December 12, 2025 • 35 mins
This brand of breakfast cereal is widely used in snack mixes, both sweet and savory. Anney and Lauren get in the mix with the science and history of Chex.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio. I'm any
Res and I'm Lorn vogel Bomb. And today we have
an episode for you about checks Cereal. Yes, not a sponsor,
not a sponsor, not today, No, probably not ever, but
maybe you know what I can't say for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, I'm a fan of Checks. I don't really eat
Breakfast Cereal, but I do love a Chex Mix.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I don't have a lot. I love Breakfast Cereals,
but I treat them like a dessert. They're sweets. I
don't normally eat them unless it's a special occasion.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, Chex Mix I usually associate with hiking.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah good. Yeah. Was there any Particut reason this was
on your mind, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, Chex Mix is a very popular holiday season party
snack and sometimes gift and so I was like yeah,
And then I was like, Oh, we haven't done checks
Cereal yet. That's weird.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We are we are here, we are Yes. For past episodes,
you can see Kellogg's Yes, Graham Crackers Cereal. I believe
we did a whole did we over Wow? And I
typed it into our docs file. It popped. That could
(01:38):
mean anything, It could that's true. Yeah, Quaker Oats we did,
Yeah sure yeah. Yeah. Also Worcester Shear Sauce Lowry's season
Salt and Restaurant Chain. Yeah that I do love that episode. Well,
(01:58):
this one's also kind of wild and is going to
take you places.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So yeah, uh huh.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I guess that brings us to our question. Sure Check Cereal.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, Checks is a brand of factory produced cereal products
that are eaten as breakfast cereals and a snacks. The
cereal pieces come in this particular shape each is this
like small square pillow or or sort of like pillow
case because they're they're hollow, made up of two sheets
of perforated or like latticed dough that have been cinched
(02:37):
and sealed at the edges and then puffed out into
a three dimensional crisp Yeah. So they've got a lot
of available surface area on the inside and out for
like milk to get into if you're eating it like that,
or for seasonings or maybe melted chocolate to like attach
onto if you're making it into a snack. Kind of
(02:57):
kind of helps it stay crispy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Snacks made from Checks or similar brands or generic brand
cereals are called Chex Mix and can be made with
any number of savory and or sweet mix ins and flavorings,
think like roasted nuts, hard pretzels, small chocolate candies, stuff
like that, with the idea of the final product being
eaten out of hand and having like a few different crunchy,
(03:23):
soft textures. Yeah, as a breakfast cereal, it's meant to
be a quick, inexpensive meal. As Chex Mix, it's often
made in big batches for like a snack or for parties,
perhaps especially around the winter holidays. The brand does also
sell prepackaged Chex Mix, especially in like single servings at
(03:45):
convenience stores. And yeah, check cereal. It's just really satisfyingly crunchy,
but also delicate enough that it just sort of melts
in your mouth, which is a very pleasing combination. The
base cereals are like only sweet and toasty flavored, which
are great bases for whatever other flavors you want to
(04:05):
add in there. They're like if throw pillows were crispy
and delicious, And I really mean that because in a
certain type of household they are omnipresent to the point
of being unavoidable. But they absolutely add charm wherever they appear.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
They doo. They're kind of like something that in that
type of household is always around and you're kind of
maybe roll your eyes at it, but then you find
yourself reaching for it later. Oh yeah, Oh I'm glad
this is here.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
It's delicious. I really like the savory versions. But okay,
all right, let's dig in here. So the brand's three
base products are checks made from different grains, rice or
wheat or corn. They have slightly different flavors based on
that grain choice, but are otherwise seasoned real minimally, with
a little bit of sugar and salt, maybe some molasses
(04:56):
in there. However, they do also offer flavored cereals, and
at the current moment, the flavored varieties available are chocolate, peanut, butter, cinnamon, honeynut, blueberry,
and strawberry vanilla. Those flavorings can be either baked in
well and or dusted on. I guess, yeah, and yes.
That shape comes from making two long sheets of dough,
(05:21):
each kind of notched and perforated with this special dye,
and then lying them on top of one another and
cutting that double layer into squares in a way that
cinches the edges closed. And then doing this hot air
cooking process that puffs the two layers away from each other,
creating your little envelope or throw pillow. Yeah, and the
(05:41):
check's brand is aware that people use these things to
make snacks, like a lot. Like every flavor's product page
includes a couple starter ideas for snack themes, you know,
like mix this one into trail mix, or like this
would be good on a chocolate mint chex mix, or
like what about some blueberry lemon muddy buddies muddy buddies
(06:05):
being the brand's term for a snack mix where the
cereal has been coated in some kind of chocolate coating.
This is also sometimes called puppy chow or other regional names.
The coating is typically a combination of chocolate of whatever variety,
plus some butter or margarine, often peanut butter, and then
(06:25):
seasonings like maybe vanilla and or cinnamon. But you know,
you can play around. You often coat the cereal pieces
with the melted muddy stuff in a bowl and then
shake them in a bag with like powdered sugar or
cocoa or something like that to create a sort of
less sticky outer layer. The thus candied cereal pieces will
(06:48):
cool to little individual solid squares that can be served
alone or with other mix ins like nuts, chocolate chips,
other small candy pieces. I don't like mm's marshmallows, candied nuts,
sure candied mini pretzels, bite sized cookies, or pieces of cookies,
maybe some like dried or freeze dried fruit. There are
other sweet Chex mix varieties that aren't as creamy, using
(07:13):
like a melt of butter and sugar together with seasonings
like baking spices to coat the pieces instead of doing
like a chocolate thing. But yeah, savory Chex mixes use
a similar technique, like seasoning melted butter or margarine with
things like Worcester shear sauce, seasoned salt, onion, and garlic
powder and then tossing that together to coat Worcester shear
(07:35):
sauce being a complex, tangy sort of liquid seasoning and
seasoned salt in this case meaning basically like classic Lowries,
which is a blend made up of salt, sugar, paprika,
celery seed, turmeric, onion, and garlic, and then smaller amounts
of a few other herbs and spices like basil and
what I just listed that lowries worst to shear. Onion
(07:58):
and garlic are the traditional seasonings, but you can perhaps
see from like the sheer number of ingredients in like
season sold alone that really any type of herb or
spice can go in here if you want. This is
one space where dried and powdered is absolutely preferable to
fresh herbs. Yeah. For again, the traditional Chex mix. The
(08:25):
recipe is equal parts of corn rice and wheat checks
then mixed nuts, mini pretzels, and bite sized bagel chips.
