Rice Krispies (known as Rice Bubbles in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

) is a

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 ...

produced by

WK Kellogg Co WK Kellogg Co is an American food manufacturing company, split from Kellogg's on October 2, 2023, and headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan. It was formed in October 2023 as part of Kellogg's spin-off of its North American cereal business. ...

for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and by

Kellanova Kellanova, formerly known as the Kellogg Company and commonly known as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, US. Kellanova produces and markets convenience foods and snack f ...

for the rest of the world. Rice Krispies are made of crisped rice. When

milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of lactating mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfeeding, breastfed human infants) before they are able to digestion, digest solid food. ...

is added to the cereal the rice tends to collapse, creating the characteristic "snap, crackle and pop" sounds. Rice Krispies cereal has a long advertising history with the elf cartoon characters

Snap, Crackle and Pop Snap, Crackle and Pop are the cartoon mascots of Rice Krispies, a brand of breakfast cereal marketed by Kellogg's and its successor companies. History The characters were originally designed by illustrator Vernon Grant in the early 1930s. Th ...

touting the brand.

Background

Rice Krispies was released to the public by the Kellogg Company in 1928. The original patent called for using partially dried

grain A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit (caryopsis) – with or without an attached husk, hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and ...

, which could be whole or broken, that would have 15–30% moisture which could then be shaped by existing processes for cereal production that include rolling, flaking, shredding, etc. After being processed to the desired shape the grain is dried to around 5–14% moisture content at which stage the grain will expand when subjected to a high temperature creating a light, low-density product that is crisp and easy to chew. The "Snap, Crackle and Pop" slogan was in use by 1939 when the cereal was advertised as staying "crackly crisp in milk or cream...not mushy!" with claims that the cereal would remain floating (without sinking to the bottom of the bowl) even after 2 hours in milk. They were not a shredded or flaked cereal type, but were instead created by a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an sufficiency of disclosure, enabling discl ...

ed process that Kellogg's called "oven-popping". Following the 2023 spinoff of the North American cereal division of the original Kellogg Company, Rice Krispies are made by WK Kellogg Co for the United States, Canadian, and Caribbean markets and by Kellanova (the former Kellogg Company) for the rest of the world.

Ingredients

Rice Krispies contain

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

sugar Sugar is the generic name for sweet-tasting, soluble carbohydrates, many of which are used in food. Simple sugars, also called monosaccharides, include glucose Glucose is a sugar with the Chemical formula#Molecular formula, molecul ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

, malt flavoring, iron,

ascorbic acid Ascorbic acid is an organic compound with formula , originally called hexuronic acid. It is a white solid, but impure samples can appear yellowish. It dissolves freely in water to give mildly acidic solutions. It is a mild reducing agent. Asco ...

(vitamin C), alpha tocopherol acetate (vitamin E), niacinamide, vitamin A palmitate, pyridoxine hydrochloride (vitamin B6),

riboflavin Riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, is a vitamin found in food and sold as a dietary supplement. It is essential to the formation of two major coenzymes, flavin mononucleotide and flavin adenine dinucleotide. These coenzymes are involved in ...

(vitamin B2), thiamin hydrochloride (vitamin B1),

folic acid Folate, also known as vitamin B9 and folacin, is one of the B vitamins. Manufactured folic acid, which is converted into folate by the body, is used as a dietary supplement and in food fortification as it is more stable during processing and ...

vitamin B12 Vitamin B12, also known as cobalamin, is a water-soluble vitamin involved in metabolism. One of eight B vitamins, it serves as a vital cofactor (biochemistry), cofactor in DNA synthesis and both fatty acid metabolism, fatty acid and amino a ...

(as cyanocobalamin) and

vitamin D Vitamin D is a group of structurally related, fat-soluble compounds responsible for increasing intestinal absorption of calcium, magnesium, and phosphate, along with numerous other biological functions. In humans, the most important compo ...

. According to Kellogg's, the rice used in the US version of the cereal is grown in the states of

Louisiana Louisiana ( ; ; ) is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It borders Texas to the west, Arkansas to the north, and Mississippi to the east. Of the 50 U.S. states, it ranks 31st in area and 25 ...

and

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

Health claims

In 2010 the Kellogg Company was found by the

Federal Trade Commission The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is an independent agency of the United States government whose principal mission is the enforcement of civil (non-criminal) United States antitrust law, antitrust law and the promotion of consumer protection. It ...

to be making unsubstantiated and misleading health claims in advertising on Rice Krispies boxes. Claims made by the company included "now helps support your child's immunity" and "has been improved to include antioxidants and nutrients that your family needs to help them stay healthy." The FTC had previously found fault with Kellogg's claims that Frosted Mini-Wheats cereal improved children's attentiveness by nearly 20%.

