Homemade Oreos Recipe - The Girl Who Ate Everything (2024)

FAQs

Did Oreo copy Hydrox? ›

Oreo was created in 1912 as an imitation of Hydrox. Oreo eventually surpassed Hydrox in popularity, which resulted in the Hydrox cookies being perceived by many as an Oreo off-brand, despite the opposite being the case.

The name Oreo was trademarked on March 14, 1912. It was launched as an imitation of the original Hydrox cookie manufactured by Sunshine company, which was introduced in 1908. The original design on the face of the Oreo featured a wreath around the edge of the cookie and the name "OREO" in the center.

The most common version asserts that Oreo derives from or, French for "gold" and supposedly the color of the original packaging. Others say it stands for "orexigenic," a medical term for substances that stimulate the appetite (including cannabis).

Oreo cookies may be crumblier, but they also have a slightly sweeter flavor. The cream in between cookies differs as well, with Hydrox opting for a smoother, less sweet option. Oreo icing is thicker in consistency and adds some extra sweetness.

Yet Oreo's dominance is unparalleled, accounting for roughly 10% of all cookies purchased in the US. Nabisco, the maker of Oreo (and a subsidiary of Mondelez Inc.), commands nearly 40% of the cookie market. Hydrox, meanwhile, was discontinued in 2003.

“There were probably associations that you and I as consumers didn't like about the brand.” Kassoff said it was sales and marketing decisions, not the product, that led to Hydrox's demise. “The misconception about resurrecting brands is, 'Oh, these brands must have died because nobody wanted them anymore,'” he said.

The very first Oreos were sold to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey, named S.C. Thuesen in March of 1912. Nine and a quarter pounds of Oreos cost the store $1.85 and the tin they came in cost an additional 50 cents. The cookies were a hit and an American tradition was born.

Oreos Are Introduced

In 1912, Nabisco had an idea for a new cookie, though it wasn't exactly its own—two chocolate disks with a creme filling in between had been done already by the Sunshine Biscuits company in 1908, which called the cookie Hydrox.

Here's how the corresponding contest worked: If you guessed the correct flavor, you were entered to win $50,000. Easy money, right? Well, time to take your detective hats off, because after months of suffering guessing, Oreo finally revealed that the creme is churro-flavored (...and the winner was notified).

Oreo is the best-selling cookie in the world. It is now sold in over 100 countries. Oreo was first produced in 1912 by the National Biscuit Company, now known as Na-Bis-Co.

Which country owns Oreo? ›

Mondelez International, Inc.

(/ˌmɒndəˈliːz/ MON-də-LEEZ), styled as Mondelēz International, is an American multinational confectionery, food, holding, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago.

OREO^® is America's favorite cookie, available in more than 100 countries around the globe. Over 60 billion OREO^® cookies are sold each year with more than 20 billion of those cookies sold in the U.S. annually. An estimated 500 billion OREO^® cookies have been sold since the first OREO^® biscuit was developed in 1912.

— Leaf Brands, L.L.C., the maker of Hydrox cookies, seeks payment of $800 million in damages due to lost sales and reputation from Mondelez International, Inc., the maker of Oreo cookies, in a Federal Trade Commission complaint signed Aug. 17 by Ellia Kassoff, chief executive officer of Newport Beach-based Leaf Brands.

The brand's most playful cookie to date, the Most OREO OREO, features two chocolate-flavored basecakes playfully packed with 'Most Stuf' levels of creme, and for the first time ever, the creme has real OREO grind mixed in.

Fudge Covered Oreo

Not a surprise, really, that a cookie coated in additional chocolate fudge is about the least healthy Oreo you can get, is it? This variety has the most saturated fat of any Oreo on the list.

Hydrox aren't a knockoff — they're the original sandwich cookie. Hydrox debuted in 1908, a full four years before Oreo came out, and they were revolutionary at the time.

The truth of the matter is that Oreos outpaced its rival not just with a superior name, but with superior marketing. The patented Oreo twist was launched as a marketing idea in 1923, and in subsequent decades, Nabisco would also tailor marketing to female consumers and noticeably improve the product's packaging.