Simply perfect! (Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli)

Member Name: LRWade

Product:	Dorset Cereals Simply Delicious Muesli
Date:	10/07/09 (84 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: No dust! Perfect amount of sweetness. Filling.

Disadvantages: Only if you have food allergies.

The thing about muesli is you either love it and eat it with enthusiasm, or you hate it and eat it because you think it's good for you, but look upon it like it's gruel. I am definitely one of the former.

WHAT IS MUESLI?
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This is a really important question because every box of muesli you come across will have different ingredients. The one thing all muesli types have in common is they contain rolled oats. The type of fruit and nuts and the addition of other flakes is what makes each muesli unique and also is what determines the taste and texture of the muesli. Everyone who likes muesli has a preferred type, and it's not brand loyalty it genuinely is the taste. I enjoy a wide range or muesli but my favourites all contain one thing, dates. It's something to do with the sweetness of dates (even more than raisins and sultanas) that goes with the oats and nuts that makes a perfect breakfast for me.

INGREDIENTS
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Dorset cereals simply delicious muesli is my current muesli favourite.
Ingrediants are:
Oat flakes
Wheat flakes
Barley flakes
Sultanas 7%
Raisins 6%
Chilean flame raisins 5.5%
Toasted and malted wheat flakes
Sunflower seeds 4%
Dates 3.5 % (yum!)
Brazil nuts 2.5%
Whole roasted hazelnuts 1.5%

So, 22% fruit, 4% nuts, 74% cereal grain. No added anything weird, no salt, 100% raw ingredients.

PACKAGING
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The packaging is attractive: matte blue printed cardboard with shapes cut out so you can see the product which is in a clear plastic bag. I really like this, I don't like buying food I can't see. There is text printed on all sides with various information written in semi-informal language. All the information is easily findable, including allergens (gluten, nuts, wheat, barley, oats though if you're allergic to any of those you'd not be eating muesli!) and nutritional information. Do you want the nutritional information by the way?
Per 100g:
366calories/1530 kJ
10.8g protein
59.2g carbohydrate
9.5g fat
7.4g fibre
<0.1g salt

HOW DO YOU EAT YOURS?
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D.C advises to "serve with milk, yoghurt or fruit juice". Personally I eat with milk. Juice is surprisingly nice, as is yoghurt, but nothing beats milk in my opinion.

EATING
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On opening, there is little scent. It pours easily out of the plastic bag into the bowl and doesn't float too much when the milk is added. The cerial grain makes the bulk of each bite and the toasted/malted barley flakes add a satisfying crunch. This muesli has no added sugar, the fruit provides the sweetness. 22% fruit is more than enough sweetness for me-sometimes I end up with raisins in the bottom of the bowl-but this is by no means a sweet cereal.

Something that distinguishes this from cheap muesli is the size of the nuts. Often in cheap muesli the brazil nuts are either large uneven pieces or tiny fragments. In this, the nuts are distinguishable without being overpowering in your bite.

Chewing is pleasant, it doesn't form a sticky unswallowabole mass like some of the cheaper muesli and is helped, no doubt, by the fact that there is "no dust"

NO DUST
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Dorset cereals are proud of their "no dust" cereal. In some muesli there is settling of dust at the bottom of the packet. This dust appears because the oats and other grains are broken down in formation and transit. I expect Dorset cereals use only whole oats pieces to avoid dust. The dust is unpleasant and turns the milk cloudy, which is probably why it is a chosen selling point.

SUMMERY
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Short of making my own muesli, this is definitely my favourite. A perfect blend of sweetness with no added anything extra. I would recomment it to anyone without food allergies!

© L Wade 2009 - submitted only on dooyoo.

Summary: If I could only have one muesli, it's be this.