That's what it is. Really, that is the traditional okay,
But of course you can add whatever you like, you know,
kind of like light and crunchy and bite sized is
(08:47):
the theme here. So was sabbi peas, peanut butter, pretzel bites,
maybe some popcorn mini crackers. Sometimes people do go for
sweet and salty, adding some of like.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
All of the above.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And people do have opinions about what is and is
not appropriate in a Chex mix, and may in fact
have opinions about whose recipe within their social group is
like the correct one.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
I just gotta let you know, listeners, there's a lot
of capitalization happening in this outline. The right one, the traditional.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Think I think you can hear it.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I think yes, I think so. But to emphasize it
is there.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And if if anyone out there disagrees about what the
traditional Chex Mix is, I would love.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
To hear about it. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
If you're like you didn't mention ryde chips, you absolute weirdo.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Monster?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah yeah monster, Yeah that's a better word. Yeah, anyway,
let us know, yes, yes, uh and yeah. In addition
to being served at parties, bags or tins of homemade
Chex Mix are sometimes given as Christmas gifts around the US.
You know, like homemade cookies. It's easy to batch and
it's nice and that it's homemade and you don't have
(10:13):
to think about.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It that hard. Yeah, yeah, that is nice.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It is nice. But the brand does sell pre made
Chex Mix. Their current lineup includes twelve savory flavors traditional
cheddar bold didn't look at what that contains, I'm sorry,
Honey barbecue, sour cream and onion white cheddar, Jalapeno cheddar,
Hot and Spicy spicy dill, Cheesy Pizza Remix, Buffalo Sanwich Remix,
(10:40):
and Zesty Taco Remix. Yes, there's also three sweeter flavors. Turtle, Honey,
Nut and Strawberry Cream, and a few Muddy Buddy mixes
Peebe and Chocolate Brownie Supreme, and then co brandings with
Cinnamon Toast, Crunch Girl, Scouts, Thin Mist, Funfetti, and Oreo.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay, that's there's been a lot going on with the
flavors over the years.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I have to say, oh goodness. As with any snack
brand situation, it's just yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
We'll get into that a little bit more in the history.
But what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Ah, the Bay cereals are partially made with whole grains,
which is nice. Generally have good punches of dietary fiber
and a bit of protein, lots of micronutrients. They will
help fill you up, but to keep you going, definitely
pare them with some more protein and some fat. Eat
a fruit and vegetable, you know, once you coat them
with sugar and butter. That's at treats are nice.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Indeed they are. We have some numbers for you.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, Surveys say that Checks is the second most popular
cereal in the United States, after only Cheers. It's not
by sales, that's by like popularity.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I have trouble believing that, but all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I I'm not sure if it's because of the snack
tie in anyway. According to surveys by you Gov, Checks
is currently the seventy second most popular brand of food
in the US, with sixty three percent of their respondents
reporting that they like it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right, Uh, well interesting, That's what I'll say. I'm
just surprised. I have no real issue with Checks, but
it's definitely wouldn't even.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Cross your mind to yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
No, But the history I have to say is fascinating.
It is.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
It is, yes, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from a quick
break forward from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And we're back. Thank you sponsoring, Yes, thank you. Okay. So,
the invention of cereal as we generally know it is
typically attributed to doctor James Caleb Jackson during his time
working at a New York sanatorium in eighteen sixty three.
He firmly believed that digestive issues were the root caused
(13:36):
to most health problems and sought to improve digestive health
through food and so to that end, he invented a
mixture of gram flour and water that he called granula
gr n ula. Eating it proved difficult. It had to
(13:57):
be broken up into pieces, and even so these pieces
were still too hard to eat, like physically texturally too
hard to eat on their own. Yeah, it was. It
wasn't a fun time. So Jackson got the idea to
soften the pieces with milk. John Harvey Kellogg, yes that one,
(14:21):
took this and ran with it, along with some religious overtones.
See our episode on that on Kellogg for more. After
Jackson sued him, Kellogg changed the name of his product
to granola and eventually invented corn flakes along with his
(14:42):
brother Will. I've read in some places that Will really
was the one that invented it, especially because they had sugar,
and we all know that John Harvey kell did not
like sugar. That was not his thing. But in the
following few decades, numerous other cereals were invented, including brands
like grape nuts and wheaties. Checks, originally called shredded Ralston,
(15:08):
was introduced by the Ralston Purina Company in nineteen thirty seven,
but stepping back a bit in the early days, it
was pretty much bite sized shredded wheat. It was intended
as a product for the followers of ral Stonism, which
was largely associated with the leader of the cult slash
health movement, Webster Edgarley. We're a food podcast. Uh huh,
(15:33):
I was telling Lauren, this was very difficult for me but.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
To put down because it's such a weird rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
It is a rabbit hole I did not know existed,
and it almost took it, almost swallowed me home. But
very basically, Edgarley wrote over eighty books and gave pseudo
scientific advice around all kinds of hell topics. Some of
the topics were wild, like lessons in artistic deep breathing,
(16:03):
and some extremely extremely dubious advice he would hand out.
It was just ooh. And he thought that Ralstonism was
a pathway not only to optimal health, but to things
like telepathy and mind control, possibly even immortality if you
(16:24):
could fork out the cash for his very expensive books,
like hundreds and hundreds of dollars in today's money. Wow, Yeah,
that's how much he was charging. He was also racist
and believe in eugenics, so there's cool. Yep. He founded
a wellness club called Ralston Health Club in eighteen seventy six,
(16:45):
a club that at the time had no physical location.
At first, the name was a nod to his mother's name,
but he later changed it to mean regime activity, light, strength, temperation,
oxygen and nature wow YEP. In an effort to build
up his base, he purchased land in New Jersey. At
(17:07):
his peak, he had about a million people following him.
He had some pretty well known friends, including the founder
of the Purina Company, William dan Forth. Dan Forth took
edgar Lee's advice and started offering and advertising a type
of shelf stable wheat germ cereal as a healthy breakfast
(17:29):
with edgar Le's paid endorsement as part of the ad campaign.
