Quality fruity breakfast (Dorset Cereals Super Cranberry, Cherry & Almond)

Member Name: laramax

Product:	Dorset Cereals Super Cranberry, Cherry & Almond
Date:	03/04/08 (58 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Made with great natural indredients

Disadvantages: Rather expensive

I love trying new things and, as I am on my new DASH (dietary advice to stop hypertension) diet and keen to have a breakfast cereal and fruit every day, I was quite intrigued when I saw the Dorset Cereal packs in my local Tesco the other day. What made them even more attractive was the fact that they were on offer with £1 off which meant the pack I bought was just £1.99 rather than the usual £2.99!

I had a little debate with myself about which pack to try but, as I was looking for a cereal and fruit I settled for the Dorset Cereals Naturally Light Flakes with Cranberries, Cherries and Raspberries - even the name is quite a mouthful, so I wondered if the contents would be a lovely mouthful too.

About Dorset Cereals
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dorset Cereals are a company which is based (unsurprisingly) in Dorset where they make their breakfast cereals. They visit their suppliers to make sure they are using the best possible ingredients. They balance and blend the ingredients carefully using their knowledge make sure their recipes are stuffed full of fruit, nuts and seeds.

They have 8 mueslis and 3 great tasting fruity porridges in their range and have also just launched our 3 delicious naturally light flakes recipes which are less than 2% fat. One of these is the Naturally Light Flakes with Cranberries, Cherries and Raspberries which I bought - they are simply real flakes mixed with delicious fruits.

Naturally Light Flakes with Cranberries, Cherries and Raspberries
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

First the technical stuff - This particular variety contains the following ingredients:
Cornflakes (23%)(maize, sugar, salt, barley malt),
toasted and malted barley flakes (23%)(barley, sugar, salt, malt), malted barley flakes (23%)(barley, sugar, malt),
toasted and malted spelt flakes (23%)(spelt, sugar, salt, malt),
freeze dried cherries (2%),
freeze dried raspberry pieces (2%),
freeze dried cranberry slices (1.5%).

If you are wondering what 'spelt' is they say "Spelt's fragile gluten structure makes it more water soluble and therefore easier to digest than modern wheat"
For anyone suffering from allergies this cereal contains gluten, spelt and barley and may contain traces of nuts, sesame seeds and wheat.

The nutritional information for a 40g serving is:

Energy - kJ - 576, kcal - 136

Protein - 3.5g

Carbohydrate - 28.7g
- of which sugars - 3.2g

Fat - 0.7g
- of which saturates - 0.2g
- mono-unsaturates - 0.1g
- polyunsaturates - 0.3g

Fibre - 3.5g

Salt - 0.4g
- of which sodium - 0.2g

What does it taste like?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All the nutritional information is worthless unless the product itself tastes good so this is the key to whether I recommend it and buy it again. The good thing about this cereal is that the deep pink box contains a little window so that you can actually see what the cereal looks like. The flakes are small and slim and actually very light and tasty. The berries are plentiful and very colourful so, set against the light flakes they make an attractive bowlful.

The first bowl I tried was tasty but the berries had a sharp tang to them which was good, but took me a little surprise. However I found by the second bowlful I really enjoyed them as the sharpness didn't take me by surprise. I must say I really did enjoy the Dorset Cereals Naturally Light Flakes with Cranberries, Cherries and Raspberries. The cereal is wholesome and actually quite filling, it is tastier than many of the bland cereals on the market which may be good for you but don't really encourage you to eat them. The box appears to be packed with cereal and without lots of crumbs at the bottom. This is marketed as a high quality breakfast cereal and in my view it certainly lives up to that claim.

The manufacturersbox their products in cardboard which is unbleached and made from 100% recycled fibre. This product has no added preservatives, is Vegetarian Society Approved , Kosher Approved, Low in Fat and High in Fibre. It ticked all the boxes for me and tasted great too - what more could you want?

Would I recommend it?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well ......... it is a great light and tasty breakfast cereal packed with high quality ingredients but for my tastes it is rather too sharp. If however you like tangy tastes then you might enjoy it. At £2.99 per box is it quite expensive relative to other cereals but it does taste better than most and if you want high quality you do have to pay for it.

There are other flavours in the range - Naturally Light flakes come in three flavours, Cranberries, Cherries and Raspberries, Fig and grapes, Pomegranate and cherries.

Their other cereals are available eight flavours and there is also a variety pack to allow you to try them and choose a favourite. They also have three fruity porridge options and two fruity bars. Somehow I can see me working my way through the whole range!

Summary: A light and tasty breakfast