Everything about Oreo totally explained
Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich
cookie currently manufactured by the
Nabisco Division of
Kraft Foods. The current design consists of a sweet, white filling commonly referred to as 'cream' or 'creme', sandwiched between two circular
chocolate cookies.
Over 491 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since they were first introduced, making them the best selling cookie of the 20th century. Its most recent packaging slogan is "Milk's Favorite Cookie", which is a slight change from "America's Favorite Cookie" (though some packages in the U.S. contain the original slogan).
History
The Oreo cookie was developed and produced by
Nabisco, an
American company, in
February 1912 at its
Chelsea factory in
New York City (now
Chelsea Market). It was created mainly to target the British market, whose biscuits were seen by Nabisco to be too 'ordinary'. Originally, Oreo was mound-shaped and available in two flavors;
lemon meringue and
cream. In
America, they were sold for 30 cents a pound in novel tin cans with glass tops, which allowed customers to see the cookies.
A newer design for the cookie was introduced in 1916, and as the cream filling was by far the more popular of the two available flavors, Nabisco discontinued production of the lemon meringue filling during the 1920s. The modern-day Oreo was developed in 1952 by William A Turnier,
The product is distributed under the
Kraft parent label and has no mention of the US sub-division Nabisco that's used in all countries where it's available for retail. Kraft is experimenting with the use of Nabisco products in the highly-developed UK snack market but if Oreo is a success, they may consider launching other products such as
Chips Ahoy!.
Advertising campaign
Nabisco began a marketing program in 2008, advertising the use of Oreos in a game called DSRL, which stands for "
Double Stuf Racing League."
The DSRL was introduced one week prior to
Super Bowl XLII. This "sport" had also been endorsed by football brothers
Peyton Manning and
Eli Manning.
China
The Oreo is the biggest selling cookie in
China, although its recipe uses a lower
sugar content to suit local tastes. Although sales improved, Kraft still felt the Oreo could do better.. Reception was initially sceptical, with noted British
biscuit reviewer Stuart Payne of the
Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down website mirroring general apprehension about the health effects and taste aspects of the high
sugar content of Oreos, which would possibly not be to British tastes compared to the similar
Custard cream. Comments also surrounded the dark color not relating to an expected taste of
chocolate as with similar common British chocolate covered biscuit brands, the lack of crunchiness of the biscuit, and the practice of dunking in
milk rather than
tea also being outside of British cultural norms. Comparisons were drawn with the similarly less than successful launch of the
Hershey bar in the UK.
Production
According to a statement from Kim McMiller, an Associate Director of Consumer Relations, a two-stage process is used to make Oreo cookies. The base cake dough is formed into the familiar round cookies by a rotary mold at the entrance of a 300-foot-long oven. Key ingredients include sugar (later replaced with
high fructose corn syrup in the United States but not in other markets), Dutch cocoa, and pure chocolate liquor purchased from outside suppliers in addition to flour which is milled at Nabisco's flour mill. Much of current Oreo production is done at the Kraft/Nabisco factory in Richmond, Virginia. Oreos for the Asian market are manufactured in Indonesia.
Varieties
In addition to their traditional design of two chocolate wafers separated by a cream filling, Oreos have been produced in many different varieties since they were first introduced, and this list is only a guide to some of the more notable and recent types; not all are available in every country. Notable flavors in the US are:
- Oreo WaferStix are long wafer sticks that have a creamy filling and are covered by chocolate.
Golden Chocolate Creme Oreo are 'reverse' (inverse) Oreos in that they comprise vanilla wafers and a chocolate cream filling. Originally, the title was named Uh-Oh Oreo until 2007.
Golden Oreo have vanilla wafers and the traditional white cream filling. They can be purchased with chocolate cream filling, as well.
Mini Oreo are bite-sized versions of ordinary Oreos.
Double Delight Oreo (introduced in 1987) have chocolate cookies with two fillings, notably peanut butter 'n chocolate, mint 'n cream, and coffee 'n cream flavors. This is similar to Double Stuf.
Double Stuf Oreo (introduced in 1975) have twice the normal amount of white cream filling.
Big Stuf Oreo (introduced in 1985) were several times the size of a normal Oreo. Sold individually, each Big Stuf contained 316 calories and 13 grams of fat. They were discontinued in 1991.
White Fudge Oreo and Milk Chocolate Oreo are covered in either a layer of white fudge or chocolate respectively.
100 Calorie Pack Oreo (Oreo Thinsations in Canada) are miniature, thin, hexagonal versions of Oreo that don't contain cream-filling and come individually-portioned into 100 calorie pouches.
