Around Halloween, a very special thing happens. Three special monster cereals appear on supermarket shelves, only to disappear again after six weeks. Thanks to General Mills, my roommates and I got to try out these childhood classics: Count Chocula, Boo Berry and Franken Berry cereal. Although our generation came about 20 years late to the Count Chocula party, we are well steeped in media fandom surrounding the well-loved breakfast character. We tested each cereal for deliciousness and likability of its mascot. First up: Count Chocula.

“I vant to eat your cereal!”

Count Chocula had the richest and most satisfying cocoa flavor of the bunch, and it was also the most similar to  real chocolate. Although cocoa pebbles might have given it a run for its money, getting to stare into that nostalgia-filled vampire visage secured Count Chocula’s place in the top spot. You can check out the count through the years on this poorly-designed website.

“He looks, like, a suave guy.” – Betsy, my roommate

Personally, I thought the boo berry was the least compelling mascot of the three, but both my roommates found the dark circles under his eyes vaguely attractive. Go figure. Anyway, this was our least favorite cereal. Although we could detect a hint of blueberry muffins, the cereal itself didn’t actually have much flavor. It got better when paired with the marshmallows, which were sweet and sort of milky, and better than Lucky Charms.

Has strawberries for fingernails.

Franken Berry isn’t quite as famous as the other two, having debuted on the market two years later in 1973. We liked the fact that he has strawberries for fingernails, though. And he kind of looks like someone that would be in a Pixar movie. We found the cereal’s Day-glo pink color a little disarming at first, especially when I read online that the dye in the cereal used to turn children’s poop pink. The flavor, sadly, was a similar situation to Boo Berry – weak and not strawberry-like on its own, pretty good with the marshmallows.

It’s not every day you get to have a bowl of pop culture for breakfast.

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Sam

My name is Sam and all I care about is food.

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8 Responses

  1. Tracy

    Ack! I’m so old. These were my childhood grandma’s house only cereal. My mother wouldn’t let us eat it. I thought they were still part of the year round cereal isle and I was too old to eat it. I loved all three when I was younger.

    Reply
  2. kathy smith

    i want this ceral to be put back on the shelves year round you say that this ceral is a seasonal who has ever heard of a seasonal ceral that is crazy trix has a bunny on it should it not be a easter ceral if not then what is the difference just cause chount chocula has a dracula on it it is a halloween ceral that is so stupid put the monster ceral back where it belongs back on the store shelves

    Reply
  3. Carter

    Nice article, but you got your facts a little off. Count Chocula and Frankenberry were the first two cereals to be introduced in 1971, with Booberry following in 1973.

    Reply
  6. Nikki

    I enjoyed the article because 1. it’s a great blast from my past and 2. I was unaware they only brought them back for Halloween. I’m going to check my local super market, and if I can’t find them… FEAR NOT! They are on Amazon 🙂

    My only complaint is this article tried to directly compare their tastes when it’s ‘apples and orange’ to me. While Count Chocula is obviously an amazing cereal, there are many other chocolate-cereal substitutes to subdue my cravings. However, Frankenberry and Booberry were pioneering tastes that still give me those same cravings to do this day, but there are no worth substitutes on the shelves.

    Regardless, I plan on enjoying all 3 this year and satisfying my cereal nostalgia for 6 or so weeks.

    Reply
  7. Jared

    Cereal like Count Chocula is as delicious as it is bad for you. Sure, it now touts whole grains and vitamins, but it’s a bunch of sugar all rolled into different shapes. For fun, I read all the ingredients (to smooth jazz) for an educomedy YouTube Series (click my name for the link) to highlight what you are really getting when you eat it.

    With that being said, I try to ignore the ingredients because Count Chocula is simply delicious.

    Reply
  8. Glitchus

    My favorite as a child was Boo Berry, but these cereals today lack the flavor that they used to have, or my tastes have changed. It makes me wonder if they’ve been reformulated to satisfy a meddlesome FDA bureaucrat. I also prefer the original renditions of the characters rather than the “hip hop” versions that now disappointingly grace the boxes.

    Reply

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