MOM Brands - DreamWorks Penguins of Madagascar Operation Chocolate Mix cereal - Mar. 9, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

MOM Brands
DreamWorks Penguins of Madagascar - Operation Chocolate Mix
Good - Good +
Weight: 3/4 cup (29 g.) / 14.5 oz. (411 g.) total box
Calories: 110 calories in 1 serving + milk
Cost: $missing information for 1 box
Purchased from: Missing information

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate Breakfast Cereal Theme Week.

Today's box of DreamWorks Penguins of Madagascar - Operation Chocolate Mix cereal was distributed by MOM Brands* (Lakeville, MN).

The eponymous cartoon penguins were created by artists and animators and appeared in the Madagascar series of films from DreamWorks Animation (Glendale, CA).

Operation Chocolate Mix cereal consisted of sweetened rice cereal with cocoa and marshmallows, contained natural and artificial flavors and, like many cereals, was vitamin fortified.

I enjoyed a bowl of these crispy, crunchy chocolate rice pieces with milk. The marshmallows were tiny versions of the real thing, and helped amp up the overall sweet level.

*MOM Brands merged with Post Foods, and the resulting company was Post Consumer Brands. The new consolidated company became the third largest cereal company in the U.S.

Note: While this cereal listed no wheat ingredients, it did not claim to be a gluten-free cereal.

Bear River Valley - Cocoa Campsite Crunch cereal - Oct. 16, 2015

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bear River Valley
Cocoa Campsite Crunch
Good
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 22 oz. (1 lb., 6 oz.) (623 g.) in total package/bag
Calories: 120 calories in 3/4 cup serving
Cost: $ 2.99 (estimate)
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

This summer I featured five weeks worth of different single origin dark bars—chocolate in its purest and most wonderful form. Now I'm headed back into less serious territory. Last week I highlighted chocolate items with grains and grasses. Today marks a transition from cereal grains to the Great Outdoors.

So, welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate and the Great Outdoors Theme Week!

Today's generously-sized, resealable bag of Cocoa Campsite Crunch cereal from Bear River Valley* (distributed by MOM Brands* (Lakeville, MN)) would probably be great for large group camping trips, or at least the ones I remember from childhood.

I remember stumbling out of a tent into the cold morning air, slightly dampened with dew, with my hair sticking up in every direction and adorned with a few white downy feathers that had escaped a down jacket or a sleeping bag. The smell of a campfire meant breakfast, hot cocoa, oatmeal with chocolate chips, or cold cereal like this.

So, I tried my best to re-create this experience. I got up very early on a damp morning, poured myself a bowl of Cocoa Campsite Crunch cereal, and ate it with a purple camping "spork" in the backyard. These cocoa-colored puffed corn balls were light and crunchy, sweet and chocolatey, and gluten free.

*This Bear River Valley cereal was distributed by MOM Brands (Lakeville, MN). I'm assuming "MOM" was derived from Malt-O-Meal, which was bought by Post.

The content and images on this post belong to ChocolateBanquet.com.

ChocolateBet: October 4, 2006

Chocolate of the Day: 

Post (Kraft)
Post Cocoa Pebbles (cereal)
Good +
Weight: 13 oz. (368 g.) in total box
Calories: 110 calories in 3/4 cup (30 g.) serving

I wonder who first thought about making a chocolate cereal?

I think this must have happened in the early 1900s when there seemed to be some experiments with putting cocoa powder into hot wheat mush-type cereals. Later, in the mid-1900s, General Mills and a few other big cereal tycoons brought the first cold cereals to market, and everyone went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.

As children we were encouraged to eat Cheerios and other, plainer standards -- but we loved the sweet cereals. Chocolate-cereal-fueled Saturday mornings were the best. The kids ran amuck in the kitchen, making their own cereal and toast and orange juice, and watched cartoons on TV, until they were driven from the house -- under threat from the parents that they would have to do chores if they stuck around the living room much longer.

While there were other things to squabble about, no one worried about kids spending all day outside in the neighborhood, bicycling around. We visited friends, rode to the library, to the movie theater to catch a 50-cent matinee, to the lunch counter, to the dirt fields (there was still open land back then) to hide under willow trees and inspect caterpillers, lizards and other living things. Chocolate-fueled, we explored the limits of the known kid world. (Years later, when given an art class assignment to draw a product/object, I produced a larger than life replica of a Cocoa Puffs box.)

So, in honor of this great breakfast tradition (or memories of), this morning I stuck my spoon into a bowl of Post Cocoa Pebbles cereal -- made with rice, and one of few cold cereals left that didn't have wheat or gluten in it. I made due with the hydrogenated vegetable oils, and all the sweeteners. And, you know what, it tasted pretty darn good. Cocoa Pebbles receives a Good plus rating.