Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich cookie 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 or golden cookie pieces.
Over 491 billion Oreo cookies have been sold since they were first introduced, making them the best selling biscuit of the 20th century. Its most recent packaging slogan is "Milk's Favorite Cookie", which is a slight change from the original, "America's Favorite Cookie" (though some packages in the U.S. still use the original slogan).
History
The Oreo biscuit was developed and produced by
Nabisco in 1912 at its
Chelsea factory in
New York City. It was commercialized in order 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 25 cents a pound in novelty 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 subdivision Nabisco that is used in all countries where it is available for retail. In Canada, it is marketed under the Christie brand name.
Oreo's recipe used to use pork fat (lard) to create the creme filling.
Etymology
The Oreo was originally called the Oreo Biscuit. The name was later changed to the Oreo Sandwich in 1921. In 1948, the name was changed again to the Oreo Creme Sandwich. It was then changed to the Oreo Chocolate Sandwich Cookie in 1974. Other theories are that the 're' from cream was 'sandwiched' between the two Os from cookie, or the word 'just seemed like a nice, melodic combination of sounds'. A TV spot for the
Got Milk? campaign showed a false etymology where, when at a board meeting to decide the name of the cookie, one of the members is asked for his opinion; the member, who just ate a cookie and does not have any milk to wash it down responds "I don't know," which is heard by the board member as "Oreo."
Music
In 1990 singer/songwriter/parodist
"Weird Al" Yankovic wrote a tribute to the Oreo, titled "
The White Stuff", a parody of the
New Kids on the Block single '
You Got It (The Right Stuff)'. The song focuses on the virtues of the creme inside an Oreo. Also in 1990, songwriter Lonnie Mack wrote a song titled "Oreo Cookie Blues" from his album "Strike Like Lightning". The song is focused on how much the narrator of the song loves the Oreo cookie.
In 2010 the country singer Abi Lester recorded a song on her She Dreams album written by Bob Carlisle called "Flaming Red" in which the line appears "I'd take a long bath, turn the radio on, and sing really, really loud to all my favorite songs, eat a whole box of Oreos in my bed".
China
Oreo cookies were introduced to Chinese consumers in 1996 and sales gradually grew in the fast-growing Chinese biscuit market. In 2006 Oreo became the best-selling cookie in the
People's Republic of China, after altering its recipe to have a lower
sugar content to suit local tastes. Kraft Foods also introduced smaller size packages of Oreo cookies that became more affordable to the majority of Chinese consumers. Kraft began a grassroots marketing campaign in China to educate Chinese consumers about the American tradition of pairing milk with cookies. The company created an Oreo apprentice program at 30 Chinese universities that drew 6,000 student applications. Three hundred of the applicants were trained to become Oreo brand ambassadors, and some students rode around Beijing on bicycles with wheel covers resembling Oreo cookies and handed out cookies to more than 300,000 consumers. Others organized Oreo-themed basketball games to reinforce the idea of
dunking cookies in milk. Television commercials depicted children twisting apart Oreo cookies, licking the cream center and dipping the chocolate cookie halves into glasses of milk.
Although sales improved, Kraft still felt the Oreo could do better and decided to reinvent the traditional, round biscuit to a wafer. The new offering was called Oreo Wafer Sticks and consists of four layers of crispy wafer filled with vanilla and chocolate cream, and on the exterior is coated with chocolate. The wafer was also formulated to ensure that the chocolate coating was not too sweet for Chinese consumers and product could be shipped across the country---withstanding the cold climate in the north and the hot, humid weather in the south. Kraft recently partnered with McDonald's to bring the Oreo McFlurry (already on sale in many countries) to a few McDonald's locations during its yearly Great Tastes of America promotions. The UK Oreo website gives a slightly different ingredients list to that of the US product. Unlike the US version, UK oreos contain whey powder and so are not suitable for people who avoid milk products.
Canada
In Canada, Oreos products are sold and made under the Christies brand. However, the Canadian version contains
coconut oil, giving it a different taste from its American counterpart.
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. Much of current Oreo production is done at the Kraft/Nabisco factory in Richmond, Virginia. Oreo cookies for the Asian markets are manufactured in Indonesia and China. European Oreo Cookies are made in
Spain.
Varieties
In addition to their traditional design of two chocolate wafers separated by a cream filling, Oreo cookies 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 DQ Blizzard Creme" are a limited edition Oreo released in April-May 2010 celebrating The 25th anniversary of the Dairy Queen Blizzard.
