of blueberry.
And, sure, the cereal inside looked more purple than blue, but I still
would have liked to have tried it just once.
I don’t even remember seeing it in Canada, so I have no idea if it even
made it across the border. But, I see
that it, along with Franken Berry and Count Chocula are still made seasonally,
so maybe I’ll get a chance yet.
There were also two other Monster cereals made,
but both of those have been discontinued, and you won’t be able to find them in
stores...at least not yet. But just in
case you were wondering what they were, I’ll share them with you now.
The first discontinued cereal was introduced
exactly one year after Boo Berry was brought onto the market. In 1974, “Fruit
Brute” found its way into supermarkets all over North America, with
its mascot being an orange werewolf.
The
cereal was discontinued in 1983, so it was a cereal that I was way too young to
remember. I actually had to look it up
because I didn’t think that there was such a cereal. But given the description of the cereal, I
can probably see why it didn’t last. It
was a rather unusual flavour. The cereal
bits were fruit flavoured, so I would assume that they were flavoured like
Trix, or Froot Loops. But the
marshmallows were also given a lime flavour, which to me didn’t make a lot of
sense. But then again, I was a kid who preferred
marshmallows to be original, and not fruit flavoured. I guess maybe that’s why the description
turned me off a little.
The final Monster cereal came sixteen years after
the first one was released, in 1987. “Fruity Yummy
Mummy” featured a multicoloured mummy character decked out in
bandages of orange, yellow, purple, and pink...coincidentally the same colours as the
cereal pieces and marshmallows. It was
basically a reintroduction of Fruit Brute, only with different flavours of
cereal and marshmallows (instead of lime, the marshmallows were vanilla flavoured).
I would also like to say that I regret missing out
on this cereal too, because it actually sounded like one that would be somewhat
delicious. Unfortunately, the cereal has
been off the market for almost twenty years, so unless I want stale cereal, I
guess I would be completely out of luck, huh?
So, I suppose in terms of how I would rank the
cereals in my own mind (keeping in mind that I’ve only ever really had one), I
would rank the order as this from most willing to try to less willing.
1.
COUNT CHOCULA
2. BOO BERRY
3.
YUMMY MUMMY CEREAL
4.
FRUIT BRUTE
5.
FRANKEN BERRY
Well, how about you? Do you have any memories of General Mills
monster-themed cereals? Share them
below, if you like!
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