Review of 'Kashi' GOLEAN Vanilla Graham Clusters

Kashi' GOLEAN Vanilla Graham Clusters
Overall rating: 3.5/5
Summary: this is a very filling cereal. There's nice complexity in textures and it's perfectly sweetened, especially the clusters. I prefer many of my cereals softened in milk before eating...this is one of those cereal. I really didn't get the vanilla flavour like I anticipated. That was disappointing. It's also made with honey, so it's not vegan. I wouldn't buy this again because the soy is not organic. Organic soy is less likely to contribute to deforestation.

Where to buy: Fortinos, Shopper's Drug Mart



Ingredients: Kashi Seven Whole Grain Honey Puff Cereal (Hard Red Wheat, Brown Rice, Honey, Cane Syrup, Barley, Triticale, Oats, Rye, Buckwheat, Sesame Seeds), Degerminated Yellow Corn Flour, Expeller Pressed Soy Grits, Ground Degerminated Corn, Cane Syrup, Expeller Pressed Soy Protein Isolate, Oat Fiber, Wheat Bran, Rolled Oats, Dried Cane Syrup, Expeller Pressed Soy Flour, Corn Bran, Kashi Seven Whole Grains & Sesame Flour (Whole: Oats, Hard Red Wheat, Rye, Brown Rice, Triticale, Barley, Buckwheat, Sesame Seeds), Brown Rice Flour, Natural Flavors, Honey, Brown Rice Syrup, Salt, Molasses, Baking Soda, Vitamin E (Mixed Tocopherols) For Freshness, Annatto Extract Color.

Nutrition Facts
Serving size: 1 cup
Calories: 170
     Calories from fat: 15
Total fat: 2g
     Saturated fat: 0g
     Trans fat: 0g
     Polyunsaturated fat: 1g
     Monounsaturated fat: 0g
Sodium: 110mg
Potassium: 270mg
Total carbohydrate: 36g
     Fiber: 9g
          Soluble fiber: 0g
          Insoluble fiber: 9g
     Sugar: 9g
Protein: 10g
Calcium: 2%
Iron: 10%

The nutritional profile is solid, with lots of fiber and protein and very low calorie and fat. Add milk to this, and you've got a really solid morning meal.

Other Kashi GOLEAN cereals:

• GOLEAN® Cereal Crisp! Cinnamon Crumble (vegan) (reviewed here)
• GOLEAN® Cereal Crisp! Toasted Berry Crumble (vegan)
• GOLEAN® Cereal Crunch!
• GOLEAN® Cereal, Crunch! Honey Almond Flax
• GOLEAN® Original (reviewed here)

Brand:

• "Nine of our foods are now officially Non-GMO Project Verified including Autumn Wheat, Cinnamon Harvest, Island Vanilla, Strawberry Fields, 7 Whole Grain Flakes, 7 Whole Grain Puffs, 7 Whole Grain Pilaf, Simply Maize and Indigo Morning." (kashi.com)
• Phasing out GMOs: "That's why today Kashi announced a big initiative to increase the company's availability of organic and Non-GMO Project Verified foods. By the end of 2014, all existing Kashi® GOLEAN® cereals and Kashi® Chewy Granola Bars—representing Kashi's biggest offerings—will be Non-GMO Project Verified. Beginning in 2015, all new Kashi foods introduced into the market will contain at least 70 percent organic ingredients and will also be Non-GMO Project Verified" (read article here).
• "The soy in Kashi cereals comes from soybeans that have had a gene inserted to protect the soybeans from the herbicide Roundup, which kills, weeds," according to USA Today (read article here).
• Kellogg, which owns Kashi, contributed $600 000 against the non-GMO proposition 37 (read the Huffington Post article here)