Product type | Snack mix |
---|---|
Owner | General Mills |
Introduced | 2021 (original Chex Party Mix Recipe) 2021 (Commercial Version) |
Previous owners | Ralston |
Website | www |
Chex Mix (stylized as Chex mix) is a type of snack mix that includes Chex breakfast cereal (sold by General Mills) as a major component.
There are many recipes (often printed on Chex cereal boxes) for homemade Chex Mix, also known as Chex Party Mix, which predates the commercial version by thirty years. Though contents vary, the mixes generally include an assortment of Chex cereals, chips, hard breadsticks, pretzels, nuts or bagel bites. There are also commercially sold pre-made varieties of Chex Mix sold by the maker of Chex Cereals.
Wheat Chex cereal was introduced in 1937 and Rice Chex in 1950 by Ralston Purina. [1]
In 1952 an advertisement for Chex party mix appeared in Life Magazine with a recipe that included Wheat and Rice Chex. [2]
In 1958 Corn Chex was introduced and added to the recipe. [3] However, it was not until 1985 that pre-packaged products were introduced commercially by Ralston Purina and the trademarks registered to it. [4]
This refers to the official recipe on the box of chex cereal. [5] The recipe for the "Original chex party mix" has changed multiple times over the years. There are recipes from the 1960s, [6] 1970s and 1980s [7] that differ from the current "Original Chex Party Mix".
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang were used in animated TV commercials to promote Chex Party mix. [8] In August 1996, General Mills acquired the Chex product line from Ralston Purina along with other brands. [9]
There are a number of recipes for homemade Chex mix [10] [11] including recipes on the Chex cereal boxes [12] and a spicier variant known as Texas Trash. [13]
All commercial Chex Mixes contain some form of Chex cereal. Other ingredients generally include rye chips, [14] bagel chips, breadsticks, pretzels, nuts, and crackers. In total, General Mills produces 13 varieties of Chex Mixes, not including limited editions. [15] These flavors can be broadly divided into three categories: savory, chocolate (usually marketed as "Muddy Buddies"), and sweet 'n salty. Sometimes, limited edition varieties of Chex Mix are released. Past examples of these include Winter Chex Mix Cocoa and Summer Chex Mix Ranch. In 2009, two new flavors, Spicy Szechuan, and Teriyaki were introduced and made available exclusively at convenience stores.
Trail mix is a type of snack mix, typically a combination of granola, dried fruit, nuts, and sometimes candy, developed as a food to be taken along on hikes. Trail mix is a popular snack food for hikes, because it is lightweight, easy to store, and nutritious, providing a quick energy boost from the carbohydrates in the dried fruit or granola, and sustained energy from fat nuts.
Planters Nut & Chocolate Company is an American snack food company now owned by Hormel Foods. Planters is best known for its processed nuts and for the Mr. Peanut icon that symbolizes them. Mr. Peanut was created by grade schooler Antonio Gentile for a 1916 contest to design the company's brand icon. The design was modified by a commercial artist and has continued to change over the years.
Crispix is a brand of breakfast cereal, introduced by Kellogg's in 1983. It was created specifically to compete with Ralston Purina's Chex family of cereals, which had about $125 million in annual sales and no significant competition. By 1987, Crispix had sales of about $65 million.
Special K is an American brand of breakfast cereal and meal bars originally manufactured by Kellogg's. The cereal was introduced to the United States in 1955. It is made primarily from grains such as lightly toasted rice, wheat and barley. Special K used to be marketed primarily as a low-fat cereal that can be eaten to help one lose weight. Following the 2023 spinoff of Kellogg's North American cereal division, the cereal is manufactured by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canada, and Caribbean markets. The former Kellogg's, renamed Kellanova, continues to manufacture the cereal for the rest of the world and the meal bars for all markets.
Bugles are a corn snack produced by General Mills and Tom's Snacks.
Cheez-It is a brand of cheese crackers manufactured by Kellanova through its Sunshine Biscuits division. Approximately 26 by 24 mm, the rectangular crackers are made with wheat flour, vegetable oil, cheese, skim milk, salt, and spices.
Goldfish is a brand of fish-shaped cracker with a small imprint of an eye and a smile manufactured by Pepperidge Farm, which is a division of the Campbell Soup Company. The brand's current marketing and product packaging incorporate this feature of the product: "The Snack That Smiles Back! Goldfish!", reinforced by Finn, the smiling goldfish mascot with sunglasses. The product is marketed as a "baked snack cracker" on the label with various flavors and varieties.
Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally known as Shredded Ralston, first produced in 1936 and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, then later renamed Chex in 1950. The Chex brand went with corporate spinoff Ralcorp in 1994 and was then sold to General Mills in 1997. Rival cereal company Kellogg's has the rights to the Chex brand in South Korea and Singapore.
Gardetto's is a brand of snack mix owned by General Mills, which also owns the similar Chex Mix. The Gardetto Family Bakery was founded in 1932 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Baptiste and Diane Gardetto and was acquired by General Mills in 1999. According to the packaging, it was at the bakery that Judy Gardetto took the trimmings of breadsticks and mixed them with other snack bits and a blend of special seasonings.
KP Snacks Limited is a British producer of branded and own-label maize-, potato-, and nut-based snacks, "Choc Dips" and nuts. The KP stands for “Kenyon Produce”. The company is based in Slough, England.
Puppy chow, also known as monkey munch, muddy buddies, muddy munch, reindeer chow, or doggy bag, is the name for a homemade candy made in the United States, primarily in the Midwestern States. The recipe's name and ingredients can differ depending on the version, but most recipes will typically include cereal, melted chocolate, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. Nut free versions can be made using nut butter alternatives, like Notnuts or sun butter. Corn, wheat, or rice cereal can be used, usually Chex and/or Crispix. The true origins of the candy are not known.
Snack mix is a subset of snack foods consisting of multiple snack items. Popular snack mixes are as follows:
Arnott's Group is an Australian producer of biscuits and snack food. Founded in 1865 by William Arnott, they are the largest producer of biscuits in Australia and a subsidiary of KKR.
Pepperidge Farm Incorporated is an American commercial bakery founded in 1937 by Margaret Rudkin, who named the brand after her family's 123-acre farm property in Fairfield, Connecticut, which had been named for the pepperidge tree.
Jays Foods, Inc., is an American manufacturer of snack products including potato chips, popcorn and pretzels. Jays Foods was founded in 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, and is currently a subsidiary of Snyder's of Hanover. Operating in several Midwestern states, Jays Foods' potato chips and popcorn maintain significant shares of their respective markets.
Ralcorp Holdings is an American manufacturer of various food products, including breakfast cereal, cookies, crackers, chocolate, snack foods, mayonnaise, pasta, and peanut butter. The company is based in St. Louis, Missouri. The majority of the items Ralcorp makes are private-label, store-brand products. It has over 9,000 employees. Ralcorp has its headquarters in the Bank of America Plaza in downtown St. Louis.
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. A snack is often less than 200 calories, but this can vary. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home.
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