Kelly: Thanks to Oreos, red velvet isnt just for cupcakes anymore

We have entered the era of unlimited limited editions.

A few years ago, it was the word luxury. Every condo complex or apartment building going up around Washington was labeled luxury, which, as far as I could tell, meant it had granite countertops.

Today, its limited edition thats everywhere. Ford will sell you a limited-edition F-150 pickup truck designed to look like a Tonka toy. A company called MAC regularly brings out limited-edition cosmetics, including lipstick and eyeliner inspired by comic-book hotties Betty and Veronica.

And now you cant walk down the aisle in a grocery store without being bombarded by limited-edition cookies, chips and other snack foods. Not literally bombarded though that sounds fun but metaphorically. Shelves are crowded with all manner of unique flavors designed to tempt your taste buds for some finite period of time.

According to a list maintained by the Web site taquitos.net (Serious about snacks), limited-edition foods over the past decade number in the hundreds and include such offerings as Lays Tastes of America Limited-Edition Monterey Pepper Jack Potato Chips, Pringles Limited-Edition Crunchy Dill Potato Crisps, Cape Cod Kettle Cooked Potato Chips Limited Batch Asiago Cheese & Italian Herbs, Reeses Elvis Peanut Butter & Banana Creme Collector Edition and Tastykake Limited-Edition Salted Caramel Mini Donuts.

Its as if the Franklin Mint had been placed in charge of our nations junk-food supply.

Limited editions jump on flavor trends. Salted caramel is big now. So is pumpkin spice. The latest product to earn a place in my households pantry was inspired by the great cupcake explosion: Limited-Edition Red Velvet Oreos, a flavor Nabisco introduced on Feb. 2 in honor of Valentines Day.

Oreo first dipped a cookie into the limited-edition milk way back in 1985, when Oreo Mint Creme cookies were introduced for a limited time. Since then the Nabisco brand has offered such limited-edition versions as Marshmallow Crispy, White Fudge, Candy Cane, Caramel Apple, Limeade and Fruit Punch.

To me, the most disturbing creation was the limited-edition Cookies n Creme Ice Cream Oreo. Here were Oreos aping an ice cream flavor thats made with ... crumbled Oreos. It was like some metaphysical joke, an Oreo snake eating its own tail. I shudder to think what would happen if someone made cookies and cream ice cream out of limited-edition Cookies n Creme Ice Cream Oreos. The universe would probably wink out.

Eric Huang writes about junk food at his blog, Junkfoodguy.com. I think over the past four years more and more companies are trying to really stretch their brands into other spaces, he said.

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Kelly: Thanks to Oreos, red velvet isnt just for cupcakes anymore