Cereal Considering that nine out of ten households in America serve ready-to-eat cereals, there’s a good chance that you have a
box in your home. But how was cereal invented? How is cereal made? These very questions popped into my mind one morning, and how little I knew about this convenient and tasty breakfast food surprised me. I immediately set out to find answers. Here is what I learned. How was cereal invented? The cereal phenomena all started at the Western Health Reform Institute in Battle Creek, Michigan, today known as the “cereal city of the world.” There, in 1894, Will Keith Kellogg and his brother, physician John Harvey Kellogg, invented the first precooked flaked cereal. The brothers worked together to develop grain-based vegetarian options for their patients. One day, the brothers forgot about a pot of boiled wheat, which they were going to use to make ground wheat. Trying to salvage it, they rolled the softened wheat and let it dry. What emerged were large, thin flakes that turned out to be a tasty cereal. The patients at the sanitarium loved it so much that they even ordered it via mail when they checked out. Two years later, Will invented corn flakes. He wanted to start selling the cereals to grocery stores, but John refused to participate in a commercial endeavor. So, in 1906, after buying out his brother’s portion of the patents, Will went on to create the Kellogg Company. Inspired by the Kellogg brothers, C. W. Post, a patient at the sanitarium, also began a cereal-making enterprise. Cunning advertising campaigns turned their health food creations into must-have breakfast foods. A hundred years later, their companies are still among the leading manufacturers of breakfast cereals. How is cereal made? The most important ingredient to any breakfast cereal is grain. The grain can consist of corn, wheat, oats, rice, and/or barley. The manufacturing process usually begins with the processing of the grain, where it is inspected and cleaned. It may be left as whole grain, or it
