Oreo

Oreo is a trademark for a popular sandwich cookie manufactured by the Nabisco Corporation (National Biscuit Company). The current design consists of a sweet, white filling commonly referred to as 'cream' or 'creme', sandwiched between two circular chocolate wafers.

Over 490 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."

History
Oreos were introduced by Nabisco Corporation, an American company, in February 1912 mainly to target the British market, whose biscuits were seen by Nabisco to be too 'ordinary'. Originally, Oreos were 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, to include the Nabisco logo.

There are many theories pointing to the origin of the name 'Oreo', including derivations from the French word 'Or', meaning gold (as early packaging was gold), or the Greek word 'Oros', meaning mountain or hill (as the original Oreo was mound shaped) or even the Greek word 'Oreos', meaning beautiful. Other theories are that the 're' from cream was 'sandwiched' between the two Os from chocolate, or the word 'just seemed like a nice, melodic combination of sounds'.

Oreos are very similar to the Hydrox cookie manufactured by Sunshine, which was introduced in 1908, leading to speculation that Oreo obtained the idea from Sunshine. Having lost market share to Oreo for years, Hydrox cookies were withdrawn in 1996 (and subsequently reintroduced under the Droxies name three years later).

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.

Consumption
As the modern design of the Oreo cookie allows it to be eaten in several ways, there is differing opinion on how to consume an Oreo. While some people eat the cookie without taking it apart, others like to disassemble the Oreo into its constituent parts of wafers and filling. The wafers may then be dunked in milk.

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.


 * Uh-Oh Oreos are 'reverse' (inverse) Oreos in that they comprise vanilla wafers and a chocolate cream filling.


 * Golden Oreos have vanilla wafers and the traditional white cream filling.


 * Mini Oreos are bite-sized versions of ordinary Oreos.


 * Double Delight Oreos (introduced in 1987) have chocolate cookies with two fillings, notably peanut butter 'n chocolate, mint 'n cream, and coffee 'n cream flavors.


 * Flavored Oreos contain a sole filling in a variety of cream flavors, including peanut butter, chocolate, mint, caramel and strawberry milkshake.


 * Double Stuf Oreos (introduced in 1975) have twice the normal amount of white cream filling.


 * Big Stuf Oreos (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 Oreos and Milk Chocolate Oreos are covered in either a layer of white fudge or chocolate respectively.


 * 100 Calorie Pack Oreos (Oreo Thinsations in Canada) are miniature, thin, octagonal versions of oreos that do not contain cream-filling and come individually-portioned into 100 calorie pouches.


 * 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.


 * 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).

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.

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 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.
 * 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 Oreos- Regular or Double Stuf Oreos, dipped in a batter, and deep fried for about 30 seconds. They are sometimes sold at carnivals and fairs.

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 Oreos 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."

Trivia

 * If every Oreo cookie ever made were stacked on top of each other (over 490 billion), the pile would reach to the Moon and back more than six times.
 * Nabisco was insistent that the mini cookies, measuring an inch in diameter and weighing just one ounce, were exact replicas of regularly-sized Oreos, including their ability to be twisted apart.
 * Oreo has been one of the long time partner of NASCAR and has sponsored NASCAR drivers Dale Earnhardt, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Martin Truex Jr., Michel Jourdain, Jr., and Greg Biffle.
 * Each cookie has 12 flower shaped designs on them. Each flower has 4 petals.
 * A Got Milk? commercial offered its own explanation regarding the origin of the name. In the commercial, a meeting is held to determine the name of the cookie. One of the employees at the meeting is asked for his opinion. With his mouth stuffed full, he (presumably) mumbles "I don't know," which ends up sounding like "Oreo." The man is played by Jon Steel, the account planner leading the Milk Processer's Board account at Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, the agency which made the commercial.