It debuted in eighteen ninety eight, and it did well
enough that the pair came together to form the Raston
Purina Company four years later in nineteen oh two. According
to some sources, when they first released Shread, Ralston Grocers
(17:49):
often mistakenly put it in the pet food section Oh no,
Yeah Yes. During the tough times of the Great Depresses,
check cereal was affordable and was viewed as something that
was healthy and fortifying for kids. Outside of a breakfast item,
it could also function as snack items, so multifunctional.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Great Yes checks as we know it came out in
the late nineteen thirties. By nineteen forty one, the company
had received patents for the cereal design and equipment to
make it that we more or less know today. And
this is getting a little bit away from the shredded
wheat concept, with similar threads of dough, but kind of
(18:33):
like a lattice or webbing among the threads, and a
cooking process that puffs the dough out instead of battening
it down.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, it wasn't until the nineteen fifties that the rice
recipe for the newly named Checks came out, And as
legend goes, the first recipe for Check's party Mix first
appeared on boxes of Check Cereal in nineteen fifty two.
The popular story goes that it didn't really take off
at first, and it wasn't until a wife of one
(19:03):
of the company's executives served it at a party that
it got some renow that took off. From what I understand,
it was a very what you have on hand recipe
that was what they were trying to do. The first
iteration supposedly had pretzels, peanuts, and Worcester sauce. Soon after
(19:25):
this corn Checks was introduced, a flaked rice version had
previously been introduced in the nineteen forties. Prepackaged checks mix
went on sale in nineteen eighty seven, and during the
nineteen eighties and nineties, the Charlie Brown Peanuts characters were
involved in the advertising of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And yeah, I'm not sure whether the partnership dropped off
for a while, but it's definitely back this year twenty
twenty five, for the seventy fifth anniversary of Peanuts, and
I think it's been odd and off.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Huh. They've had a lot of interesting ad campaigns, some
of which we'll get into just a second. Uh huh,
just a second. Actually, in nineteen ninety six, General Mills
purchased Ralston Purina, and that same year, certain boxes of
Chech's Cereal came with a video game called Check's Quest
(20:20):
about the Czech's Squadron members of the Intergalactic Federation of Cereals.
It was a first person shooter that followed Chech's Warrior.
It won a couple of prestigious advertising awards and had
a few sequels.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah. Yeah, So, so I spent more time reading about
Doom today than I thought I was going to. But
all right, so I somehow missed this in nineteen ninety six.
But Yes, Check's Quest was the first time the video
game had come promotionally packaged with a breakfast cereal. We'd
(20:58):
only gotten like commercial CD drives a decade or so earlier,
so it was relatively new technology. And Yes, Check's Quest
was a conversion of Doom of the Ultimate Doom, specifically
Doom being one of the first first person shooter video
games where you're moving through a three D environment and
you know, murdering digital stuff. Doom was super cool because
(21:22):
it was built from the beginning to allow players and
groups to modify like game physics and graphics and rule sets,
and thus create whole levels for themselves and at anyone
that they wanted to share them with. And Yeah, this
marketing agency got the idea to hire some nerds to
make a checks slash space adventure themed mod. It was
(21:48):
essentially nonviolent, like it involved a lot of mucus and
I guess teleporting instead of incredibly bloody deaths, which Doom
was also known for.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It seemed that it was well liked. Yeah listeners write
in if you played it, oh my goodness, please do
please do. Nesley purchased Ralston Purina in two thousand and one,
changing the name to Nesley Purina, and then in South Korea,
there was a marketing campaign for a new Checks mixed
(22:23):
flavor in two thousand and four to be voted on
by the public. The choices were chocolate or green onion.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, I have a minor correction here because I need
to emphasize that this was not a proposed Chex mix flavor.
It was a Check's breakfast cereal flavor. So they set
up this internet vote of chocolate or green onion breakfast cereal.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I feel like green onion would be very bracing morning
is baty necessary, but like it would be a very
praising flavor for the morning.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah. I don't know if I would like it for
with milk, but yeah, I mean, but I like a
savory breakfast.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah. Well, green onion won by a landslide, but it
was the chocolate flavor that was released. According to the company,
they worked on a green onion flavor for fifteen years
and released it as a limited addition flavor in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah. So this became this whole like pop culture phenomenon
because they had these ads with these two competing mascots.
CHECKI for the chocolate flavor and Chaka for the green
onion flavor. They never thought green Onion would win, you know,
but they didn't count on the power of the Internet
troll But like, yeah, like like for years afterwards, they
(23:52):
were like what happened to Chaka? Like justice for Choka,
like these memes of like Choka being a freedom fighter.
The Internet never let it go, Like when they called
for early product tasters, like over a decade later during development,
they got fourteen thousand, two hundred applications. Oh my goodness,
(24:20):
I read. I read it was like just fine, you know,
like like good for a snack, like a little bit mild.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah. I read a few reviews as well, and it
was kind of comical.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah yeah. Oh.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Also in twenty twenty, I hope you will be as
pleased as I was to hear that Check's Quest got
an HD remake. Yes, it turns out some humans never
really gave up this particular mod project. There's a multiplayer
mode now. It is available for free on Steam and Switch. O. No,
(25:02):
I might look that up. I might do it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Oh, I just I love everything about all of those
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yes, you know, we love some good food. Marketing and
video games. Very fun. Oh yeah, absolutely right in if
you've played it, please let us know, let us know
if you've had this green onion check. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Also just if you have a really good checks mixed
recipe yes or strong opinion.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yes, we would love to hear from you. But I
think that's what we have to say about check Cereal
for now.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with a listener.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Man.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, I do like Cereal. It's a treat to
me though, it really is. Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I definitely don't buy the sugary ones. They're too sugary
for me.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
That's fair, that is yeah, legitimate. That's why I feel
like they're a dessert.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, even as a dessert, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Too much, too much. Sheldon wrote that old BBC thing
about spaghetti trees brings back memories from when it first
came out, or at least soon after I was about
five years old and fifty seven. It must have been
on some local news show doing a story of the
BBC's prank. I remember my Uncle Freddy was visiting us
(26:59):
at the time when it came on TV. I watched
it kind of thought it was stupid, but I remember
Uncle Freddy laughing his head off, smacking his knee and
just howling. I just didn't see it being all that funny.
When I was older, I found out that Uncle Freddy
would often have a bit too much from the bottle,
(27:20):
which may explain his over the top reaction. Also with spaghetti,
I make my own from time to time. My granddaughters
like it, and they like helping me make it. When
making your own, you can make it longer than the
traditional length. The girls used to love having spaghetti that's
longer than they are tall, much to the dismay of
(27:44):
their parents. I taught them how to start with one
end of a strand and then slurp the whole thing up.
