A rose by any other name would smell as sweet, right?
But names are still important. That’s why the folks at Enjoy Life Foods recently changed the names of these long-standing gluten-free cereals.
You may know them as Nutty Rice and Nutty Flax. ( I don’t know why they were named that, though I always figured it was to associate the cereal with Grape Nuts.)
Ah, but there are no nuts, and it’s made in a nut-free facility, so the change in name more accurately reflects the mission on Enjoy Life – to provide good allergy-free foods.
I’ve been eating the (now) Crunchy Rice cereal for years. Generally, I mix it into my yogurt to add some crunch and substance, but I sometimes eat a bowl plain (with milk) or with some added fruit. On cold days, I like to add the cereal to hot milk, for a soothing, warming way to start my morning.
Crunchy Rice has a soft, toasted rice flavor. It is fairly subtle, and is easily obscured by “louder” flavors, especially in a flavored, sugared yogurt. The cereal pieces are very small, so it makes snacking on the cereal a little difficult (though it hasn’t stopped me, as I’ve been munching on it the whole time I’ve been typing).
I had never tasted Crunchy Flax before 
Enjoy Life sent me these samples. It looks like the Crunchy Rice, but it is made with whole sorghum flour and ground flax seed, instead of rice flour and rice bran. It has 425 mg of Omega-3’s and 6 grams of fiber in each serving (that’s 24% of your daily fiber). When eating it plain (or just with milk), there is a slight flax-y taste (which is only bad if you don’t like the taste of flax at all – I happen to like it). When eaten with yogurt, however, I could not detect the flax.
Both cereals are sweetened only with honey and raisin juice concentrate (which is rather strange to me – how can they juice a dried grape?).
They are also certified gluten-free through the GFCO.
My kids really like eating the “little ball” cereals, as Carter calls them. Thankfully, I can often find them at my local Kroger grocery store.
Comments
2 responses to “Perky’s Crunchy Rice and Crunchy Flax Cereals”
The new names for these do make more sense, especially in a market
where many customers have allergies to nuts. They may have been put
off by the name and not seen that they don’t contain nuts. So the new
names are a good idea. Thanks for the update.
I LOVE nutty rice!! When I was first diagnosed 2 years ago it was one of the first things I found that was GF and that I liked. Because I was bordering on total terror of what to eat I ate it for almost every meal for say 6 weeks!! 2 years later I have moved passed that terror and discovered other things I like, but Nutty rice still remains a fan favorite at my house!!