298 THE BOOK OF WHEAT 



Wheat Biscuit" in 1895. This product contains every portion 

 of the wheat kernel. The whole wheat is cooked without 

 being flavored, and then mechanically ground into filaments. 

 It is formed into miniature loaves and baked. The distinctive- 

 ness of this food has always been retained and has never 

 been successfully imitated. It stands in a class by itself and 

 is in great favor with American consumers. 



The great development of the breakfast food industry has 

 centered at Battle Creek, Michigan. John H. Kellogg patented 

 "Cranose Flakes" in 1895. It consisted of the -whole wheat, 

 which was cooked, slightly flavored with salt, rolled into thin 

 flakes, and baked. It was the first flaked wheat food that 

 met with considerable sale. Charles W. Post began the man- 

 ufacture of " Grape Nuts" in 1896. This product is made from 

 wheat and barley ground together into flour, baked into bread, 

 toasted, and finally crushed to granular form. The food is 

 distinguished by its hardness, its amber color, and its large 

 percentage of dextrine. The products " Malta Vita" and 

 " Ready Bits" were the result of experiments conducted at 

 Battle Creek in 1898. The former consisted of cleansed whole 

 wheat seasoned with salt, and treated with malt extract for 

 the predigestion of starches before it was finally baked. 

 " Force," brought out a few months later, was manufactured 

 in a similar manner. "Ready Bits" was not perfected until 

 1903. "Its form is distinctive, consisting of readhering par- 

 ticles of disintegrated cooked wheat, from which the excess 

 starch has been removed by the use of an enzyme." All of 

 these three foods attained national distribution. By 1903 at 

 least 50 undistinctive brands of ready-to-serve wheat flakes 

 were upon the market, and nearly all of them were made from 

 whole wheat cooked, salted, rolled and baked. Their merit 

 depended upon the quality of the material and the care and 

 skill used in their preparation. Their success was proportional 

 to the vigor and intelligence with which they were advertised. 

 The total annual output of ready-to-serve wheat foods was 

 estimated to have a value of $11,000,000. 



In 1903, 18,191 families were visited in a house-to-house 

 canvass of the city of New Haven, Connecticut. Seventy-six 

 per cent were found to be users of ready-to-eat cereal foods. 

 The number of the families of the different nationalities who 