Variants

Present day

The names of other products within the Rice Krispies family vary depending on where they are sold: * Cocoa Krispies (called Coco Pops in the UK, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Greece and Italy), a

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cocoa beans that can be a liquid, solid, or paste, either by itself or to flavoring, flavor other foods. Cocoa beans are the processed seeds of the cacao tree (''Theobroma cacao''); unprocesse ...

flavored version (sold worldwide) * Rice Krispies with Vanilla Flavor, sold in Canada and South Africa *

Rice Krispies Treats Rice Krispies Treats (also called Rice Krispie Treats, Marshmallow Treats, Marshmallow Squares, or Rice Krispies Squares in the United Kingdom & Canada, and LCMs in Australia) are a confection commonly made through binding WK Kellogg Co's Rice ...

Cereal, contains bunches of krispies fused together by a marshmallow coating (introduced in March 1993) * Kellogg's Strawberry Krispies * Kellogg's Rainbow Krispies Many generic versions of Rice Krispies (including frosted and chocolate variants) have been produced by other

manufacturer Manufacturing is the creation or Production (economics), production of goods with the help of equipment, Work (human activity), labor, machines, tools, and chemical or biological processing or formulation. It is the essence of the secondary se ...

s under many different names.

Discontinued

* Frosted Rice Krispies (called Ricicles in the UK and Ireland) * Rice Krispies with dehydrated miniature marshmallows (Marshmallow Rice Krispies, also known as Marshmallow Krispies, along with a tropical version, Fruity Marshmallow Krispies), were sold briefly in the United States and Canada."The Past In Candy"
X-Entertainment. Article written 2002-01-02, retrieved 2006-11-29. Despite surviving longer in Canada than the United States, they were discontinued during the late 1990s. *Rice Krispies with

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown Hybrid (biology), hybrid plant cultivated worldwide for its fruit. The genus ''Fragaria'', the strawberries, is in the rose family, Rosaceae. The fruit ...

flavor included 1983's Strawberry Krispies and 1997's Strawberry Rice Krispies. Australia had Strawberry Pops, a strawberry version of Rice Bubbles, which was discontinued in the mid-1970s, along with other similarly coloured and sweetened foods, due to concerns about the additives causing cancer.

Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

-flavored Rice Krispies, including Banana Bubbles and Banana Krispies, have also been sold in the past. *Razzle Dazzle Rice Krispies, an extremely sweet, artificially-colored cereal, was sold from late 1997 to 1999. *Apple Cinnamon Rice Krispies, a cereal flavored with apple and cinnamon, was sold in the early 1990s. *Rice Krispies with berry flavors, including Berry Krispies and Berry Rice Krispies. *Rice Krispies with honey, Honey Rice Krispies, was sold in the UK and Canada for a short period of time in the late 1990s. In the late 1990s, Kellogg's sold Halloween versions of their regular cereal. This included Halloween Rice Krispies which featured a variety of orange krispies.

Rice Krispies Treats and similar sweets

In 1939, Kellogg's employee Mildred Day concocted and published a recipe for a

Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is now gender-inclusive, and its p ...

bake sale consisting of Rice Krispies, melted

marshmallow Marshmallow (, ) is a confectionery made from sugar, water and gelatin whipped to a solid-but-soft consistency. It is used as a filling in baking or molded into shapes and coated with corn starch. This sugar confection is inspired by a medicina ...

s, and margarine. It has remained a very popular snack dubbed

. Kellogg's themselves have now produced commercial varieties of both marshmallow and chocolate-based treats under the name Rice Krispies Squares in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Rice Krispies Squares
UK. Article retrieved 29 November 2006. and the UK, as well as versions under the original Rice Krispies Treats name sold in the United States. Kellogg's also produces commercial versions of Rice Krispie treats known as Rice Krispies Squares, cereal bars, and a multi-

cereal known as Rice Krispies Multi-Grain (formerly Muddles"Kellogg's Rice Krispies Muddles"
(reference to former name), ciao.co.uk. Article retrieved 29 November 2006.) sold on the UK market. Primarily aimed at children, Multi-Grain contains a prebiotic and is claimed by Kellogg's to promote good digestive health.Kellogg's Rice Krispies Multi-Grain
, Kellogg's Interactive (kelloggs.co.uk). Article retrieved 29 November 2006. In Australia, Rice Bubbles are found in a well-known homemade sweet, the chocolate crackle. This is often found at fetes and consists of Rice Bubbles, copha and cocoa, amongst other things. In the UK, a similar treat is made of Rice Krispies and melted

. White Christmas is another Australian sweet made with Rice Bubbles, milk powder, copha and

dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed prior to cooking or being eaten on its own. Drying may occur either naturally, by sun, through the use of industrial dehydrators, or by freeze drying. ...

