Is the secret of Cap’n Crunch’s Mystery Crunch hiding in plain sight?

When I played town baseball in middle school, the highlight of each game was obviously the concessions stand. In addition to your standard hot dogs and soda, it sold fun items like All Sport (which was Pepsi’s sports drink long before it acquired Gatorade) and every flavor of Airheads candy.

When it came to buying Airheads, the go-to flavor was without a doubt the Mystery one. It could be anything! (Like with Dum-Dums, I’m guessing it was just the end of one flavor mixing with the beginning of the next flavor.) But who didn’t love the thrill of guessing what the Mystery flavor was while you were washing down an Airhead with some All Sport?

In the three decades since that time, brands are still rolling out mystery flavors. Mountain Dew has done it around Halloween, and now Cap’n Crunch cereal is getting in on the game with Cap’n Crunch’s Mystery Crunch.

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The cost

I paid $4.97 for a 22.1 oz. box of Cap’n Crunch’s Mystery Crunch at Walmart.

The pics

The thoughts

I’m not the biggest consumer of Cap’n Crunch. As I mentioned in my review of the new Cocoa Loops and Froot Loops Glazed Blueberry Donut Holes cereals, we didn’t have a ton of sugary cereals growing up. Cap’n Crunch definitely wasn’t going to make the cut for our home’s cereal shelf.

But I do know what Cap’n Crunch tastes like, especially if we’re talking about the probably more iconic Cap’n Crunch’s Crunch Berries. (Who’s buying the version of the cereal without Crunch Berries?) Could I pinpoint the mystery flavor here?

“Please let the mystery taste be the metallic blood flavor I get from the scrapes in my mouth while eating regular Cap’n Crunch,” the Impulsive Buy joked.

While Cap’n Crunch’s Mystery Crunch doesn’t have Crunch Berries, I think the folks over at the Cap’n Crunch lab managed to sneak those flavors into this cereal. Upon opening the bag, I was instantly hit with a bright, fruity smell. I shoved a handful of Cap’n Crunch into my mouth.

Trix? No, that definitely didn’t make sense since that’s a completely different cereal company. But then my mind went to the sugary, fruity flavor of actual Crunch Berries. That has to be it, right?

The snack score

🍪🍪🍪 (3 out of 5 cookies)