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Five Food Facts about Oreos

In 1912, Nabisco had a new idea for a cookie – two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between.

The first Oreo cookie looked very similar to the Oreo cookie of today, with only a slight difference in the design on the chocolate disks.

Little did they know that the Oreo cookie would become the largest selling cookie of all time.

The origin of the name Oreo is unknown, but there are many theories. ‘Or’ means golden in French or the Greek word ‘Oreo’, meaning beautiful, nice or well done.

Starting in January 2006, Oreo cookies replaced the trans fat in the cookie with non-hydrogenated vegetable oil.

On This Day in Food History…

• 1899 Aspirin was patented by Felix Hoffman of the German company, Bayer. Aspirin was originally developed by Charles Frederic Gerhardt in 1853, but he never thought it important enough to patent.

• 1912 Nabisco debuts the Oreo cookie. The Oreo is considered largest selling cookie of all time.

• 1930 Retail frozen foods go on sale for the first time in Springfield, Massachusetts. Various fruits, vegetables, meat and fish were offered for sale. Clarence Birdseye had developed the method used to successfully freeze foods on a commercial scale.