With a four foot long spaghetti, you can get a
really good slurp, and sometimes that last bit is going
in so fast that it will whip around and hit
your ear before it disappears. Also from a back a
(28:09):
bit spruce beer, as you mentioned here in Quebec, The
non alcoholic version is common in supermarkets. A bunch of
years ago, while visiting a friend in Colorado, I brought
him some so that he could savor that unique taste.
I'll never forget what he said to me. You know,
when you're skiing and you crash into the trees, the
(28:32):
taste reminds me of that. That's a good review.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I don't know that makes me want to try it more.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Let me crash into the trees please. Oh wonderful. Oh
I love your four foot lung spaghetti. That's really fun.
When I told that story about making spaghetti with my
mom in that episode, I think this probably for your granddaughters,
(29:01):
is a similar, like really fun memory that they have. Yeah.
Oh absolutely, Yeah, that's really cute and.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It is wild that you remember this spaghetti tree segment.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
That's great. That's I'm really happy to hear from someone
who saw it, because it was one of the research
notes where I just thought, surely this didn't happen, and
I kept finding all this proof that it had.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah you're like, oh okay, yeah cool.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
So I'm very glad to hear from someone who saw it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yes, or at least news of it. Just just yes,
affirming reality love it. Garrett wrote, first of all, I
want to thank you so much for reading my email
about your saison episode. It was really cool to share
my passion with both of you. Naturally, I get excited
anytime you drop a beer episode, but I was especially
(29:57):
pumped to see spruce beer as a topic. One of
my favorite mostly perennial seasonal offerings is Pennsylvania Tuxedo, brewed
by Dogfish Headcraft Brewery based in Delaware. The name is
a reference to a popular red and black checkered flannel
hunting outfit made by wool Rich that was adopted by
hunters across Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
The beer is.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
A bold eight point five percent pale ale in quote
marks brew of spruce tips and a ton of resinous hops.
How this is a pale ale and not an imperial
or double IPA I don't quite understand. As discussed on
your IPA episode, there's a bit of leeway in categorization
with these styles, as you both know. All I know
(30:39):
is that it's delicious, But unfortunately I don't think it
gets distributed down south. If you're traveling to the mid
Atlantic or Northeast anytime this season, you might run across
it at a good craft beer shop. I highly suggest
trying it. It's so good that I seek it out
every year. It's like when you put up a Christmas
tree and get sap all over your hands, but you
can drink that sweet, piny goodness and catch that warm,
(31:00):
boozy holiday feeling. In my haste to write and send
my first email to you, I forgot to include the
pet tax, so hopefully this makes up for it. My
cats are named Nathan and Sarah, who are litter mates
and are thirteen years old. You wouldn't think they're related,
as Sarah is a long haired, black, maybe chocolate cat
and Nathan is your typical black and white, short haired
(31:23):
tuxedo cat. They don't particularly like each other, but will
occasionally occupy the same four x six foot square area,
but it never lasts long before one of them hisses
and swats the other. They're both polydactyl on every paw,
which is kind of neat. They're both girls, but we
didn't know Nathan was a female when we named her
at forty five weeks old. But it's a great name,
(31:45):
so who cares. One really cool thing about Nathan is
that she loves dark multi beers and no, really, many
times after I've poured a glass of a nice stout,
especially bourbon, barrel aged and or conditioned with coffee, come
over and lick the mouth of the bottle. She has
done this dozens of times over the years. I attached
(32:06):
a few pictures and a short video clip as proof.
Sarah is not the most photogenet cat, appearing as a dark, fluffy,
fluffy blob, but she's actually felt and lovable nonetheless. So
there you have it. Beer is awesome. Even cats love
it sometimes. I hope you both have a wonderful holiday
season and happy New Year. Till next time. Thanks for
(32:26):
all you do, and a hearty cheers to you and
your listeners.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Thank you to you as well.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yes, yes, oh yes. And attached are pictures of a
very lovely tuxedo cat excitedly licking the mouth of a
beer bottle, super into it. Just yeah, just total bliss. Yes,
(32:57):
and such good cat thumbs. Oh yeah, I love polydactyl.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I love this. This is fantastic. We love hearing your
pet stories. I love hearing about Lauren's pet stories.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So yeah, yeah, I also I my cats don't do this,
but I have a friend whose cat used to if
she came across a glass of liquid unattended in the house,
would knock it over on the off chance that there
was beer inside, because she had found out that sometimes
(33:36):
glasses contain beer, and so she should probably find.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Out because she messed around and found out.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, but in the funnest way possible for her.
It was a little bit of a pain for everybody else.
And also, oh, I'm so glad that you wrote in
about the Pennsylvania tuxedo from dogfish Head, because A I
love dogfish Head and I saw that come up in
a number of places and was so curious about it.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, I saw that come up too, And I'm glad
thanks for writing about about beer. You write in with
these thoughts, opinions, knowledge much appreciated, so good. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And I still am hoping to try some spruce beer someday.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, I'm gonna have to. I don't get out to
you know, different different shops around Atlanta have different stocks
of things, perhaps obviously, and I haven't been over to
one of the like good weird craft beer ones in
a while.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So field trip, field trip. Well. Thank you to both
of these listeners for writing in. If you would like
to write to us, you can. Our email is Hello
at sabrepod dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and Blue Sky at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Save is production of
iHeartRadio four more podcasts my Heart Radio. You can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(35:20):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio. I'm any
Res and I'm Lorn vogel Bomb. And today we have
an episode for you about checks Cereal. Yes, not a sponsor,
not a sponsor, not today, No, probably not ever, but
maybe you know what I can't say for sure.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Yeah, I'm a fan of Checks. I don't really eat
Breakfast Cereal, but I do love a Chex Mix.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah. Yeah, I don't have a lot. I love Breakfast Cereals,
but I treat them like a dessert. They're sweets. I
don't normally eat them unless it's a special occasion.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Sure.
