This week: Cornflakes
Kellogg’s Cornflakes €2.69 for 500g, €5.38 a kg
BACK IN the 1970s when own-brand products first started appearing on Irish supermarket shelves, retailers tried to copy the runaway success of Kellogg’s cornflakes. None of them succeeded.It’s a different world now, however, and while the folk at Kellogg’s still make a good cornflake, they are not markedly different from the own-brand options we tried. These have a decent crunch to them and a corniness that we found appealing and they are slightly larger and thicker than their rivals so don’t go soggy too quickly once milk has been added. They are utterly reliable and to be found in every supermarket and corner shop in the country. They are expensive, of course, and it is hard to escape the notion that we are being asked to pay that little bit more because of the brand name rather than any intrinsic superiority.
Verdict:The gap's narrowed.
Star rating: ***
Supervalu Cornflakes €1.79 for 750g, €2.38 a kg
THESE FLAKES make up part of Supervalu’s increasingly impressive own-brand range and are, we think, quite the find. We struggled to discern any taste difference between these “flakes of sun-ripened corn” and the Tesco cornflakes despite the promise on this box to “bring some sunshine” to our day. It didn’t. They are nice and crispy and take a long time to go soggy in the bowl despite the fact that the individual flakes seemed to have been very thinly sliced. They are quite a bit lower in salt that the flakes from either Kellogg’s and Tesco, which is also to their credit. The key difference here is price. They are the cheapest we found by a big margin and don’t taste it.
Verdict:Good value
Star rating: ****
Whole Earth Organic Corn Flakes €3.50 for 375g, €9.33 a kg
MANUFACTURERS CAN be forgiven for engaging in a little bit of hype when plugging their product but, really, Whole Earth have gone a little OTT here with the claim that their flakes “are so delightfully golden, you’ll be beaming all morning”. They have been “lightly toasted for a delicious taste” and even the best before date gets a makeover, with the company recommending we “enjoy this 100 per cent delicious product before . . . ” Stop. We get it, you love your product. And it is nice. In fact, it may be the nicest cornflake tried. But at what price? A ridiculous one. It is nearly four times dearer than the cheapest flake. It is organic (and naturally gluten-free, incidentally), but it also quite high in salt and could almost be passed off as a crispy bar snack.
Verdict:Nice. Dear. Salty
Star rating: ***
Tesco Cornflakes €2.29 for 500g, €4.58 a kg
WE HAVE reviewed many Tesco own-brand products over recent years with decidedly mixed results both for us and for Tesco.
We approached these with a heavy heart early one morning last week as in our experience, own-brand cornflakes in particular tend to be on the vaguely horrible side of the tasting fence.
We were pleasantly surprised then to discover that these tasted absolutely grand. They are not amazing or anything but we can think of many worse ways to start the day. They are nice and crunchy and on the fairly cheap side – although they have gone up 90 cents in the last five years, which seems like a kind of steep incline to us.
Verdict:Absolutely grand
Star rating: ***
Kelkin Organic Gluten-Free Cornflakes €3.09 for 375g, €8.24 a kg
SORRY, WHAT’S going on here? While the other flakes have a familiar orange colour, these glowed with an alarmingly bright yellow tone in our bowl. It wasn’t just the colour that was weird, the texture was all wrong, too, and just the wrong mix of chewy and cardboardy. To the company’s credit, the ingredient list is very pure and these are made with just maize, sea salt and corn glucose powder. That is all very well but what do they taste like? Truth be told, not very nice at all and we reckon these would not be an entirely brilliant way to start any day. The price was very off-putting, too.
Verdict:Not for us
Star rating: **
