Corn Flakes Facts

Corn flakes, or cornflakes, are a popular breakfast cereal made by toasting flakes of corn. The cereal was first created by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in 1894 as a food that he thought would be healthy for the patients of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan where he was superintendent. The breakfast cereal proved popular among the patients and the Kellogg Company was set up to produce corn flakes for a wider public. A patent for the process was granted in 1896. Corn flakes are a packaged cereal product formed from small toasted flakes of corn, and are usually served cold with milk and sugar. Since their original production, the plain flakes of corn have been flavored with salt, sugar and malt, and many follow-on products with additional ingredients have been manufactured such as “sugar frosted flakes”, “honey nut corn flakes” and others. Corn flakes are typically flakes that are orange-yellow in color, have a crunchy texture, and soften with milk which is usually served in a bowl with the cereal. Corn flakes were first produced by Kellogg’s, but now there are numerous brands of corn flakes, including Sanitarium, generic brands, and gluten free brands.