Speaker 1 (00:49):
Yeah, Chex Mix I usually associate with hiking.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
It.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah good. Yeah. Was there any Particut reason this was
on your mind, Lauren?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yes, Chex Mix is a very popular holiday season party
snack and sometimes gift and so I was like yeah,
And then I was like, Oh, we haven't done checks
Cereal yet. That's weird.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
We are we are here, we are Yes. For past episodes,
you can see Kellogg's Yes, Graham Crackers Cereal. I believe
we did a whole did we over Wow? And I
typed it into our docs file. It popped. That could
(01:38):
mean anything, It could that's true. Yeah, Quaker Oats we did,
Yeah sure yeah. Yeah. Also Worcester Shear Sauce Lowry's season
Salt and Restaurant Chain. Yeah that I do love that episode. Well,
(01:58):
this one's also kind of wild and is going to
take you places.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
So yeah, uh huh.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
I guess that brings us to our question. Sure Check Cereal.
Speaker 2 (02:12):
What is it?
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Well, Checks is a brand of factory produced cereal products
that are eaten as breakfast cereals and a snacks. The
cereal pieces come in this particular shape each is this
like small square pillow or or sort of like pillow
case because they're they're hollow, made up of two sheets
of perforated or like latticed dough that have been cinched
(02:37):
and sealed at the edges and then puffed out into
a three dimensional crisp Yeah. So they've got a lot
of available surface area on the inside and out for
like milk to get into if you're eating it like that,
or for seasonings or maybe melted chocolate to like attach
onto if you're making it into a snack. Kind of
(02:57):
kind of helps it stay crispy. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Snacks made from Checks or similar brands or generic brand
cereals are called Chex Mix and can be made with
any number of savory and or sweet mix ins and flavorings,
think like roasted nuts, hard pretzels, small chocolate candies, stuff
like that, with the idea of the final product being
eaten out of hand and having like a few different crunchy,
(03:23):
soft textures. Yeah, as a breakfast cereal, it's meant to
be a quick, inexpensive meal. As Chex Mix, it's often
made in big batches for like a snack or for parties,
perhaps especially around the winter holidays. The brand does also
sell prepackaged Chex Mix, especially in like single servings at
(03:45):
convenience stores. And yeah, check cereal. It's just really satisfyingly crunchy,
but also delicate enough that it just sort of melts
in your mouth, which is a very pleasing combination. The
base cereals are like only sweet and toasty flavored, which
are great bases for whatever other flavors you want to
(04:05):
add in there. They're like if throw pillows were crispy
and delicious, And I really mean that because in a
certain type of household they are omnipresent to the point
of being unavoidable. But they absolutely add charm wherever they appear.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
They doo. They're kind of like something that in that
type of household is always around and you're kind of
maybe roll your eyes at it, but then you find
yourself reaching for it later. Oh yeah, Oh I'm glad
this is here.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
It's delicious. I really like the savory versions. But okay,
all right, let's dig in here. So the brand's three
base products are checks made from different grains, rice or
wheat or corn. They have slightly different flavors based on
that grain choice, but are otherwise seasoned real minimally, with
a little bit of sugar and salt, maybe some molasses
(04:56):
in there. However, they do also offer flavored cereals, and
at the current moment, the flavored varieties available are chocolate, peanut, butter, cinnamon, honeynut, blueberry,
and strawberry vanilla. Those flavorings can be either baked in
well and or dusted on. I guess, yeah, and yes.
That shape comes from making two long sheets of dough,
(05:21):
each kind of notched and perforated with this special dye,
and then lying them on top of one another and
cutting that double layer into squares in a way that
cinches the edges closed. And then doing this hot air
cooking process that puffs the two layers away from each other,
creating your little envelope or throw pillow. Yeah, and the
(05:41):
check's brand is aware that people use these things to
make snacks, like a lot. Like every flavor's product page
includes a couple starter ideas for snack themes, you know,
like mix this one into trail mix, or like this
would be good on a chocolate mint chex mix, or
like what about some blueberry lemon muddy buddies muddy buddies
(06:05):
being the brand's term for a snack mix where the
cereal has been coated in some kind of chocolate coating.
This is also sometimes called puppy chow or other regional names.
The coating is typically a combination of chocolate of whatever variety,
plus some butter or margarine, often peanut butter, and then
(06:25):
seasonings like maybe vanilla and or cinnamon. But you know,
you can play around. You often coat the cereal pieces
with the melted muddy stuff in a bowl and then
shake them in a bag with like powdered sugar or
cocoa or something like that to create a sort of
less sticky outer layer. The thus candied cereal pieces will
(06:48):
cool to little individual solid squares that can be served
alone or with other mix ins like nuts, chocolate chips,
other small candy pieces. I don't like mm's marshmallows, candied nuts,
sure candied mini pretzels, bite sized cookies, or pieces of cookies,
maybe some like dried or freeze dried fruit. There are
other sweet Chex mix varieties that aren't as creamy, using
(07:13):
like a melt of butter and sugar together with seasonings
like baking spices to coat the pieces instead of doing
like a chocolate thing. But yeah, savory Chex mixes use
a similar technique, like seasoning melted butter or margarine with
things like Worcester shear sauce, seasoned salt, onion, and garlic
powder and then tossing that together to coat Worcester shear
(07:35):
sauce being a complex, tangy sort of liquid seasoning and
seasoned salt in this case meaning basically like classic Lowries,
which is a blend made up of salt, sugar, paprika,
celery seed, turmeric, onion, and garlic, and then smaller amounts
of a few other herbs and spices like basil and
what I just listed that lowries worst to shear. Onion
(07:58):
and garlic are the traditional seasonings, but you can perhaps
see from like the sheer number of ingredients in like
season sold alone that really any type of herb or
spice can go in here if you want. This is
one space where dried and powdered is absolutely preferable to
fresh herbs. Yeah. For again, the traditional Chex mix. The
(08:25):
recipe is equal parts of corn rice and wheat checks
then mixed nuts, mini pretzels, and bite sized bagel chips.
That's what it is. Really, that is the traditional okay,
But of course you can add whatever you like, you know,
kind of like light and crunchy and bite sized is
(08:47):
the theme here. So was sabbi peas, peanut butter, pretzel bites,
maybe some popcorn mini crackers. Sometimes people do go for
sweet and salty, adding some of like.
Speaker 1 (08:57):
All of the above.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And people do have opinions about what is and is
not appropriate in a Chex mix, and may in fact
have opinions about whose recipe within their social group is
like the correct one.
Speaker 1 (09:18):
I just gotta let you know, listeners, there's a lot
of capitalization happening in this outline. The right one, the traditional.
Speaker 2 (09:28):
Think I think you can hear it.
Speaker 1 (09:29):
I think yes, I think so. But to emphasize it
is there.
