Here we go again!
Are people eating less cereal overall? Are certain cereal companies losing market share to newcomers? Are those legacy companies looking to expand into adjacent markets that make sense? All of the above?
Beloved junk food brands moving from one type of product to another is a relatively recent phenomenon but it shows no sign of stopping! At this rate, it is only a matter of time before we start seeing candy bar-flavored Smirnoff vodkas and cereal-flavored Bailey's. In some cases, the results are amazing--such as Snickers and Twix ice cream bars or Cinnamon Toast Crunch Hershey Kisses. In other cases, such as Froot Loop bagels, the combination is perplexing. This one certainly falls into the latter category...
In case you miss them during the month I predict that these things will be on the store shelves before being discontinued for lack of interest, Kellogg's recently introduced ice creams based on its Eggo waffles as well as six of its cereal brands: Froot Loops, Corn Pops, Frosted Flakes, Honey Smacks, Rice Krispie (Treats) and Apple Jacks. Not having money to burn on all of them, I thought I'd start with the version based upon one of my favorite cereals. Plus, having already reviewed the abomination that was Apple Jacks Pop-Tarts a few years back, this gives me a "second bite at the apple"...so to speak.
(In retrospect, I probably should have gone with the Corn Pops ice cream...at least I wouldn't have had any false hope of that one tasting good!)
Let's start with the visuals, shall we? The ice cream contains small bits of orange and green that can best be described as sparkles rather than sprinkles, if that makes any sense. In other words, they appear to be present only for decoration as you can't isolate them for taste (as you would with green and red pieces of candy in your peppermint stick ice cream). In this respect, the ice cream almost reminds me of the bottom of the bowl after you've eaten Apple Jacks cereal...slightly pink milk with miniscule pieces of orange and green. The ice cream does taste like apple--not sour apple, fortunately, but an imitation candy apple flavor that is too sweet for me. Good as a Jolly Rancher? Maybe. As ice cream? Not really.
Where does the cinnamon part come in, you may ask?
(Trivia Time: Why was the cereal called Apple Jacks in the first place, rather than Apple Cinnamon? Apparently, "Jack" just refers to the generic term as a common name for a male...that's a fact, Jack...and the first mascot was an apple with a face carved into it named "Apple Jack" for marketing.)
Well thanks for asking about the cinnamon, because that is the biggest surprise of Apple Jacks ice cream! It does not appear to be in the main body of the ice cream itself, but in "swirls." Okay, no problem, it's like the filling of a toaster strudel, right? Wrong! Here is the fun part--unlike, say, a gooey caramel swirl, this cinnamon "swirl" has the consistency of brown sugar. Brown sugar that has been in your pantry for longer than you remember, that is, and as a result is now clumped together. Not only that, but it has zero physical connection to the ice cream itself. You would never be able to separate a caramel ribbon from your ice cream without making a mess, since it is spread throughout, but here the cinnamon "chunks" don't blend with the ice cream at all. I'm not sure what is keeping them together, but you can easily fish them out of the ice cream intact, without a molecule of ice cream clinging to them.
So, yes, if you are following me, this is an apple-flavored ice cream with grainy chunks of cinnamon littered throughout. I suppose it tastes like Apple Jacks cereal only in the same way that Apple Jacks cereal doesn't exactly taste like apple and cinnamon--for that, you should just mix cinnamon and apple Jelly Bellies (you're welcome!), drink a spiced apple cider, sprinkle cinnamon on apple pie filling or even just fill your mouth with Hot Tamales before taking a bite of a real apple. All of those possibilities are guaranteed to give you more enjoyment than this concoction!
RATING: 2 / 5
