December 2010
9 posts
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In 1971, the first two cereals in the line were introduced, Count Chocula and the strawberry-flavored Franken Berry. Boo Berry, reputedly the first blueberry-flavored cereal, was released in 1973, and Fruit Brute the following year. Fruit Brute was discontinued by 1983 and replaced in 1987 by Fruity Yummy Mummy, which also had a short life as it was discontinued in the 1990s.
In the recent past, the three cereals still in circulation could be primarily found during the autumn months, in time for Halloween. According to a General Mill source, Count Chocula, Franken Berry, and Boo Berry are all produced year-round, making their seasonality an issue based on decisions made by retailers. As of late 2010, information such as nutrition data and historical factoids can still be found on the official General Mills website at all times of the year.
Target and Walmart are among the stores that have been known to carry these scarce cereals during and around October. They can be found all year long on Amazon.com.
Though retired, Fruity Yummy Mummy and Fruit Brute still appear occasionally on official merchandise: in recent years, bobblehead dolls have been sold in their images.
The television commercials for the cereals usually featured the monsters competitively touting their own cereals to children, but would get frightened when anything interrupted their one-upmanship.
” —Wikipedia explains the history of General Mills’ monster-themed cereals.
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Two fires struck in St. Paul overnight, one at a popular dining spot and another at a furniture repair store.
The Nook on Hamline Avenue near Randolph Avenue “is totaled,” said co-owner Ted Casper, speaking from his eight-lane bowling center in the same block.
The fire began about 3 to 4 a.m., Casper said, adding that no one was in the business at the time.
While there has been no specific cause determined, Casper said he suspects “some kind of cooler malfunction” in the kitchen, which is where most of the damage is located.
” —Holy Shit! The Nook burned down! The Star Trib reports that it’ll reopen in a month or two.Now consider this passage from One Big Table, which introduces a recipe featuring Wisconsin cheese. I’ve added italics to the words that are particularly categorical, definitive, and wrong.
“Florida is oranges. Texas is beef. Maine is lobster. And in the 1920s, some marketer decided that Wisconsin should be cheese. The state had no history of cheese making, and no more dairy cows than Vermont or New York. It did, however, have a surplus of milk.”
So. Let’s forget the copper cheese kettles of the Green County Swiss and let’s forget the establishment of the nation’s first dairy school at the University of Wisconsin in 1890, and let’s forget the previous 70 years of grassroots and then serious industrial cheesemaking — the origin of Wisconsin cheese is “some marketer” in the 1920s. Also worth noting: In 1922, there were 2,800 cheese factories in Wisconsin. From 0 to 2,800 in two short years — good Lord, what a terrific marketer this anonymous chap must have been!
-Jim Norton sticks up for Wisconsin’s cheesemaking history. Keep up the good work Jim!
