Last week, Sainsburys released a new cereal to replace the limited edition Mini Cinnamon Rolls that came out back in January this year. Naturally, I HAD to try it – particularly as it’s not common for UK cereals to release limited edition or seasonal flavours. Shreddies, Coco Pops, Shredded Wheat and Weetabix are a few that have sold variations for short periods, on occasion, but as far as I know, Sainsburys were the first brand to release a seasonal flavour, in 2020, with a trio of Christmas-themed products on offer (Snowballs and Stars, Mince Pie Wheats, and Gingerbread Porridge). Around the same time Quaker Oats added ‘Winter Spice Porridge’ to their UK range.
Since then, the UK cereal sector has..somewhat exploded? That’s definitely an exaggeration, but Sainsburys have continued to release interesting flavours every few months (last Summer we had Rainbow Seashells and Passionfruit and Mango Mini Wheats, at Christmas they rereleased their Winter set, in January the aforementioned Cinnamon Rolls were introduced, and then this Summer they gave us Berry Hooplas and Under the Sea Strawberry Stars and Fish). Other brands have also followed suit, and Kelloggs have sold Hot Cross Bun Mini Wheats and Mince Pie Wheats over 2021 and 2022! For an avid cereal collector like myself, it’s all quite exciting.
But back to the cereal at hand, which, I can tell, you’re on the edge of your seat to find out about: Mini Jam Croissants!? What on earth were Sainsburys thinking? Who decided this was a good idea? I already knew I was NOT going to be a fan – I love mushy, plainer cereals, and this sounded like a very sweet, crunchy affair. But still, the very next morning after my discovery, I was in Sainsburys, asking a kind assistant to see if they’d got some in their warehouse (which they did!).
First impressions: the box is exciting, and I’m curious to see how croissant-like they look. And how mini are they? The jam also sounds tempting! They could be filled, which would be interesting. Yes I know they’re going to be too sweet for me, but it all sounds very fun.
Opening the box: well, this is disappointing. They’re hopelessly tiny and a little sticky, so I can already tell they’re going to absorb very little milk. They smell very sweet (by UK cereal standards), and even worse, they look like mishapen bananas! The only redeemable feature is that they genuinely smell like strawberry jam. It’s not a strawberry smell, nor a synthetic artificial strawberry-flavoured-sweet smell; it really is like jam! Points for description accuracy, Sainsburys.
Trying dry: they actually aren’t too bad like this! As a kind of biscuit, they’re a sweet-but-plainish snack, though their tiny size makes them hard to pick up. They don’t have any filling however, so the jam flavour is just kind of infused throughout, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it does 1. make it less interesting to eat dry, particularly as it’s not strong, and 2. mean it resembles a jam croissant a lot less accurately. So let’s remove those previously earned points!
Trying with milk (and Weetabix to make more palatable): I managed to get them to soften a bit, but their tiny size and the sugar coating makes it difficult. I added hot milk and left them a good half an hour, to no avail. Each croissant just became kind of slippery. When remicrowaved, they did the usual crunchy-cereal-thing, and dissolved into a sickly sweet goop. Not great, but predictable.
Overall sunflowers? 2/10. Like many UK cereals, they aren’t sweet enough to interest people who like American-style cereals, but they clearly aren’t a ‘healthy cereal’, and also can’t be mushified. The jam flavour smells good, but doesn’t come through when eaten. Sainsburys, I’m sorry to say, overpromised. The name is all that’s exciting with this one.
Dayum what don’t you complain about😂