Speaker 2 (09:36):
And if if anyone out there disagrees about what the
traditional Chex Mix is, I would love.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
To hear about it. Absolutely.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
If you're like you didn't mention ryde chips, you absolute weirdo.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Monster?
Speaker 2 (09:50):
Yeah yeah monster, Yeah that's a better word. Yeah, anyway,
let us know, yes, yes, uh and yeah. In addition
to being served at parties, bags or tins of homemade
Chex Mix are sometimes given as Christmas gifts around the US.
You know, like homemade cookies. It's easy to batch and
it's nice and that it's homemade and you don't have
(10:13):
to think about.
Speaker 1 (10:13):
It that hard. Yeah, yeah, that is nice.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
It is nice. But the brand does sell pre made
Chex Mix. Their current lineup includes twelve savory flavors traditional
cheddar bold didn't look at what that contains, I'm sorry,
Honey barbecue, sour cream and onion white cheddar, Jalapeno cheddar,
Hot and Spicy spicy dill, Cheesy Pizza Remix, Buffalo Sanwich Remix,
(10:40):
and Zesty Taco Remix. Yes, there's also three sweeter flavors. Turtle, Honey,
Nut and Strawberry Cream, and a few Muddy Buddy mixes
Peebe and Chocolate Brownie Supreme, and then co brandings with
Cinnamon Toast, Crunch Girl, Scouts, Thin Mist, Funfetti, and Oreo.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Okay, that's there's been a lot going on with the
flavors over the years.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
I have to say, oh goodness. As with any snack
brand situation, it's just yeah, yep.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
We'll get into that a little bit more in the history.
But what about the nutrition.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
Ah, the Bay cereals are partially made with whole grains,
which is nice. Generally have good punches of dietary fiber
and a bit of protein, lots of micronutrients. They will
help fill you up, but to keep you going, definitely
pare them with some more protein and some fat. Eat
a fruit and vegetable, you know, once you coat them
with sugar and butter. That's at treats are nice.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
Indeed they are. We have some numbers for you.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, Surveys say that Checks is the second most popular
cereal in the United States, after only Cheers. It's not
by sales, that's by like popularity.
Speaker 1 (12:09):
I have trouble believing that, but all right, okay.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I I'm not sure if it's because of the snack
tie in anyway. According to surveys by you Gov, Checks
is currently the seventy second most popular brand of food
in the US, with sixty three percent of their respondents
reporting that they like it.
Speaker 1 (12:35):
All right, Uh, well interesting, That's what I'll say. I'm
just surprised. I have no real issue with Checks, but
it's definitely wouldn't even.
Speaker 2 (12:50):
Cross your mind to yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
No, But the history I have to say is fascinating.
It is.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
It is, yes, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from a quick
break forward from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
And we're back. Thank you sponsoring, Yes, thank you. Okay. So,
the invention of cereal as we generally know it is
typically attributed to doctor James Caleb Jackson during his time
working at a New York sanatorium in eighteen sixty three.
He firmly believed that digestive issues were the root caused
(13:36):
to most health problems and sought to improve digestive health
through food and so to that end, he invented a
mixture of gram flour and water that he called granula
gr n ula. Eating it proved difficult. It had to
(13:57):
be broken up into pieces, and even so these pieces
were still too hard to eat, like physically texturally too
hard to eat on their own. Yeah, it was. It
wasn't a fun time. So Jackson got the idea to
soften the pieces with milk. John Harvey Kellogg, yes that one,
(14:21):
took this and ran with it, along with some religious overtones.
See our episode on that on Kellogg for more. After
Jackson sued him, Kellogg changed the name of his product
to granola and eventually invented corn flakes along with his
(14:42):
brother Will. I've read in some places that Will really
was the one that invented it, especially because they had sugar,
and we all know that John Harvey kell did not
like sugar. That was not his thing. But in the
following few decades, numerous other cereals were invented, including brands
like grape nuts and wheaties. Checks, originally called shredded Ralston,
(15:08):
was introduced by the Ralston Purina Company in nineteen thirty seven,
but stepping back a bit in the early days, it
was pretty much bite sized shredded wheat. It was intended
as a product for the followers of ral Stonism, which
was largely associated with the leader of the cult slash
health movement, Webster Edgarley. We're a food podcast. Uh huh,
(15:33):
I was telling Lauren, this was very difficult for me but.
Speaker 2 (15:38):
To put down because it's such a weird rabbit hole.
Speaker 1 (15:41):
It is a rabbit hole I did not know existed,
and it almost took it, almost swallowed me home. But
very basically, Edgarley wrote over eighty books and gave pseudo
scientific advice around all kinds of hell topics. Some of
the topics were wild, like lessons in artistic deep breathing,
(16:03):
and some extremely extremely dubious advice he would hand out.
It was just ooh. And he thought that Ralstonism was
a pathway not only to optimal health, but to things
like telepathy and mind control, possibly even immortality if you
(16:24):
could fork out the cash for his very expensive books,
like hundreds and hundreds of dollars in today's money. Wow, Yeah,
that's how much he was charging. He was also racist
and believe in eugenics, so there's cool. Yep. He founded
a wellness club called Ralston Health Club in eighteen seventy six,
(16:45):
a club that at the time had no physical location.
At first, the name was a nod to his mother's name,
but he later changed it to mean regime activity, light, strength, temperation,
oxygen and nature wow YEP. In an effort to build
up his base, he purchased land in New Jersey. At
(17:07):
his peak, he had about a million people following him.
He had some pretty well known friends, including the founder
of the Purina Company, William dan Forth. Dan Forth took
edgar Lee's advice and started offering and advertising a type
of shelf stable wheat germ cereal as a healthy breakfast
(17:29):
with edgar Le's paid endorsement as part of the ad campaign.
It debuted in eighteen ninety eight, and it did well
enough that the pair came together to form the Raston
Purina Company four years later in nineteen oh two. According
to some sources, when they first released Shread, Ralston Grocers
(17:49):
often mistakenly put it in the pet food section Oh no,
Yeah Yes. During the tough times of the Great Depresses,
check cereal was affordable and was viewed as something that
was healthy and fortifying for kids. Outside of a breakfast item,
it could also function as snack items, so multifunctional.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Great Yes checks as we know it came out in
the late nineteen thirties. By nineteen forty one, the company
had received patents for the cereal design and equipment to
make it that we more or less know today. And
this is getting a little bit away from the shredded
wheat concept, with similar threads of dough, but kind of
(18:33):
like a lattice or webbing among the threads, and a
cooking process that puffs the dough out instead of battening
it down.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Yeah, it wasn't until the nineteen fifties that the rice
recipe for the newly named Checks came out, And as
legend goes, the first recipe for Check's party Mix first
appeared on boxes of Check Cereal in nineteen fifty two.
