Lost Reviews: Kashi Organic Cocoa Clusters and Nature Valley -- Apple Cinnamon

 I don't know what happened in 2025, but I skipped over multiple reviews 😅

So there's no time like the present to catch up. First, the Kashi. As you may know (or maybe you don't) the Blueberry Clusters are one of my favorite cereals; they're in my regular rotation. You may also know that I'm not a big chocolate person. So, after weighing both of these factors, I decided to try the Cocoa Clusters. It turned out the flakes were actually vanilla-flavored, so that helped my decision. The scent was not convincing--like it couldn't commit to chocolate or vanilla. The taste of the flakes was just a hint of vanilla, no excessive coatings here. The clusters definitely hit as cocoa, but overall, the cereal was lacking. I know, how can I be critical when this is precisely the amount of cocoa I would want? Well, I'm thinking about all the other cereal-eaters out there. You know what? When in doubt, just sprinkle on some mini chocolate chips.

Next, Nature Valley Cereal -- Apple Cinnamon. I don't know what possessed Nature Valley to get into the cereal space, but I was curious. I hadn't eaten their bars in years because I got tired of those pointy bits of oats poking into my gums. So my first thought was, are these flakes made of oats? I feel like oats should be the primary contributor here. Oh, okay, whole grain flakes. They were very filling after the fact. Supposedly there were also granola clusters but I didn't notice them when I originally wrote this review--only bits of oat as part of the flakes. All the cinnamon flavor seemed to be in the dried apple pieces--skin-on, you don't see that too often--and they had a bit of a crisp bite, which was good because you don't want super-chewy cereal. The flakes were a bit on the dry side; that bodes well for standing up to milk, though. Overall, not a cereal you'd eat a big bowl of--but was that their intention...?