A Choco-Full Taste Test
Summer was almost finished. Before long, vacation season would be over and they’d be back behind their desks. And we knew that if they didn’t get chocolate, they’d be cranky.
Yes, we once again invited a handful of youngsters to act as guest tasters at a special back-to-school session of The Spokesman-Review’s reader food panel.
But it wasn’t the kids we were worried about. It was the adults.
Following a few months of panel meetings with virtually no chocolate on the menu (unless you count the M&Ms in M&M Ice Cream Sandwiches), we were told in no uncertain terms that we were flunking out, Willie Wonka-wise.
So we decided to serve our multigenerational group not only three chocolate breakfast cereals, but a trio of chocolate-and-nut spreads.
The cereal showdown pitted popular icon Cocoa Puffs against the new kid on the breakfast block, Nestle’s Nesquik, with bagged, bargain-priced Malt-O-Meal Coco-Roos tossed in for good measure.
Cocoa Puffs, crisp corn balls with a hearty chocolate flavor, showed why they’ve earned their reputation. But they still finished in a dead heat with Nesquik among kids and adults alike.
The smaller Nesquik pellets (appropriate for a product whose spokesperson is a rabbit), which contain rice as well as corn, got soggier in milk. But, oh, what they did for that milk, turning it a deep, rich chocolate.
Malt-O-Meal, meanwhile, boasts “bet you can’t taste the difference” on its Coco-Roos bag. Good thing they didn’t shake on it; while a couple of tasters deemed them the equal of Cocoa Puffs, most called them a pale imitation. And as for mascots, we’re not convinced the Coco-Roos kangaroos quite match up with the Nesquik bunny or the Cocoa Puffs cuckoo bird. (Maybe marsupials work cheap.)
Our spread competition took on an international flavor. Jif’s Chocolate Silk - one of the American peanut butter giant’s new, flavored Smooth Sensations line - was matched against Nutella, an Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread that claims to outsell all peanut butter brands combined worldwide, and Milky Way, an Austrian import that adds vanilla stripes to its chocolate-hazelnut base. All were served on slices of that classic kid favorite, Wonder Bread, a neutral backdrop if there ever was one.
In a proud display of patriotism - or, perhaps, just a preference for peanuts - Jif easily edged Nutella for top honors in all age categories. (Then again, maybe we weren’t serving the Nutella properly; one Web site suggests spreading it on cooked salmon fillets for a combination called, yes, Salmonella.) Milky Way - no relation, so far as we could tell, to the candy bar - was another story. While it’s sold in the peanut butter section, like Nutella, the cloyingly sweet spread would be more at home in the frosting aisle. And as for the name, well, the price is certainly out of this world.
By the time it was over, our adult panelists were allowing that it would be OK with them if we didn’t have chocolate again for a while.
Looks like they learned their lesson, before school even started.
Cocoa Puffs
Price: $3.19 for 13.75 ounces, or 13 (1-cup) servings.
Nutrition: 120 calories (1 percent fat calories); 170 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): ****
Taste (kids): ****
Value: **
Comments: “Lovely bouquet of cocoa powder, very sweet but with an intriguing bitter undertone, and they crunch right up and stick in your teeth. A classic.” - Catherine Lunt Greer
“Really, really a hundred times good.” - Kayla Clemson, age 6-1/2
Nestle Nesquik Cereal
Price: $3.59 for 13.75 ounces, or 13 (-cup) servings.
Nutrition: 120 calories (2 percent fat calories); 190 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): ****
Taste (kids): ****
Value: **
Comments: “Very good chocolate flavor, and I like the small pellet shape - you can get more in your bowl. Expensive, but well worth the sugar high.” - Rob Jasperson
“Tastes like hot chocolate, looks like my rabbit’s food.” - Hilary Hargrove, age 9
Malt-O-Meal Coco-Roos
Price: $1.97 for 13.75 ounces, or 13 (-cup) servings.
Nutrition: 120 calories (1 percent fat calories); 190 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): **
Taste (kids): ** Value: ***
Comments: “This tasted like a bargain brand of chocolate puff. Needs more chocolate taste and less grain taste.” - Lisa Arsenault
“They taste old, dry and cheap.” - Trevver Finke, age 14
Jif Smooth Sensations Chocolate Silk
Price: $2.33 for 14 ounces, or 11 (2-tablespoon) servings.
Nutrition: 190 calories (68 percent fat calories); 115 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): ****
Taste (kids): ****
Value: ***
Comments: “Tastes like a Reese’s cup. Watch out, parents - your kids will be bouncing.” - Rich Clemson
“It tastes more like peanut butter than chocolate, but it’s really good.” - Tatiana Finke, age 9
Nutella
Price: $2.85 for 13 ounces, or 12 (2-tablespoon) servings.
Nutrition: 160 calories (50 percent fat calories); 30 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): ***
Taste (kids): ***
Value: ***
Comments: “Too rich for bread or a sandwich. I think I’ll stick to peanut butter.” - Nate Swinton
“Tastes like mud.” - Claire Nelson, age 8
Milky Way
Price: $5.14 for 11 ounces, or 11 (2-tablespoon) servings.
Nutrition: 160 calories (56 percent fat calories); 10 milligrams sodium per serving.
Taste (adults): **
Taste (kids): ***
Value: *
Comments: “Light and fluffy, sickeningly sweet. It has a marshmallow-type texture.” - Angela Roth
“It’s exactly like doughnut frosting - not for bread.” - Ashtten Finke, age 11