Double Stuf Golden Oreo cookies are the newest variety of Oreo cookies that were introduced in late August 2009. As their name indicates they are Double Stuf Oreos with Golden Oreo wafers instead of normal chocolate Oreo wafers.
Oreo Fudgees are rectangular "dipping" shaped Oreos with a chocolate fudge filling (different from the Chocolate Creme Oreo).
Oreo Fudge Sundae Creme (Limited Edition) are chocolate ring cookies with the traditional white cream filling on Half of Ring cookie, the other half is a Fudge cream, introduced in 2009.
Oreo Fudge Rings are chocolate ring cookies with the traditional white cream filling drizzled over them.
Oreo WaferStix are long wafer sticks that have a creamy filling and are covered by chocolate.
Golden Oreo have vanilla wafers and the traditional white cream filling.
Golden Chocolate Creme Oreo are 'reverse' (inverse) Oreo cookies in that they comprise vanilla wafers and a chocolate cream filling. The product was originally called Uh-Oh Oreo until its rebranding in 2007.
Mini Oreo, originally released in 1991, are bite-sized versions of ordinary Oreo cookies. After being discontinued in the late 1990s they were re-released in 2000 along with the redesigned 2001
Dodge Caravan as part of a promotional tie-in with
DaimlerChrysler Their 1990s packaging consisted of a "miniaturized" version of the full-size cardboard tray and box used in packaging at the time. Their current packaging consists of an aluminum foil bag.
Vend Pack Oreo cookies from vending machine 6-packs are smaller diameter Oreo cookies with about 10% less mass than regular Oreo cookies (8.5g vs 9.5g).
Double Stuf Oreo (introduced in 1975) have about twice the normal amount of white cream filling. Available in peanut butter, original, cool mint or chocolate cream.
Big Stuf Oreo (introduced in 1984) 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.
Double Delight Oreo (introduced in 1987) have chocolate cookies with two fillings, notably peanut butter and chocolate; mint and cream; and coffee and cream flavors.
Cool Mint Creme Oreo are a Double Stuf Oreo with a slightly minty creme filling.
Fudge Covered Oreo, White Fudge Oreo and Milk Chocolate Oreo are covered in either a layer of fudge, white fudge or milk chocolate respectively.
Pure Milk Chocolate Covered Mint Oreo are similar to Milk Chocolate Oreo, but have a mint-flavored filling.
100 Calorie Pack Oreo (Oreo Thinsations in Canada) are miniature, thin, hexagonal versions of Oreo that do not contain cream-filling and come individually-portioned into 100 calorie pouches.
Triple Stuf Oreo (introduced in 2006) were limited to certain cities for a one month promotional trial before being permanently discontinued, they had three times the normal amount of white cream filling.
Sugar Free Oreo (introduced in 2006) compared to regular Oreo cookies, had only trace amounts of sugar, cost over twice as much, had 10 less calories per serving, contained 0.5 grams more fat, and consisted of 450% more fiber.
Reduced Fat Oreo (introduced in 2006) compared to regular Oreo cookies, had as much sugar, cost the same, had 10 less calories per serving, contained approximately 35% less fat, and consisted of the same amount of fiber.
Strawberry Milkshake Oreo — introduced in Canada, and sold for a limited time in the United States, an Oreo cookie with
strawberry flavoring. is a recipe by Kraft Foods which consists of Oreo Cookies, milk,
vanilla ice-cream and
chocolate syrup.
Oreo Peanut Butter Creme
Brown Oreos
Oreo Cookie Cheesecake, manufactured by The Cheesecake Factory.
Oreo Blueberry Ice Cream flavor, is introduced in Indonesia and Malaysia in 2010
Oreo SpongeBob Squarepants Edition
Oreo Upin Ipin Edition (Malaysia Only)
Recipes
The Oreo cookie is commonly used as an ingredient or adornment for other foods, ranging from ice cream, milkshakes, pies, cakes, and donuts, to other creations. Oreos are used in
Domino Pizza's "Oreo Pizza". In addition, many
ice cream and
milkshake flavors include "
cookies and cream", or
vanilla ice cream with chunks of chocolate sandwich cookies included, which may or may not be official Oreos. Since the original Oreo used pork fat,
Hydrox were frequently used as an alternative. Carnivals and fairs offer
deep fried battered Oreos.
See also
Food industry
References
External links
Official UK website
Additional history notes on Oreo cookies
Interview with the winners of the Oreo and Milk Jingle Contest Sing-off with FOX News Radio
What are the words to the Oreo Jingle?
Category:Nabisco brands
Category:Brand name cookies
Category:1912 introductions
