I love to be inquisitive and fill my noggin with useless information. The other day I was staring in my pantry with the horror of what I can't eat on my Kato Diet when the box of cornflakes caught my attention. A simple staple in many homes. They are cheap and great with bananas or strawberries, plus good to make meatloaf or coating on chicken or other fried items. However, how did the world come up with Cornflakes?
The cereal, originally made with wheat, was created by Will Kellogg in 1894 for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he worked with his brother John Kellogg who was the superintendent.
It was originally created as a healthy food for the patients of the sanitarium and its inception was functional: it was supposed to be healthy and deliberately bland.
According to company history, it was one night when a batch of wheat-based cereal dough was accidentally left out for an extended period of time, causing it to ferment. When rolled out into thin sheets, the slightly moldy dough produced perfect large, thin flakes that became crispy and tasty in the oven. Over the next several years, Will Kellogg kept experimenting with the recipe, and figured out that corn, rather than wheat, produced even crunchier, crispier flakes.
After some arguing, the two Kellogg brothers patented their flake cereals and formed the Sanitas Food Company to sell them through mail-order, mostly to former patients of the sanitarium. After a time, the wheat flakes were dropped. But corn flake sales remained low, mostly because John Kellogg still refused to add sugar to the recipe to make it more palatable. Finally in 1906, in frustration, WK Kellogg purchased the rights to make "corn flakes" from his brother, changed the recipe, and set up the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company. After a long legal battle with his brother over the use of the name "Kellogg", this became the Kellogg Cereal Company, adding Bran Flakes to its product list in 1915 and Rice Krispies in 1927.
By 1930, the Kellogg Cereal Company was the largest breakfast cereal maker in the world. Its primary competition, the Post Cereal Company, had been founded by CW Post--a former patient at the Kellogg Sanitarium, who, WK Kellogg always claimed, had stolen the recipe for corn flakes from the hospital's safe. Today, Kellogg's Corn Flakes are the best-selling breakfast cereal in the US.
That's the story and answer to my inquisitive mind. Hope you found it as interesting on this October Day! 😅
Nana
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