why do i love shredded wheat (breakfast cereal)??

[MarkG]

it is straw like and gets mushy real fast in milk. but i love it!! FELLOW SHREDDED WHEAT LOVERS: what's your take on its appeal??

[jackrugby]

As a little kid I liked the full size shredded wheat. Some times I would put the whole biscuit in the bowl, add milk and sugar then using my spoon break it apart and eat it one piece at a time. Other times I would break the biscuit apart by hand and then add the milk and sugar.

Now as an adult I get the mini-wheats either frosted or honey nut, still love them after all these years.

[clim212]

mmmm my favorite shredded wheat is the Honey Nut one. Yummers! it's so good and the added bonus of healthy fiber!

P.S. I like it mushy as well! It's better when it's mushy!

[spinach]

i love the new cinnamon shredded wheat...either post or kashi...not overly sweet, you can still taste the wheat. i cannot stomach the frosted ones, regardless of the flavor, they make my teeth ache (figuratively) the alleged frosting is like hardened fruit flavored plaster but then again i dislike the frosted varieties of pop tarts as well...so maybe it's just me.

[MarkG]

maybe it is because it is so old fashioned-- at least the original plain variety. right up there with original quaker oats and cream of wheat.

[goldenroxy]

has anyone tried the new strawberry frosted shredded wheat? it looked good on the commercial...wondering if i should buy a box.

[othervoice]

Makes me think back 40+ years to when I was a kid. We used to heat water and soak the hayrolls until soggy and then drain and add milk and sugar. Next to heaven on a cold New England morning.

[OneJayneDoe]

Wow - I thought I was the only one to eat Shredded Wheat this way! It's delicious. Thanks for the memory of the cold winter mornings in upstate NY. I actually had Shredded Wheat prepared this way for breakfast this morning. Had to do it seeing the snow at 8 feet in my old neck of the woods- from cloudy southern California.

[MarkG]

i like to eat it dry by hand right out of a dish as a snack. and for dieters, it will fill you up quickly and in a healthy way with no sugar or fat.

[othervoice]

Cloudy S CA sounds great right now!!

[SachButt]

In the winter, I love to add the milk and heat it up in the microwave!!! It makes a great hot cereal!

[Rabbit]

My sister says that mushy foods are good for sad people. Even when I'm not actually sad, I love mushy, brown-sugar-y shredded wheat with hot water and milk. Comfort.
(although I too would take w-bix over sw).

[janetofreno]

Plain shredded wheat is great in soup instead of croutons.

[omotosando]

Anyone remember the ones with raisins inside? I cannot seem to find them anywhere anymore.

[lvecch]

Kellogg's Raisin Squares! Those were excellent!

[omotosando]

Anyone know when and why Kellogg's Raisin Squares disappeared? I used to love them for breakfast. Then they disappeared from my local supermarket. I didn't know if it was a local thing or they stopped manufacturing them. I just went to the Kellogg's website and they do not appear under cereal varieties.

[piccola]

I think you can order them on Amazon.com

[omotosando]

No, only Frosted Mini-Wheats and Shredded Wheat Minatures. Tragic as it is, I think they stopped making the raisin wheat squares. They were so good - I don't think they had any added sugar - just the natural sweetness of the raisins.

[pescatarian]

I liked the ones with strawberry "jam" in the middle. Also can't buy those for fear of eating too many.

[swissgirl]

I always crush up a few squares to get some shards mixed in. And I love the bottom of the bag where all the shards collect - I always make sure to get every last bit of those into the bowl.

I just bought my first box of plain shredded wheat and may try it tonight. I usually go for the flavored varieties, the frosted being my favorite and the vanilla creme my least fave.

[lvecch]

I hate the new flavored varieties that have come out in the last year or so - vanilla creme, maple, and so on. All are artificial, and all taste like chemicals.

[swissgirl]

Ooh yeah, I forgot about the maple. I did not like that at all and you're right - it and the vanilla creme have a weird chemical tast.

The honey graham version however isn't frosted- the flavor is "baked in" and it did not have that off taste. I really liked those.

I'll probably cross my fingers and try the Strawberry mini-wheats I recently noticed on the store shelf. Maybe with a coupon......

[Humbucker]

You have strawberry mini-wheats near you! Those are IMPOSSIBLE to find! Same with the raisin filled mini-wheats. Consider yourself lucky! I wish you could buy me a few boxes.