The popular story goes that it didn't really take off
at first, and it wasn't until a wife of one
(19:03):
of the company's executives served it at a party that
it got some renow that took off. From what I understand,
it was a very what you have on hand recipe
that was what they were trying to do. The first
iteration supposedly had pretzels, peanuts, and Worcester sauce. Soon after
(19:25):
this corn Checks was introduced, a flaked rice version had
previously been introduced in the nineteen forties. Prepackaged checks mix
went on sale in nineteen eighty seven, and during the
nineteen eighties and nineties, the Charlie Brown Peanuts characters were
involved in the advertising of this stuff.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And yeah, I'm not sure whether the partnership dropped off
for a while, but it's definitely back this year twenty
twenty five, for the seventy fifth anniversary of Peanuts, and
I think it's been odd and off.
Speaker 1 (19:57):
Huh. They've had a lot of interesting ad campaigns, some
of which we'll get into just a second. Uh huh,
just a second. Actually, in nineteen ninety six, General Mills
purchased Ralston Purina, and that same year, certain boxes of
Chech's Cereal came with a video game called Check's Quest
(20:20):
about the Czech's Squadron members of the Intergalactic Federation of Cereals.
It was a first person shooter that followed Chech's Warrior.
It won a couple of prestigious advertising awards and had
a few sequels.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Yeah. Yeah, So, so I spent more time reading about
Doom today than I thought I was going to. But
all right, so I somehow missed this in nineteen ninety six.
But Yes, Check's Quest was the first time the video
game had come promotionally packaged with a breakfast cereal. We'd
(20:58):
only gotten like commercial CD drives a decade or so earlier,
so it was relatively new technology. And Yes, Check's Quest
was a conversion of Doom of the Ultimate Doom, specifically
Doom being one of the first first person shooter video
games where you're moving through a three D environment and
you know, murdering digital stuff. Doom was super cool because
(21:22):
it was built from the beginning to allow players and
groups to modify like game physics and graphics and rule sets,
and thus create whole levels for themselves and at anyone
that they wanted to share them with. And Yeah, this
marketing agency got the idea to hire some nerds to
make a checks slash space adventure themed mod. It was
(21:48):
essentially nonviolent, like it involved a lot of mucus and
I guess teleporting instead of incredibly bloody deaths, which Doom
was also known for.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
It seemed that it was well liked. Yeah listeners write
in if you played it, oh my goodness, please do
please do. Nesley purchased Ralston Purina in two thousand and one,
changing the name to Nesley Purina, and then in South Korea,
there was a marketing campaign for a new Checks mixed
(22:23):
flavor in two thousand and four to be voted on
by the public. The choices were chocolate or green onion.
Speaker 2 (22:32):
Okay, I have a minor correction here because I need
to emphasize that this was not a proposed Chex mix flavor.
It was a Check's breakfast cereal flavor. So they set
up this internet vote of chocolate or green onion breakfast cereal.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
I feel like green onion would be very bracing morning
is baty necessary, but like it would be a very
praising flavor for the morning.
Speaker 2 (23:04):
Yeah. I don't know if I would like it for
with milk, but yeah, I mean, but I like a
savory breakfast.
Speaker 1 (23:10):
Yeah. Well, green onion won by a landslide, but it
was the chocolate flavor that was released. According to the company,
they worked on a green onion flavor for fifteen years
and released it as a limited addition flavor in twenty twenty.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
Yeah. So this became this whole like pop culture phenomenon
because they had these ads with these two competing mascots.
CHECKI for the chocolate flavor and Chaka for the green
onion flavor. They never thought green Onion would win, you know,
but they didn't count on the power of the Internet
troll But like, yeah, like like for years afterwards, they
(23:52):
were like what happened to Chaka? Like justice for Choka,
like these memes of like Choka being a freedom fighter.
The Internet never let it go, Like when they called
for early product tasters, like over a decade later during development,
they got fourteen thousand, two hundred applications. Oh my goodness,
(24:20):
I read. I read it was like just fine, you know,
like like good for a snack, like a little bit mild.
Speaker 1 (24:26):
Yeah. I read a few reviews as well, and it
was kind of comical.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
Yeah yeah. Oh.
Speaker 1 (24:36):
Also in twenty twenty, I hope you will be as
pleased as I was to hear that Check's Quest got
an HD remake. Yes, it turns out some humans never
really gave up this particular mod project. There's a multiplayer
mode now. It is available for free on Steam and Switch. O. No,
(25:02):
I might look that up. I might do it. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:08):
Oh, I just I love everything about all of those
It's wonderful.
Speaker 1 (25:13):
Yes, you know, we love some good food. Marketing and
video games. Very fun. Oh yeah, absolutely right in if
you've played it, please let us know, let us know
if you've had this green onion check. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Also just if you have a really good checks mixed
recipe yes or strong opinion.
Speaker 1 (25:40):
Yes, we would love to hear from you. But I
think that's what we have to say about check Cereal
for now.
Speaker 2 (25:48):
It is. We do already have some listener mail for you, though,
and we are going to get into that as soon
as we get back from one more quick break for
a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (26:05):
And we're back. Thank you, sponsor, Yes, thank you, and
we're back with a listener.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Man.
Speaker 1 (26:17):
Yeah, yeah, I do like Cereal. It's a treat to
me though, it really is. Oh.
Speaker 2 (26:25):
I definitely don't buy the sugary ones. They're too sugary
for me.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
That's fair, that is yeah, legitimate. That's why I feel
like they're a dessert.
Speaker 2 (26:33):
Yeah, even as a dessert, I'm like.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Too much, too much. Sheldon wrote that old BBC thing
about spaghetti trees brings back memories from when it first
came out, or at least soon after I was about
five years old and fifty seven. It must have been
on some local news show doing a story of the
BBC's prank. I remember my Uncle Freddy was visiting us
(26:59):
at the time when it came on TV. I watched
it kind of thought it was stupid, but I remember
Uncle Freddy laughing his head off, smacking his knee and
just howling. I just didn't see it being all that funny.
