Product Review: Mom’s Best Safari Cocoa Crunch

Product: Mom’s Best Gluten-Free Safari Cocoa Crunch – $2.49+

Remember those adds with Sonny the Cuckoo Bird declaring, “I’m cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs!”

I ate it up as a child.  As did I devour said chocolatey puffy cereal.  Actually, I think my dad enjoyed them way more than we kids did, because he’d eat the entire box if we weren’t watching him.  Says something about that chocolate, sugary rush in the morning, yes?

Well, aside from a couple varieties of chocolate rice puffs…anything remotely close to Cocoa Puffs was nonexistent in the gluten-free cereal world.

Or…so I thought.

Enter…The Roomie.

You see, every now and again, I get into my kitchen to start on a meal…and discover that I am missing an ingredient.  So, the roomie is normally kind enough to allow me to do more prep work while she runs down to the grocery store to get what I need.  And every now and again, she returns with a wonderful new gluten-free product for me to try.  This was the scenario the day she came home from the grocery store with…basically gluten-free Cocoa Puffs.

The brand is Mom’s Best…and I’ve had their Crispy Cocoa Rice cereal (basically…chocolate Rice Krispies) before…and loved then.  Loved everything about them but the sugar content.  But…let’s face it.  I’m having chocolate for breakfast.

That’s basically how it works with the Mom’s Best Gluten-Free Safari Cocoa Crunch as well.  At first…the amount of sugar was a concern…but I let it go.  I tend to obsess over some things…and while watching my sugar intake is important, it isn’t life-threatening if I go over a certain amount.  I just try to keep it in check…and I never seem to be able to.  But…setting all that aside, this morning I opened up the box of the Safari Cocoa Crunch, and poured myself a serving.  These little chocolate puffy balls of cereal looked so much like Cocoa Puffs, I might have squeed a little in delight.  Maybe.

Okay…I did.

But even more so after tasting them.  I popped a couple pieces of them dry…to get just the flavor on their own.  Oh…my chocolate gods of cereal bliss…they were fantastic.  Light…crispy…chocolatey…everything this chocoholic could have asked for and more.  Chocolate in the morning…yes please!  Sign me up.  I then ate the rest of the bowl with a small pool of unsweetened almond milk.  Fantastic.  I might…might…have slurped up the extra milk, now rich with chocolate, at the bottom of the bowl.  There is a good possibility it happened.

These were better than I even remember Cocoa Puffs tasting.  However…it’s been a very long time since I’ve had cocoa puffs…so…keep that in mind.

But…OMG…YUMMY!!!

So, let’s get down to the ingredients and nutrition portion of this blog, shall we?

Ingredient wise…Mom’s Best Gluten-Free Safari Cocoa Crunch is made up from sugar (ugh…yes…that is the first ingredient!), corn meal, corn flour, corn syrup, coconut oil, corn bran, cocoa, caramel color, salt, calcium carbonate, canola oil, natural flavor and trisodium phosphate.  So…not really the best option…and there are a few chemical sounding ingredients, despite the fact that the box declares that there are no flavors or preservatives that you can’t pronounce.  Okay…I can pronounce them…doesn’t mean I know what they are.  This cereal, however, does not contain high fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils.  It is gluten-free as well.

A serving of Mom’s Best Gluten-Free Safari Cocoa Crunch is 3/4 cup.  In this serving, you will be consuming 120 calories and 2 grams of fat.  That really isn’t too bad for a chocolate cereal.  You will be provided with 110 mg sodium and a whopping 14 grams of sugar.  Again…it’s a chocolate cereal.  I’m going to try not to obsess over that.  Unfortunately, this cereal will not leave you feeling full, as I found out this morning.  It has only 2 grams of fiber and 1 gram of protein.  I ate my bowl before heading to the gym and I was already starving 30 minutes into my workout.  So, it won’t stick with you.  Then again, it’s mostly sugar…so there is a reason.

Overall though…really, really tasty.  I love chocolate and it’s nice to treat myself every now and again to a sinfully sugary cereal.  I don’t make a habit of it…but this one was totally worth it.  Really good.  Mom’s Best has once again bested the sugar-addict in me…and made me fall in love with yet another chocolate breakfast treat.

Well played!