[lvecch]

If you're thinking of the old Strawberry Squares - wheat biscuits filled with strawberry goo - I don't think these are the same thing. (I had the same initial, overjoyed reaction; I used to love Strawberry Squares.) I'm pretty sure they're biscuits with strawberry frosting. I suspect they are as horridly chemical tasting as the vanilla and maple flavors, although I haven't tried them.

[pescatarian]

I can't buy mini wheats because I'll eat the whole box.

[bolivianita]

Shredded wheat is one of my favs along with all bran. Its just cereal. Theres no puffs or clusters, marshmellow or cookie bits. Plus it makes the best stuffing for turkey that I have ever eaten.

[mikeM1]

Sometimes i buy the PARADE brand of Bite Size Shredded Wheat. It's available here in NYC in some supermarkets, and is about $1.50 cheaper than the POST brand.

[Tartinet]

I'm a shredded-wheat aficionado too, but for me, there's a short window of perfect texture, between too spiky and too soggy. The optimal time is about a minute after the milk hits the cereal, I think. Then it's a bit soft, a bit chewy, a bit crisp. Mmmm.... Part of its appeal is its purity, too--just wheat.

And now, seeing this thread on Chowhound makes me think that shredded wheat might have some potential as an innovative ingredient...

Dipped... wrapped... fried... baked... deconstructed... might be worth some experiments. Anyone looking for a project?

[normalheightsfoodie]

I do not like milk in my cereal, my wife calls me crazy, but I like to use OJ, and I have it with Shredded Wheat and it is very good.

[MarkG]

i believe that TRISCUIT is a cracker version of shredded wheat.

[ElsieDee]

Pretty sure I've seen a couple of recipes that called for crushed Shredded Wheat as part of a coating for oven "fried" foods.

I also remember a recipe that involved a single-layer of Shredded Wheat in a 9X13 pan - sweetened condensed milk - maybe chocolate chips? I've no idea if it was baked or chilled or what, but the end result was some sort of a dessert bar.

[normalheightsfoodie]

I remember eating shredded wheat when I was young with my grandfather, that is nearly 40 years ago. I still think of him when I see it.

[lvecch]

I ate all the various frosted varieties for years, but now I love plain ol' Post Shredded Wheat the best. I prefer its texture to that of Kellogg's, which is coarse, and the toasty taste is excellent.

[allegro805]

It has a wonderful crunch, but even when it softens it's still a little chewy. I guess you could say the taste is "bland" but very simple and wheaty.

Favorite story is about a great-aunt who always ate hers with hot milk and salt!

[pescatarian]

I think for all the reasons the others have mentioned, however, I prefer the mini shredded wheats because they are harder - I also love Wheetabix. Especially with a little honey drizzled over top.

[orangewasabi]

I almost mentioned Wheetabix too, since they are in the same category for me. Wheetabix is good dry with salted butter though and Shredded Wheat, not so much with the butter

[Fuser]

It's so completely natural. No matter how "Natural" other cereals are, they always have tons of sugar and other crap -- in fact it's almost impossible to buy dry cereal without added sugar. Shredded wheat is just pure wheat goodness and is my favorite next to seven-grain puffed Kashi cereal. Plus the really fun thing to do with shredded wheat, especially the big wafers is to get a bunch of milk and try to balance your wafers wiith the milk so it comes out right -- add more milk, add another wafer, add more milk, etc.

[orangewasabi]

it has a natural sweetness and nuttiness, great mouth feel, and it's fun to suck the milk out of the 'straw' matting.

remember when they used to make the haybale/roll shape? do they still?

[barefootpris]

Oh my gosh. That exacty what I love about the little shredded wheat....It's like little pillows of sweet milk...mmmm:)

[MarkG]

i am inclined to believe that they still make and market the full size shredded wheat pieces though the bite size pieces seem to be more prevalent on store shelves.

[bolivianita]

They do make them. I have found that all the Good For You cereals are always up above eye level. and all the sweet and gooey ones are right where my kids can see them!

[JungMann]

It's not too sweet and it has a really unique texture as far as breakfast cereals go. And even when it's mushy, I kind of like its thick gloopiness towards the end. Sounds gross, but actually very fun to eat when you're 10. Frosted mini-wheats have been a favorite for a long time.