1 August: Shredded Wheat

Henry Perky patented a shredded wheat making machine on this day in 1893. Here are ten things you might not know about Shredded Wheat.

1. What is shredded wheat? It's a breakfast cereal consisting of pillow-shaped biscuits of Wheat. The wheat is cooked in Water until the moisture content of the wheat is 50%. It is tempered, to make sure the moisture is evenly distributed in the grain before being passed through rollers with grooves to make strands. The strands are packed together and crimped at intervals to make the little pillows. They are then baked in an oven to get rid of most of the moisture.
2. It was invented by a man named Henry Perky, who was born in Ohio and studied law in Nebraska. He was elected to Nebraska State Senate when he was just 25, and spent some time trying to promote a cylindrical railway carriage without success, before coming up with the idea for shredded wheat.
3. Perky moved to Colorado for his health, but travelled back to Nebraska from time to time on business. It was here, in a hotel, that he noticed a man suffering from a similar digestive ailment to himself, eating boiled wheat with cream. He then came up with the idea of making a shredded wheat making machine, and opened a factory near Niagara Falls. The factory was called the "Palace of Light", because it was white-tiled, air-conditioned, well-lit, and had floor to ceiling windows. He didn't forget about employee perks, either. The factory was equipped with showers, lunchrooms (women got lunch for free – men had to pay 10¢), and auditoriums for the employees. It had a roof garden with a view of the falls. A picture of the factory appeared on the Shredded Wheat boxes for many years.
4. One of Perky's promotional efforts was to invite people to a special lunch in which almost everything was made from shredded wheat: "...a Shredded Wheat drink, Shredded Wheat biscuit toast, roast turkey stuffed with Shredded Wheat, and Shredded Wheat Ice cream".
5. After retiring from the company in 1902, Perky published a successful book on nutrition and oral hygiene, Wisdom vs. Foolishness. He dreamed of founding a school offering courses on scientific farming and domestic science subjects. The school was built, brochures produced, and even had some students enrolled, but the school never opened, because Perky died a few days before the grand opening after a fall from his Horse.
6. Perky's original name for his product was "little whole wheat mattresses".
7. Dr. John Harvey Kellogg, while impressed with Perky's manufacturing process, wasn't so keen on the product. When Perky tried to sell him the patent, Kellogg declined, saying he thought eating shredded wheat was "like eating a whisk broom." However, after Perky died and his patent expired, Kellogg was quick to devise his own version of shredded wheat. Perky's old company, National Biscuit Company sued Kellogg for trademark infringement but it was ruled that "shredded wheat" was a generic name and couldn't be trademarked.
8. In the UK, a shredded wheat factory opened in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire in 1926. Its concrete silos are now listed structures although the factory closed in 2008 and the UK's supply of shredded wheat is now made in Staverton, Wiltshire.
9. Two standard sized shredded wheat biscuits contain 160 calories, 1 g. of fat and 6 g. of dietary fibre. They also contain Vitamins C and B6, calcium, Iron and magnesium.
10. In the UK, a 1970s advertising campaign claimed shredded wheat biscuits were so nutritious that it was impossible to eat three of them. Various sporting stars of the time were shown admitting defeat after two, and even a Black Hole exploded after consuming a third. "I bet you can't eat three" and "He must have eaten three" were common jokes back then and the idea even found its way into adverts for other products. Carling Black Label's poster ad showed a bowl containing four shredded wheat, with the caption "I bet he drinks Carling Black Label."

Killing Me Softly

Sebastian Garrett is an assassin. It wasn’t his first choice of vocation, but nonetheless, he’s good at it, and can be relied upon to get the job done. He’s on top of his game.

Until he is contracted to kill Princess Helena of Galorvia. She is not just any princess. Sebastian doesn’t bargain on his intended victim being a super-heroine who gives as good as she gets. Only his own genetic variant power saves him from becoming the victim, instead of Helena. 

Fate has another surprise in store. Sebastian was not expecting to fall in love with her.

Available on Amazon:

Paperback

E-book