Dr Bircher-Benner is probably rolling in his grave. What bears the name muesli today is far removed from his original

concept: a delicious health bomb packed with fresh fruit, nuts, yogurt and some grains. The whole-foodies who adopted and adapted his concept in the sixties and seventies saw only what they wanted to see: grains, loads of them, plus nuts and sultanas.

The term muesli came to suggest horse feed for adults. Only now, when consumers have cried out for healthy and convenient breakfasts have manufacturers also appreciated the need for cereals to taste good. The result is a market seeing sales growth of 41 per cent and interesting combinations that veer more towards the term luxury cereal than muesli.

More unusual freeze dried fruits, yogurt-coated fruits and higher fruit and nut contents are the innovations driving the sector, but how do they work on the palate? The opinions of members of Good Food Retailing tasting panel were divided on the benefits of muesli or granola with added pizzazz. Jon Thom, who largely enjoys the Alpen style, believes they're good for people wanting to wean themselves or their children off Coco Pops and the like, but that otherwise, they're too sweet.

Acknowledging that he sounds remarkably like a wine writer he comments: The sweetness masks the complexity of the different grain and fruit flavours.
Nevertheless there was a tendency for the more worthy mueslis to be heavy going. There were several I wouldn't like to try and negotiate first thing in the morning, says health writer and nutritionist Sandra Diamond. The textures were either too hard or too soggy and too many of the cereals had loads of barley flakes which are very bland and basically just used as cheap padding.

Most panelists were looking for a mix of textures: something to crunch but something which could soak up the milk, a cereal that was sweet without being sickly and 'artificial. Several complained that the fruit pieces used were unpleasant, particularly in those cereals which sought to be more interesting.

There were some successes however. Sainsbury's Blackcurrant and Apple Oat Crisp has the right balance of sweet and tart, crunch and mush. Quaker performed very well with two different styles of cereal, a granola-type and the new Whole-grain Feast. Safeway's yogurt and apricot cereal was liked by everyone except Sandra who didn't like the yogurt pieces or the pineapple. She made one confession however about Safeway's Toffee and Banana Crunch which nobody else liked: I ate most of it before it got into the bowl. It tastes like a cereal bar. It has a delicious butterscotch flavour, but not for the moming in a muesli. I'd like it as an afternoon snack but I couldn't face it for breakfast.

In fact she reflects one of the market's most important trends: cereal is no longer seen purely as a breakfast food and at least 15 per cent of consumers eat cereals for supper or as a snack.

As usual in Good Food Retailing tastings, all the products were sampled blind. Because of the variety of styles submitted we have decided to forego the normal placings system (first, second, third etc) this month and group the results in bands of general quality.