The Top of Cookie Mountain…

Johnny-on-the-Spot … by John Foster …

How many cookies can you name that have a street in New York City named after them?

Formerly W. 15th Street between 9th and 10th Avenues you’ll find “Oreo Way”.

The street is named in honor of the factory where the first Oreo cookie was made in 1912.

Made with flour, sugar, cocoa, water and “a few other ingredients”, the Oreo is the most popular cookie of the 21st century.

From that first NYC factory, Oreos are now made in 18 countries, producing 40 billion of the cookies every year, or enough to circle the Earth 5 times.

Revenues equal some $3 billion annually.

All the Oreos manufactured in the world since 1912 would go to the moon and back…5 times.

(Maybe that’s why we have the “Milk-y Way”).

They are 29% cream and 71% cookie.

Each Oreo cookie has has 90 ridges, 12 flowers, 12 dashes and 12 dots on it.

It takes 2 hours to make an Oreo.

Each cookie is molded and embossed, before being baked and filled.

An Oreo is baked for 290.6 seconds at 400 degrees on top and 300 degrees from below.

Do you twist ’em, lick ’em and/or dunk’ em?

As kids, when we dunked our Oreos, I always remember the black cookie silt folating in the milk and at the bottom of the glass.

Like all cookies, I think Oreos taste best when accompanied by a cold glass of milk.

Fifty percent of us pull them apart when eating them and ladies are more likely than men to twist ’em apart.

They started out as “Oreo Biscuit” in 1912 and then became the Oreo Sandwich in 1921.

Then in 1937, they became the “Oreo Creme Sandwich” and, in 1974, they were identified as the “Oreo Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookie”.

Oreos may have been created to compete with Hydrox, “America’s First Creme Filled Chocolate Cookie” from the Sunshine Baking Company in 1908.

Oreo originally had two flavors; the classic chocolate model along with a lemon-meringue flavor which was discontinued in 1920.

The sweet taste of success has not always been there for Oreos.

In the Los Angeles “Museum of Failure” you’ll find Oreo flavors that didn’t make it like “Swedish Fish”, “Peanut Butter and Jam”, “Candy Corn” and “Key Lime Pie”.

However. in China you can find Green Ice Tea Cream Oreos while Oreo Duos are sold only in Argentina (strawberry/vanilla and banana/dulce de leche).

In Indonesia, you can try Blueberry Ice Cream Oreos and Orange Ice Cream Oreos.

Oreos have 42 million likes on Facebook.

Years ago, we had to put child-proof locks on our kitchen cupboards because our curious Boxer (Bootz) would invade.

I’ve always loved dogs, but my affection was challenged when Bootz got hold of an unopened package of Oreos and ate every one of them…without milk.

When I was much younger, my Father called us all around the kitchen table to announce he had gotten a pay raise and the next year, he would make the most money he had ever made.

That prompted by sister Charlene to ask, “Does that mean we can buy Oreos every week?”

I don’t remember his answer but it shows how much we liked Oreos.

I still do.