Appetites: Pumpkin spice is not always nice

A half-billion dollars in pumpkin-flavored products were sold in the U.S. over the past year, according to the ratings company Nielsen. And it goes far beyond lattes.

Ben Passer of St. Paul is sampling as many pumpkin-flavored products as he can. Passer blogs and tweets at Snack Cellar, where he reviews the best — and worst — snacks around.

Here's what you should try and what you should skip, according to Passer:

The best

• Pumpkin Spice Cheerios by General Mills
• Pumpkin Spice Frosted Flakes by Kellogg's
• Pumpkin Pie Gelato by Talenti

The failures

• Pumpkin Spice Life Cereal by Quaker
• Pumpkin Spice Special K by Kellogg's
• Pumpkin Spice Pretzel Pieces by Snyders

Pumpkin spice is still widely popular, but Passer says he's starting to see some new autumn trends rise to the top.

"There's more maple flavors that are becoming available," he said. "And I think we are starting to see a resurgence from apple."

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