Kix (stylized as KiX) is an American brand of

breakfast cereal Breakfast cereal is a category of food, including food products, made from food processing, processed cereal, cereal grains, that are eaten as part of breakfast or as a snack food, primarily in Western societies. Although warm, cooked cereals li ...

introduced in 1937 by the

General Mills General Mills, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded ultra-processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in ...

company of

Golden Valley, Minnesota Golden Valley is a western and first-ring suburb of Minneapolis in Hennepin County, Minnesota, Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 22,552 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. The city is mostly residential an ...

. The product is an

extruded 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 ...

, expanded puffed-grain cereal made with

cornmeal Maize meal is a meal (coarse flour) ground from dried maize. It is a common staple food and is ground to coarse, medium, and fine consistencies, but it is not as fine as wheat flour can be.Herbst, Sharon, ''Food Lover's Companion'', Third Editi ...

Products

General Mills introduced Berry Berry Kix in 1992 and Honey Kix in 2009. In Original Kix, total sugars are about 10% by weight, which is about 3 grams of sugar per serving. Honey Kix has 6 grams, Berry Berry Kix has 7 grams.

Production

The grain is processed and expanded: water is added and the corn is pulverized. Kix are cooked in the ''extruder'', when the dough is formed into the desired shape by

extrusion Extrusion is a process used to create objects of a fixed cross section (geometry), cross-sectional profile by pushing material through a Die (manufacturing), die of the desired cross-section. Its two main advantages over other manufacturing pro ...

through a

die Die, as a verb, refers to death, the cessation of life. Die may also refer to: Games * Die, singular of dice, small throwable objects used for producing random numbers Manufacturing * Die (integrated circuit), a rectangular piece of a semicondu ...

. It was the first cereal to be manufactured using this process. Experimentation with the Kix puffing process led to popular brands like

Cheerios Cheerios is a brand of cereal manufactured by General Mills in the United States and Canada, consisting of pulverized oats in the shape of a solid torus. In Europe, Cheerios is marketed by Cereal Partners under the Nestlé brand; in Austral ...

(1941).

Trix Trix may refer to: Brands and products * Trix (cereal), a breakfast cereal made by General Mills ** Trix yogurt, branded Yoplait yogurt * Trix (company), the German company that produced Trix construction and model train sets * Trix (construct ...

Cocoa Puffs Cocoa Puffs is an American brand of chocolate-flavored puffed grain breakfast cereal, manufactured by General Mills. Introduced in 1956, the cereal consists of small orbs of corn and rice flavored with cocoa. Cocoa Puffs have the same shape as ...

, and Reese's Puffs also utilize this process.

Promotions

In 1947, Kix offered a

Lone Ranger The Lone Ranger is a fictional masked former Texas Ranger who fought outlaws in the American Old West with his Native American friend Tonto. The character has been called an enduring icon of American culture. He first appeared in 1933 in a ...

atomic bomb ring in exchange for a box top and 15 cents. The ring contained a

spinthariscope A spinthariscope () is a device for observing individual Radioactive decay, nuclear disintegrations caused by the interaction of ionizing radiation with a phosphor (see radioluminescence) or scintillator. Invention The spinthariscope was invente ...

, so that when the red base (which served as a "secret message compartment") was taken off, and after a period of time for

dark adaptation Darkness is the condition resulting from a lack of illumination, or an absence of visible light. Human vision is unable to distinguish colors in conditions of very low luminance because the hue-sensitive photoreceptor cells on the retina are ...

, you could look through a small plastic lens at

scintillation Scintillation can refer to: *Scintillation (astronomy), atmospheric effects which influence astronomical observations *Interplanetary scintillation, fluctuations of radio waves caused by the solar wind *Scintillation (physics), a flash of light pro ...

s caused by

polonium Polonium is a chemical element; it has symbol Po and atomic number 84. A rare and highly radioactive metal (although sometimes classified as a metalloid) with no stable isotopes, polonium is a chalcogen and chemically similar to selenium and tel ...

alpha particles Alpha particles, also called alpha rays or alpha radiation, consist of two protons and two neutrons bound together into a particle identical to a helium-4 nucleus. They are generally produced in the process of alpha decay but may also be produce ...

striking a

zinc sulfide Zinc sulfide (or zinc sulphide) is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula of ZnS. This is the main form of zinc found in nature, where it mainly occurs as the mineral sphalerite. Although this mineral is usually black because of various i ...

screen.

Advertising

The

slogan A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a clan or a political, commercial, religious, or other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose, with the goal of persuading members of the public or a more defined target group ...

"Kid Tested. Mother Approved." was introduced in 1978. During the 1980s, television commercials included the

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meanings that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

"Kids love Kix for what Kix has got. Moms love Kix for what Kix has not," the latter a reference to its claims of no added

food coloring Food coloring, color additive or colorant is any dye, pigment, or substance that imparts color when it is added to food or beverages. Colorants can be supplied as liquids, powders, gels, or pastes. Food coloring is commonly used in commercia ...

flavors Flavour or flavor is either the sensory perception of taste or smell, or a flavoring in food that produces such perception. Flavour or flavor may also refer to: Science * Flavors (programming language), an early object-oriented extension to L ...

. In 2018, the slogan was changed to “Kid Tested. Parent Approved.” At the time Mike Siemienas, General Mills spokesperson said “this new slogan is more inclusive as the word ‘parent’ applies to the individuals raising children.”

References

External links

*
Ingredients and nutrition facts from General Mills
{{General Mills General Mills cereals Products introduced in 1937