We’ve eaten more than 700,000,000,000 Oreos since they were first produced more than 100 years ago!
The National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) trademarked the Oreo on March 14, 1912, imitating a rival’s cookies. These were called Hydrox, and they were manufactured by the Sunshine company, starting four years earlier. They’re a complete knock-off, and it took nearly 50 years for the Oreo to become more popular.
There is no honor among cookie bakers because there are many knock-offs of the knock-off now. These include Paul Newman’s “Newman-O’s” and Trader Joe’s “Joe Joe’s”.
When Nabisco first introduced them, there were two flavors — the iconic chocolate that we all know and lemon meringue, which died in the early 1920s.
Initially, they filled the sandwich cookies with lard, but Nabisco switched to partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in 1997. The FDA makes them call the filling “creme” because there’s no dairy. Nevertheless, the company does not claim that the cookies are vegan or kosher since there’s a chance that the products can come into other products that might contain dairy.
In 2012, the New England ice cream vendor Carvel switched from using Hydrox in favor of Oreos for the chocolate “crunchies” they use in their ice cream cakes.
Every Oreo cookie contains 90 ridges, 12 flowers, 12 dashes, and 12 dots.
You can buy Oreos in over 100 countries, but the US and China eat 70% of them.
