Alpen is a line of
muesli varieties manufactured by the
Weetabix cereal company of
Kettering
Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) ...
,
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by
two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It ...
,
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
.
History
Weetabix cereals in the
UK created Alpen muesli cereal in 1971.
Alpen is a whole grain muesli cereal consisting of rolled oats, fruits and nuts.
In the UK, Alpen has been a staple on British shelves since the 1970s, accounting for 3% of the UK and Ireland breakfast cereal sales in 2003.
It appeared in the early 1970s in Canada and then in the US in the 1990s after Weetabix established a partnership with natural foods manufacturer, Barbara's Bakery.
In North America, Alpen No Added Sugar and Alpen Original are mainstays in U.S. natural food stores and Canadian grocery stores. In the UK, Weetabix sells Alpen in four varieties. Alpen is exported to other countries in several varieties.
Related cereals and products
In the UK, Alpen has created several varieties, including:
*Alpen Original
*Alpen Original (No Added Sugar)
*Alpen High Fruit
*Alpen High Fibre
In both the U.S.and Canada, Alpen varieties are:
*Alpen Original
*Alpen No Added Sugar
*New Alpen Apple Spice was introduced in Canada in 2010, featuring three whole grains, apples, toasted soy nuggets and flax seed, with 500 mg of Omega ALA.
As of December 2009, the U.S. Alpens were reformulated to an all-natural formula, discontinuing the use of added vitamins, minerals and organic grains.
In the past, several non-muesli Alpen cereals debuted under the Alpen brand. While most of these cereals have undergone changes in name only, here is a list of cereals which at one point were in the Alpen division of Weetabix, along with date of name change.
*Alpen Wheat Flakes (formerly Advantage cereal) — 2004
*Alpen Crunchy Bran (formerly Crunchy Bran cereal) — 2004
As a brand extension and a reaction to consumer appetite for whole grain snacks, Weetabix introduced Alpen whole grain cereal bars, which include varieties of several
fruit
In botany, a fruit is the seed-bearing structure in flowering plants that is formed from the ovary after flowering.
Fruits are the means by which flowering plants (also known as angiosperms) disseminate their seeds. Edible fruits in partic ...
flavours. As of February 2012, these include:
*Strawberry & Yogurt (red)
*Raspberry & Yoghurt (pink)
*Fruit & Nut (green)
*Fruit & Nut with Chocolate (brown)
*Coconut with Chocolate (blue)
*Apricot & Yoghurt (new for 2012)
*Summer Fruit (light variant)
*Chocolate & Fudge (light variant)
*Chocolate & Orange (light variant)
*Apple & Sultana (light variant)
*Double Chocolate (light variant)
*Cherry Bakewell (light variant – new for 2012)
Sugar and whey content
Three varieties of UK Alpen include
sugar
Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose, fructose, and galactose. Compound sugars, also called disaccharides or do ...
; there is one No
Added Sugar
Added sugars or free sugars are sugar carbohydrates (caloric sweeteners) added to food and beverages at some point before their consumption. These include added carbohydrates (monosaccharides and disaccharides), and more broadly, sugars na ...
variety, also available in the U.S. and Canada. Alpen also contains
whey
Whey is the liquid remaining after milk has been curdled and strained. It is a byproduct of the manufacturing of cheese or casein and has several commercial uses. Sweet whey is a byproduct resulting from the manufacture of rennet types of har ...
.
See also
*
Breakfast cereal
Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in We ...
*
List of breakfast cereals
*
Muesli
Footnotes
External links
Alpen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alpen (Food)
Almond dishes
Weetabix cereals
Food brands of the United Kingdom