Despite my unhealthy obsession with cereal, both in the “affecting my mind” and “affecting my body” aspects, I pretty much draw the line at following cereal sales.

My knowledge of if a cereal is selling well is usually based on, “They don’t make it anymore, I guess it didn’t sell that well.”

So I was kind of surprised to see they still make Jif Peanut Butter Cereal.  I wasn’t a big fan.  I get the appeal, to be sure, but it just seemed like a cereal that didn’t have a huge audience.  It seemed like Jif would come out, people would go “Huh, there it is.” and we’d all move on.  Over time I did grow to really like the box art.  Its almost aggressively dull retro aesthetic became something to respect.

Instead, two years later, Jif still exists and is getting a line extension – Jif PB&J Strawberry.  That name sure is awful typed out like that.

Jif kept its 1982 cereal-piece-shapes.  But instead of going for a more odd shape for the jelly pieces, it went with the tried and true Crunch Berry shape.

The color of the jelly pieces seems abnormally bold, in contrast to the very blah coloring of the peanut butter pieces.  On their own, the jelly pieces look like your typical “red” berry piece, but mixed in the bowl they almost look nuclear.

Side Note : I finally replaced my previous camera, so this is hopefully the last review where the cereal looks like blurry, off-colored terribleness.

Since I already knew what the peanut butter pieces tasted like, I first tried the jelly pieces on their own.  And they were good.  They were either the same flavor as Crunch Berries, with maybe 10% more “natural-ness” flavoring added, or it’s just Kellogg’s approximation of actual Crunch Berries.  In any case, no problems there.

Mixed together, as the cereal is presumably intended to be eaten (since it comes out of the box that way and all), it is a really good cereal.

The understated, more “real” flavored peanut butter pieces mesh perfectly with the “fake berry” jelly pieces.  Instead of the opposite ends of the spectrum clashing, they just meet in the middle.

If you liked the original Jif cereal, I don’t see why you wouldn’t like this one (unless the dilution of the peanut butter purity is too much to handle).  If you weren’t a big fan of it, it’s worth a shot.

[insert seal of approval here]