Photo copyright Tiffany Janes
When General Mills introduced gluten free Rice Chex cereal last year, you would have thought someone had invented a gluten free Krispy Kreme doughnut instead. The new cereal was sweetened with molasses instead of barley malt but they tasted just like the original Rice Chex. Most mainstream cereals contain barley malt even if they're wheat free, making them unsuitable for people with Celiac disease or gluten intolerance.
Fast forward to early 2009 and the announcement by General Mills about the reformulation of five more flavors of Chex cereals, to make them gluten free. Obviously our community bought a lot of Rice Chex in order for this new development in the General Mills marketing plan to come about, which is exactly what we were hoping for.
It's quite exciting to be able to enjoy Honey Nut and Cinnamon Chex for breakfast and using Corn Chex for homemade snack mix (along with Rice Chex). I'm sure plenty of gluten free kids will enjoy the Strawberry and Chocolate Chex though you could not pay me to eat either one.
What makes this news most exciting for our community is that now both Post and Kellogs are not going to be able to ignore us anymore. Cereal wars are tough and the other big players in the game are not going to allow General Mills to rake in the profits for all mainstream gluten free cereal sales in this country. It simply isn't going to happen.
Though I think the new Rice Chex are fine, I prefer the Honey Nut Chex and will try the Cinnamon Chex as soon as I spot them on the grocery store shelf. There are reports of the Corn Chex being in Atlanta now but I'd only use those during the holidays when I make my favorite gluten free Chex party mix. It's basically the standard recipe using Rice Chex and now Corn Chex. In the past I had to use Health Valley Corn and Rice Crunch-ums which are exorbitantly expensive. It will be interesting to see if Health Valley discontinues these products now that we can get basically the same cereals for less from General Mills.
Comments
I actually have a hard time seeing the tiny check and Gluten Free marking on the Rice Chex. I found the Honey Nut Chex first and keep looking for the big stripe saying Gluten Free and my eyes don't see the small print thinking it says anything but Gluten Free.
I have the same problem. They only put the large GF on the front when the product is new. Then they move it to the side after six months or so. The Rice Chex were just like the Honey Nut Chex are now. That is why I always take 'cheaters' in to help me read labels these days...lol!
If you're on any kind of healthy diet, Gluten free or not, you probably shouldn't eat these cereals more than once every other month or so, anyway. Nutritionally, they're just about worthless gluten free or not.
Everyone who eats gluten free is not healthy, to say the least. Personally I think it's fabulous that mainstream companies can no longer afford to ignore our underserved market. If someone wants to eat Chex cereal every day it's fine by me. I eat it only a few times a month and really, if you compare it to most name brand cereals, there is very little in it that's bad for you. It's just not packed full of nutrution - we can agree on that much.
I will have to print some of your articles out for a lady I know who is in her mid to late 70's. She doesn't have a computer.
Susie.
Pasco County Food Examiner.
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