When I was older, I found out that Uncle Freddy
would often have a bit too much from the bottle,
(27:20):
which may explain his over the top reaction. Also with spaghetti,
I make my own from time to time. My granddaughters
like it, and they like helping me make it. When
making your own, you can make it longer than the
traditional length. The girls used to love having spaghetti that's
longer than they are tall, much to the dismay of
(27:44):
their parents. I taught them how to start with one
end of a strand and then slurp the whole thing up.
With a four foot long spaghetti, you can get a
really good slurp, and sometimes that last bit is going
in so fast that it will whip around and hit
your ear before it disappears. Also from a back a
(28:09):
bit spruce beer, as you mentioned here in Quebec, The
non alcoholic version is common in supermarkets. A bunch of
years ago, while visiting a friend in Colorado, I brought
him some so that he could savor that unique taste.
I'll never forget what he said to me. You know,
when you're skiing and you crash into the trees, the
(28:32):
taste reminds me of that. That's a good review.
Speaker 2 (28:37):
I don't know that makes me want to try it more.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
Let me crash into the trees please. Oh wonderful. Oh
I love your four foot lung spaghetti. That's really fun.
When I told that story about making spaghetti with my
mom in that episode, I think this probably for your granddaughters,
(29:01):
is a similar, like really fun memory that they have. Yeah.
Oh absolutely, Yeah, that's really cute and.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
It is wild that you remember this spaghetti tree segment.
Speaker 1 (29:13):
That's great. That's I'm really happy to hear from someone
who saw it, because it was one of the research
notes where I just thought, surely this didn't happen, and
I kept finding all this proof that it had.
Speaker 2 (29:28):
Yeah you're like, oh okay, yeah cool.
Speaker 1 (29:31):
So I'm very glad to hear from someone who saw it.
Speaker 2 (29:36):
Yes, or at least news of it. Just just yes,
affirming reality love it. Garrett wrote, first of all, I
want to thank you so much for reading my email
about your saison episode. It was really cool to share
my passion with both of you. Naturally, I get excited
anytime you drop a beer episode, but I was especially
(29:57):
pumped to see spruce beer as a topic. One of
my favorite mostly perennial seasonal offerings is Pennsylvania Tuxedo, brewed
by Dogfish Headcraft Brewery based in Delaware. The name is
a reference to a popular red and black checkered flannel
hunting outfit made by wool Rich that was adopted by
hunters across Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (30:18):
The beer is.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
A bold eight point five percent pale ale in quote
marks brew of spruce tips and a ton of resinous hops.
How this is a pale ale and not an imperial
or double IPA I don't quite understand. As discussed on
your IPA episode, there's a bit of leeway in categorization
with these styles, as you both know. All I know
(30:39):
is that it's delicious, But unfortunately I don't think it
gets distributed down south. If you're traveling to the mid
Atlantic or Northeast anytime this season, you might run across
it at a good craft beer shop. I highly suggest
trying it. It's so good that I seek it out
every year. It's like when you put up a Christmas
tree and get sap all over your hands, but you
can drink that sweet, piny goodness and catch that warm,
(31:00):
boozy holiday feeling. In my haste to write and send
my first email to you, I forgot to include the
pet tax, so hopefully this makes up for it. My
cats are named Nathan and Sarah, who are litter mates
and are thirteen years old. You wouldn't think they're related,
as Sarah is a long haired, black, maybe chocolate cat
and Nathan is your typical black and white, short haired
(31:23):
tuxedo cat. They don't particularly like each other, but will
occasionally occupy the same four x six foot square area,
but it never lasts long before one of them hisses
and swats the other. They're both polydactyl on every paw,
which is kind of neat. They're both girls, but we
didn't know Nathan was a female when we named her
at forty five weeks old. But it's a great name,
(31:45):
so who cares. One really cool thing about Nathan is
that she loves dark multi beers and no, really, many
times after I've poured a glass of a nice stout,
especially bourbon, barrel aged and or conditioned with coffee, come
over and lick the mouth of the bottle. She has
done this dozens of times over the years. I attached
(32:06):
a few pictures and a short video clip as proof.
Sarah is not the most photogenet cat, appearing as a dark, fluffy,
fluffy blob, but she's actually felt and lovable nonetheless. So
there you have it. Beer is awesome. Even cats love
it sometimes. I hope you both have a wonderful holiday
season and happy New Year. Till next time. Thanks for
(32:26):
all you do, and a hearty cheers to you and
your listeners.
Speaker 1 (32:33):
Thank you to you as well.
Speaker 2 (32:34):
Yes, yes, oh yes. And attached are pictures of a
very lovely tuxedo cat excitedly licking the mouth of a
beer bottle, super into it. Just yeah, just total bliss. Yes,
(32:57):
and such good cat thumbs. Oh yeah, I love polydactyl.
Speaker 1 (33:03):
I love this. This is fantastic. We love hearing your
pet stories. I love hearing about Lauren's pet stories.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
So yeah, yeah, I also I my cats don't do this,
but I have a friend whose cat used to if
she came across a glass of liquid unattended in the house,
would knock it over on the off chance that there
was beer inside, because she had found out that sometimes
(33:36):
glasses contain beer, and so she should probably find.
Speaker 1 (33:39):
Out because she messed around and found out.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Yeah, yeah, but in the funnest way possible for her.
It was a little bit of a pain for everybody else.
And also, oh, I'm so glad that you wrote in
about the Pennsylvania tuxedo from dogfish Head, because A I
love dogfish Head and I saw that come up in
a number of places and was so curious about it.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Yeah, I saw that come up too, And I'm glad
thanks for writing about about beer. You write in with
these thoughts, opinions, knowledge much appreciated, so good. Yes, yes, yes, yes.
And I still am hoping to try some spruce beer someday.
Speaker 2 (34:32):
Yeah, I'm gonna have to. I don't get out to
you know, different different shops around Atlanta have different stocks
of things, perhaps obviously, and I haven't been over to
one of the like good weird craft beer ones in
a while.
Speaker 1 (34:45):
So field trip, field trip. Well. Thank you to both
of these listeners for writing in. If you would like
to write to us, you can. Our email is Hello
at sabrepod dot com.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
We are also on social media. You can find us
on Instagram and Blue Sky at saver pod and we
do hope to hear from you. Save is production of
iHeartRadio four more podcasts my Heart Radio. You can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers Dylan
Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening, and
(35:20):
we hope that lots more good things are coming your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.