New Puffins! I can't wait to try these. . . . #cereal #cerealparty #cerealbox #barbarasbakery #puffins #protein #berry #breakfast #wholefoods #nongmo #food

A post shared by Cereal Party (@cerealparty) on Sep 25, 2017 at 7:41am PDT

This is a Puffins appreciation post.

For years, Puffins have quietly been one of the uniquely crunchiest and wholesome cereal lines in the cereal aisle (or sometimes the health food aisle—you know, the aisle that feels like Woodstock and a farmer’s market had a straight-edged child?). And for years, no one has been talking about them! Sure, the brand’s Stoically Unnamed Puffin Mascot may not have the appeal of Tony the Tiger or Cap’n Crunch, but any bird that can perch on a spoon without spilling its contents deserves praise—or at least a Licensed Yoga Instructor certificate.

Oh, and the cereal is pretty darn good, too. From Cinnamon to Peanut Butter & Chocolate, Puffins keeps it simple, rarely introducing new flavors. But now we’re getting the first new Puffins variety since 2015’s Limited Edition Pumpkin Puffins. Puffins PROTEIN BERRY BURST (their all-caps, not mine) is gluten free and apparently hitting Whole Foods already, thanks to this photo from friend-of-Cerealously Cereal Party. This is interesting, as I messaged Barbara’s Bakery about the product, and they said it won’t be coming out until 2018.

Either this one Whole Foods has a magical time portal to the future, or Barbara is lying to me as part of a grand conspiracy to deprive me of protein and steal my tender tendons.

Since I might not find this cereal for a while, I can only speculate as to what it’ll taste like. It appears to mix regular Puffins with a mixed berry puree (probably strawberry, raspberry, and perhaps blueberry), and the gluten-free label suggests it will be heavy on the corniness. Since the holidays are already approaching, I’m just gonna pretend it tastes like that one fruitcake that’s been stuck in an infinite loop of re-gifting within my family for the past 5 years.

Hey, speaking of holidays: when are we getting Gingerbread Puffins. I mean, the cereal already has molasses in it, and you could PhotoShop gumdrop buttons onto that Puffin mascot faster than I could re-gift a fruitcake!

Thanks again to Cereal Party for sharing the photo. If you have any great product photos of your own—whether they’re new, old, full of protein or full of gluten—we want to see ’em! Send them on over to our Submissions page, and they could appear on the site.