Corn flakes
|
|
Place of origin | United States |
---|---|
Region or state | Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan |
Creator | Dr. John Harvey Kellogg (1894) W.K. Kellogg |
Main ingredients | Milled corn, sugar, malt flavoring |
Variations | multiple |
Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a popular breakfast cereal made by toasting flakes of corn. The cereal was first created by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in 1894 as a food that he thought would be healthy for the patients of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan where he was superintendent. The breakfast cereal proved popular among the patients and the Kellogg Company was set up to produce corn flakes for a wider public. A patent for the process was granted in 1896.
With corn flakes becoming popular in the wider community, other people, particularly a previous patient at the sanatorium, C. W. Post, started to make rival products. Various ingredients were added and different grains were used. Dr Kellogg continued to experiment and in 1928 started to manufacture Rice Krispies, another successful breakfast cereal. The trademark rooster that appears on the cereal packets and which first appeared in a television commercial may have been inspired by the Welsh word for rooster, ceiliog, suggested by Kellogg's Welsh friend Nansi Richards. Nowadays there are many generic brands of corn flakes produced by various manufacturers. As well as being used as a breakfast cereal, the crushed flakes can be substituted for bread crumbs in a recipe and can be incorporated into many cooked dishes.
Corn flakes are a packaged cereal product formed from small toasted flakes of corn, and are usually served cold with milk and sugar. Since their original production, the plain flakes of corn have been flavoured with salt, sugar and malt, and many follow-on products with additional ingredients have been manufactured such as "sugar frosted flakes", "honey nut corn flakes" and others.
The accidental legacy of corn flakes goes back to the late 19th century, when a team of Seventh-day Adventists began to develop new food to adhere to the vegetarian diet recommended by the church. Members of the group experimented with a number of different grains, including wheat, oats, rice, barley, and corn. In 1894, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, the superintendent of The Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and an Adventist, used these recipes as part of a strict vegetarian regimen for his patients, which also included no alcohol, tobacco, or caffeine. The diet he imposed consisted entirely of bland foods. A follower of Sylvester Graham, the inventor of graham crackers and graham bread, Kellogg believed that spicy or sweet foods would increase passions.