Cheese puffs, cheese curls, cheese balls, cheese ball puffs, cheesy puffs, or corn curls are a puffed
corn
Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn ( North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. ...
snack
A snack is a small portion of food generally eaten between meals. 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.
Traditionally, snacks are ...
, coated with a mixture of
cheese
Cheese is a dairy product produced in wide ranges of flavors, textures, and forms by coagulation of the milk protein casein. It comprises proteins and fat from milk, usually the milk of cows, buffalo, goats, or sheep. During product ...
or cheese-flavored
powders
A powder is a dry, bulk solid composed of many very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms ''powder'' and '' granular'' are sometimes used to distin ...
. They are manufactured by
extruding
Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing processes are its ability to create very complex ...
heated corn
dough
Dough is a thick, malleable, sometimes elastic paste made from grains or from leguminous or chestnut crops. Dough is typically made by mixing flour with a small amount of water or other liquid and sometimes includes yeast or other leavening ag ...
through a die that forms the particular shape. They may be ball-shaped, curly ("cheese curls"), straight, or irregularly shaped.
Puffcorn
Puffcorn or corn puffs are puffed or extruded corn snacks made with corn meal, and baked.
Puffcorn is an extruded puffed corn snack which belongs in the snack group products made with corn grits, rice, wheat, or other cereals. Puffcorn is ofte ...
is a similar food, without cheese flavoring.
History
Cheese puffs were invented independently by two companies in the United States during the 1930s.
According to one account, Edward Wilson noticed strings of puffed corn oozing from flaking machines in the mid 1930s at the Flakall Corporation of
Beloit, Wisconsin
Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 36,657 people.
History
Twelve men in Colebrook, New Hampshire, created the "New England Emigrating Company" in October 1836 and sen ...
, a producer of flaked, partially cooked
animal feed
Animal feed is food given to domestic animals, especially livestock, in the course of animal husbandry. There are two basic types: fodder and forage. Used alone, the word ''feed'' more often refers to fodder. Animal feed is an important input to ...
. He experimented and developed it into a snack. Clarence J. Schwebke applied for an improved extruder patent in 1939 and the product, named ''Korn Kurls'', was commercialized in 1946 by the Adams Corporation, formed by one of the founders of Flakall and his sons. Adams was later bought by
Beatrice Foods
Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company founded in 1894. In 1987, its international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney, creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of ...
Elmer's Fine Foods
Elmer's Fine Foods, or just Elmer's, is a snack food company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Elmer's started in 1946 in making snack products, including its popular CheeWees and Mardi Gras cheese curls sold in various southeastern states. Until th ...
continued to make the snack and repurchased the name in 1993.
Notable brands
In popular culture
A fictitious brand of cheese puffs called "Cheesy Poofs" has appeared periodically in the animated television series '' South Park''. The
Frito-Lay
Frito-Lay is an American subsidiary of PepsiCo that manufactures, markets, and sells corn chips, potato chips, and other snack foods. The primary snack food brands produced under the Frito-Lay name include Fritos corn chips, Cheetos cheese-fla ...
company produced a limited, promotional run of the snack in August 2011.
See also
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Puffed grain
Puffed grains are grains that have been expanded ("puffed") through processing. They have been made for centuries with the simplest methods like popping popcorn. Modern puffed grains are often created using high temperature, pressure, or extrusi ...
*
Dorchester, Boston
Dorchester (colloquially referred to as Dot) is a Boston neighborhood comprising more than in the City of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Originally, Dorchester was a separate town, founded by Puritans who emigrated in 1630 from Dorchester ...