Shrek Oreo were limited edition Oreos released in the Philippines to promote the feature film
Grinch Oreo were limited edition Oreos released in the United States to promote the feature film.
Oreo Cakesters are 2 chocolate soft snack cakes with vanilla creme in the middle, which were introduced in 2007. These are also available with chocolate creme.
Banana Split Oreo are a variety whose filling is a light yellow with a banana flavor.
During springtime, around Halloween, and Christmas, special edition Double Stuf Oreos are produced with colored frosting depicting the current holiday (yellow, orange, and red respectively).
Oreo Handi-Snacks are plastic holders with strips of Oreo cookies and a little box of icing.
Many of these varieties are combined, producing, for example, "Chocolate Fudge Mint Covered", "Double Stuf Chocolate Creme", and so forth.
Trans-Saturated fat
On May 13, 2003, attorney Stephen Joseph filed a lawsuit charging Nabisco with using hydrogenated (or partially hydrogenated) oils (trans fats) to make the cookies. The suit was dropped as Nabisco considered replacing the hydrogenated oils with alternative oils. Joseph admitted he filed the lawsuit to call attention to the matter, and he considered his motion successful. As of January 2006, classic Oreo cookies are no longer manufactured with hydrogenated oils. Other varieties may not have eliminated hydrogenated oils completely.
The trans-fats had been added to the Oreo recipe to replace its original fat, lard. Earlier outcry regarding these types of saturated fats is what prompted the change to use more unsaturated fats in the first place.
Variations and adaptations
Jell-O Oreo Pudding - Jell-O brand chocolate pudding at the bottom and on top, with vanilla in the middle.
Jell-O Oreo Instant Pudding - also named cookies n' cream. The box contains instant vanilla pudding with real cookie pieces.
An Oreo variety with lemon-flavored filling was available until the 1920s. Some generic brand cookies still have such varieties.
There is a Post cereal called Oreo Os, with a little cream man wearing sunglasses on the box.
In Italy, a similar cookie to Oreo called "Ringo" is manufactured by Pavesi, though recently Oreo became available as well, first in Blockbuster, then in supermarkets, and in 2008 the first Italian ad was launched.
In Brazil, a very similar cookie to Oreo called "Negresco" is manufactured by Nestlé (picture
, description).
Oreo Ice Cream. This is licensed by Breyers, Good Humor, and Klondike in the US, and Nestlé in Canada. Flavors are:
- Oreo Ice Cream (Blended Oreo cookies in Vanilla Ice Cream)
- Oreo Ice Cream Sandwich (Extra Large Oreo wafers with the above mentioned ice cream in the middle)
- Oreo Ice Cream Bar (Chocolate Ice Cream bar with the above mentioned Ice Cream)
- Mint Oreo Ice Cream (Blended Oreo Cookies with Mint Ice Cream)
- Many notable fast-food restaurants serve Oreo flavored ice cream desserts and milkshakes
Easy-Bake Oreo Mix - two easy-bake chocolate cakes with a marshmallow filling topped off with an Oreo cookie topping
Oreo Cakesters- cream-filled chocolate cakes resembling Oreos
Deep-Fried Oreo- Regular or Double Stuf Oreos, dipped in a batter, and deep fried for about 30 seconds. They are sometimes sold at carnivals and fairs.
Oreo Pie Crust
Oreo Madness at T.G.I. Fridays
Oreo cereal is a Canadian delicacy where the cookies are crumbled into tiny pieces mixed with milk and served like a cereal.
Organic Oreo (introduced in 2006) - plain Oreo cookies made with organic flour and organic sugar.
As an ingredient
The Oreo cookie is commonly used as an ingredient or adornment for other foods. There are Milkshakes containing Oreo cookies and Domino Pizza's "Oreo Pizza". In addition, the development of premium ice creams has produced "cookies and cream" flavors, a vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate sandwich cookies included. Cookies 'n' Cream may or may not contain actual Nabisco Oreo cookies, however, and may instead have non-Nabisco brand chocolate sandwich cookies that are functionally identical, such as Droxies or other "generic" brands.
Cup o' dirt or Dirt pudding - This is a pudding dessert which has Oreo as an ingredient and includes crumbled Oreo cookies on top to resemble dirt. It sometimes contains gummy worms to continue with the 'dirt' image. May alternatively be called "worms 'n' dirt."
Style
Like many trademark holders, Nabisco often uses all uppercase (OREO) when mentioning the "OREO" mark in corporate and promotional literature.
Popular Culture
Oreos featured in the 1998 film Rounders starring Matt Damon, John Malkovich and Edward Norton in which Malkovich's character ate Oreos whenever he played poker and his signs of weakness was how he ate the oreos.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Oreo'.
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