# Do Fruitloops Contain These Leaves I Found At Summer Camp?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 10, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276 "2003-08-10T23:01:30Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Onemanarmy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Onemanarmy)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2003, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/1 "2003-08-10T23:01:30Z")
When I went to summer camp last summer in Twin Lakes, Michigan, there were some leaves there that if you ground them up, they smelled **exactly** like the cereal fruitloops. Was it just a coincidence that those leaves smelled exactly like fruitloops or is that some secret ingredient in fruitloops?
---
### Author:  [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)
#### Post date: [August 10, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/2 "2003-08-10T23:48:15Z")
I have nothing to go on, but I’m sure that the flavors/scents in fruit loops are all man-made in a chem lab. Even if they found those leaves and decided that their scent was _exactly_ how they wanted the cereal to smell, in all likelyhood they wouldn’t go to the trouble of growing that plant. They’d just analyze the leaves and reproduce the exact chemical that smelled that way.
---
### Author:  [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/3 "2003-08-11T00:13:35Z")
I might have guessed so too, but according to the Frootloops ingredients label, they use natural fruit flavorings:
[http://www.kelloggs.com/cgi-bin/brandpages/product.pl?product=566&company=3](http://www.kelloggs.com/cgi-bin/brandpages/product.pl?product=566&company=3)
(along with a lot of food colorings, vitamins, preservatives, and LOTS of sugar)
A lot of plants have various fruity odors, which you could easily identify with one of the mixture of fruit smells in the cereal. Could even be the same ester.
---
### Author:  [@Hauky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hauky)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/4 "2003-08-11T01:18:43Z")
In Cub Scouts, we used to go out in the woods and find wintergreen leaves. Crack one open and boom, smells exactly like Life Savers. I live about 45 minutes from Twin Lake.
Anyway, I suppose it’s conceivable that Kellogg’s, being located not too far from here as well, uses the leaves as part of the “other natural flavors.”
---
### Author:  [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/5 "2003-08-11T04:36:58Z")
[Sassafras leaves](http://www.williams.edu/Biology/studentprojects/Biol015/edibleplants/sassafras.html.htm) smell like fruitloops - kinda lemony.
---
### Author:  [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/6 "2003-08-11T07:56:19Z")
That would be the very trademarkable **Froot Loops**.
---
### Author:  [@Yuki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yuki)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/7 "2003-08-11T11:43:04Z")
I have a co-worker who drinks a version of Earl Grey tea that smells exactly like Fruit Loops. Drives me crazy sometimes when he’s sitting across from me hehe
---
### Author:  [@rodmunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rodmunch)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/8 "2003-08-11T11:55:25Z")
i love froot loops. i just wish kellogs would sell them in the uk
---
### Author:  [@raygirvan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raygirvan)
#### Post date: [August 11, 2003, 11:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-fruitloops-contain-these-leaves-i-found-at-summer-camp/194276/9 "2003-08-11T11:57:44Z")
**Hauky** : oil of wintergreen is a pretty standard flavouring, and as it’s basically methyl salicylate, it’s easily synthesized. More on ester flavourings [here](http://people.ouc.bc.ca/woodcock/molecule/Flavours_Aromas.htm).