Pop-Tarts
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Pop-Tarts are a flat toaster pastry, approximately 75mm by 125 mm, made by the Kellogg Company. Pop-Tarts have of a sugary filling sealed inside two layers of rectangular, thin (about 2mm per layer) pastry crust. Most varieties have frosting, but some do not. They can be eaten cold, but are usually warmed inside a toaster, like bread. They are usually sold in pairs inside foil packages that preserve them without refrigeration.
The process of making Pop-Tarts begins when pastry dough is rolled through a conveyor belt to form two sheets of crust. The flavored filling is squirted onto the bottom sheet, which is covered by the top sheet. The crust is then cut into squares and rolled through a three hundred foot-long oven. Meanwhile, frosting is mixed in tanks and pumped onto the squares when they emerge from the oven. The final step is to weigh and drop sprinkles onto the frosting.
There are currently thirty-two flavors of Pop-Tarts. The most popular flavors are frosted strawberry, frosted brown sugar cinnamon, and s'more.
Pop-Tarts are Kelloggs' most popular brand, selling more than 2 billion Pop-Tarts each year. According to Kellogg, Pop-Tarts should always be pronounced as a plural, never "Pop-Tart" in the singular form. They are distributed mainly in the United States, but also in the United Kingdom and Canada.
Vegetarians and vegans should note that the frosting in Pop-Tarts is made with gelatin, an animal by-product.
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History
Post Cereals first created the confection that would become Pop-Tarts in the early 1960s. The company had developed a process of enclosing dog food in foil to keep it fresh without refrigeration. They adapted the process to create a new breakfast food for the toaster to complement their popular cold cereals. Post announced their new product in 1963 to the press, giving them the name "Country Squares."
Because Post had revealed Country Squares before it was ready, Post's biggest competitor Kellogg was able to develop their own version in six months. Internally at Kellogg, the pastry was known as a "fruit scone." The company later changed the name to Pop-Tarts, intended to be a pun on the "pop art" craze of the time.
Kellogg test-marketed Pop-Tarts in Cleveland, where they sold out the initial test run of forty-five thousand cases. Kellogg quickly released Pop-Tarts nationwide, along with a stern warning to store managers to put them in the cake and cookie aisle, not the cereal aisle.
Post released their Country Squares in the same year, but sales lagged behind Pop-Tarts. It is widely believed that Country Squares failed because of their name. In the progressive culture of the time, with TV shows like The Beverly Hillbillies, the name Country Squares was associated with being backward and boring. Country Squares failed to take off, while Pop-Tarts became a sensation.
At first, there were only four flavors of Pop-Tarts; strawberry, blueberry, apple currant, and cinnamon. They were not frosted because it was believed that the frosting would melt in the toaster. However, they later discovered that frosting could survive the toaster and released the first frosted Pop-Tarts in 1967. Today there are a wide variety of Pop-Tart flavors, including chocolate, smore, raspberry, and even watermelon.
In 1971, a cartoon character named Milton the Toaster was introduced to promote Pop-Tarts. William Schallert from the Patty Duke Show voiced him. The campaign ended when a commercial showed a child hugging the toaster, leading to complaints that children might imitate the commercial and burn themselves.
In 1992, Pop-Tarts became the focus of more controversy when Thomas Nangle sued Kellogg for damages, after his Pop-Tarts got stuck and caught fire in his toaster. The case gained notoriety when humor columnist Dave Barry wrote a column about starting a fire in his own kitchen with Pop-Tarts. In 1994, Texas A&M University professor Patrick Michaud performed an experiment proving that, when left in the toaster too long, strawberry Pop-Tarts could produce flames over a foot high [1] (http://www.pmichaud.com/toast/). The discovery triggered a flurry of lawsuits. Since then, Pop-Tarts carry the warning: "Do not leave toasting appliances unattended due to possible risk of fire."
Pop-Tarts were introduced with fairly substantial marketing to the United Kingdom in the early 1990s, although they have failed to replicate their US success. The frosting initially had a tendency to melt off of the surface completely during heating and subsequently clog the toaster, a design error which suggests they may have been manufactured by a different company under licence.
List of Flavors
Pop-Tarts
- Apple Cinnamon
- Blueberry
- Brown Sugar Cinnamon
- Cherry
- Chocolate Chip
- Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
- French Toast
- Frosted Blueberry
- Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon
- Frosted Cherry
- Frosted Chocolate Fudge
- Frosted Chocolate Vanilla Creme
- Frosted Grape
- Frosted Hot Fudge Sundae
- Frosted Raspberry
- Frosted S’Mores
- Frosted Strawberry
- Frosted Wild Berry
- Low Fat Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon
- Low Fat Frosted Chocolate Fudge
- Low Fat Frosted Strawberry
- Spider-man Spidey-Berry
- SpongeBob SquarePants™ Wild Bubble-Berry
- Star Wars Lava Berry Explosion
- Strawberry
- Yogurt Blasts Blueberry
- Yogurt Blasts Strawberry
Pop-Tarts Pastry Swirls
- Apple Cinnamon
- Cheese
- Cheese & Cherry
- Strawberry
Pop-Tarts Snak-Stix
- Frosted Caramel Chocolate
- Frosted Cookies & Creme
- Frosted Double Chocolate
Sources
- James Prichard, Detroit News (2003), Kellogg's popular, pioneering Pop-Tarts turn 40 this year (http://www.detnews.com/2003/business/0304/06/business-128483.htm)
- Trisha Renaud, Law.Com (2002), Flaming Pop-Tarts Spark Georgia Suit (http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?id=1032128880031)
- Whole Pop Magazine, True History of Pop-Tarts (http://www.wholepop.com/973580985/features/toasters/poptarts.htm)
External links
- Official site (http://www.poptarts.com/)