Oreo Cookie Celebrates 100th Birthday
CHICAGO (CBS) -- America's favorite cookie, the Oreo, turned 100 years old on Tuesday.
As WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports, Northfield-based Kraft Foods Inc. -- the parent company of Nabisco, which makes the Oreo -- threw a 100th birthday party on Michigan Avenue Tuesday, complete with a dancing cookie, a flash mob, and a speed licking party to see who was the fastest at removing the creme filling from between the Oreo's cookie wafers.
Kraft sells 30 billion Oreos around the world annually, including Green Tea flavored Oreos in China, and Mango Oreos in India.
LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's John Cody reports
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On March 6, 1912, the National Biscuit Company sold its first Oreo cookies to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey.
Kraft Foods now sells Oreos. They're the country's top selling cookie.
Pastry chef Joanne Chang, at Flour Bakery in Boston, says the appeal of the Oreo is the way you eat it. There are so many options – including dunking it in milk, or twisting it to scrape off the filling with your teeth.
Like many bakers, Chang sells her own version of Oreos, using bittersweet chocolate; with a filling using butter, confectionery sugar, vanilla and milk.
A mother and son team from Racine showed up at the Michigan Avenue party, stopped for some free goodies, and explained the procedure once the Oreo is in hand.
"Oh, I break them apart, eat the creme first, and then the two ends, the two cookie parts," the mother said.
Her son said, "I like to open them, and put two together, so I make a super Oreo; especially if I have a Double Stuf, then I open two, put them together, then it's quadruple stuffed. And then I eat it."
According to Kraft, 50 percent of Oreo eaters pull apart their cookies before eating. Women twist them open more often than men.
Over the years, Oreo has expanded on its original concept. In 1974, Double Stuf Oreos were added, with double the creme filling. Other flavors have been added, such as peanut butter, fudge, vanilla and mint.
Kraft says Oreo cookies are now available in more than 100 countries.
