Friday, September 28, 2007

You just can't keep a good cereal down!


In our very first issue of The Edible Prairie Journal, we ran a story about the return of Sunny Boy cereal and flour. The mill in Camrose and the product line had been bought by brothers who grew up near the mill and just couldn't bear to see it vanish into nostalgia. It garnered us a lot of attention because, as we found out, Prairie folks love their Sunny Boy cereal - a mix of flax, wheat and rye grains that cooks up to a thick, hearty porridge.

Well, unfortunately, the mill and brand went up on the auction block yet again, and we didn't know if there was any life left in this brand. Though the previous owners had wisely introduced an certified organic line of the cereal, the flours and pancake mix. Well, an Edmonton company thought that there was indeed life left in Sunny Boy, a product that has now fed at least three generations of Albertans and Saskatchewanians. (Manitoba has its own Red River cereal, though it is no longer locally owned; Smuckers owns the brand.)

It was actually an ex-pat Albertan who now lives in Quebec who sleuthed out the new ownership and informed us that we should start to look for the new packaging, coming to shelves. And this week, a straw-yellow resealable plastic package caught our eye as we cruised the grocery isles. Sunny Boy is back. The same products are back, but in different packaging, and are available in organic and non-organic versions.

Guess you just can keep a good cereal down! Here's the new logo that you can look for in Safeway, Sobey's, Federated Coops, Nutters and a few other local grocery stores. To find a retailer near you, contact the company in Camrose. Their contact info is on the Sunny Boy website.

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