South Africa

In 2018, the South African branch of Kellogg's replaced the classic Rice Krispies with Rice Krispies Vanilla, thereby discontinuing the production of the original Rice Krispies in the country. This change was met with a lot of public complaints. The new Rice Krispies Vanilla now contained 21.7 g sugar for every 100 g, up from only 9 g previously, and the taste was very poorly received. Despite the public's dislike of the new product, Kellogg's initially decided to continue replacing the original Rice Krispies with the new Rice Krispies Vanilla. In 2020, Kellogg's returned the original product to shelves, but decided to import it from the UK as they determined it could no longer be produced locally. Import-related costs made the product more expensive for South African consumers.

Marketing history

Cartoon mascots

, the

animated cartoon Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby still images are manipulated to create moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Animati ...

mascots for Rice Krispies, were created by illustrator Vernon Grant in the 1930s. The original gnome-like Snap first appeared in 1933 on a package of Kellogg's Rice Krispies. Crackle and Pop came later, and since 1939, the three have been together in many forms of advertising, including radio, movie shorts, and comic strips. An updated version of the elf-like Snap Crackle and Pop appeared for the first time on television in 1960; before that it was advertised by

Woody Woodpecker Woody Woodpecker is a cartoon character that appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz Productions, Walter Lantz Studio and Universal Animation Studios, Universal Animation Studio and distributed by Universal Pictures sinc ...

. They are the first and longest-running cartoon characters to represent a Kellogg's product.Rice Bubbles: The history of Snap, Crackle and Pop!
In

physics Physics is the scientific study of matter, its Elementary particle, fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge whi ...

, Snap, Crackle and Pop inspired shorthand names for the fourth, fifth, and sixth derivatives of position.

"Snap, crackle and pop" sound

The cereal is marketed on the basis of the noises it produces when milk is added to the bowl. The

onomatopoeic Onomatopoeia (or rarely echoism) is a type of word, or the process of creating a word, that phonetically imitates, resembles, or suggests the sound that it describes. Common onomatopoeias in English include animal noises such as ''oink'', '' ...

noises differ by country and language: "The Tale – Snap! Crackle! & Pop! story." Version from May 31, 2008
''Kellogg's Rice Krispies.'' * English:'' Snap! Crackle! Pop!'' * Danish: ''Pyf! Paaf! Pof!'' * Swedish: ''Piff! Paff! Puff!'' *

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

: ''Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!'' *

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

: ''Pim! Pam! Pum!'' * Finnish: ''Riks! Raks! Poks!'' * French: ''Cric! Crac! Croc!'' * Dutch: ''Pif! Paf! Pof!'' *

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: ''Knap! Knetter! Knak!'' *

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

: ''Poos! Pas! Pes!''

Prizes and premiums

In 1938 and 1939, Vernon Grant, the illustrator who created Snap, Crackle and Pop, produced a set of six illustrations of

Mother Goose Mother Goose is a character that originated in children's fiction, as the imaginary author of a collection of French fairy tales and later of English nursery rhymes. She also appeared in a song, the first stanza of which often functions now as ...

themes including

Humpty Dumpty Humpty Dumpty is a character in an English nursery rhyme, probably originally a riddle, and is typically portrayed as an anthropomorphic egg, though he is not explicitly described as such. The first recorded versions of the rhyme date from ...

, Jack and Jill, Jack Be Nimble,

Little Jack Horner "Little Jack Horner" is a popular English nursery rhyme with the Roud Folk Song Index number 13027. First mentioned in the 18th century, it was early associated with acts of opportunism, particularly in politics. Moralism, Moralists also rewro ...

, Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater, and

Twinkle Twinkle Little Star "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" is an English lullaby. The lyrics are from an early-19th-century English poem written by Jane Taylor, "The Star". The poem, which is in couplet form, was first published in 1806 in '' Rhymes for the Nursery'', a c ...

that were offered as premiums in exchange for two Rice Krispies boxtops and a three-cent stamp.

Footnotes

References

External links

*
How it works

{{Kellogg's Kellogg's cereals Products introduced in 1928 Rice dishes