He and his younger brother Will Kellogg found a new way of processing corn: they steamed and soften the kernels, added flavorings and then flattened it by feeding it through two steel rollers. The resulting flakes were then baked in an oven.
It dried into flakes, which were fortunately a big hit among the Sanitarium’s clientele. Dr. Kellogg named their first successful wheat flakes product Granose Flakes.
Two years later they had a patent for the technique and began selling Sanitas Toasted Corn Flakes in 1898.
Will Kellogg developed the product into a great commercial success, in part by adding sugar to the malt and corn combination from which he made the flakes.
In 1895 Charles W. Post introduced Postum Cereal Coffee. In 1898 Grape Nuts was put on the market, Post, using a similar process of flaking as the Kellogg brothers in 1906 introduced his flaked corn.
Another important person in the history of the breakfast cereal industry is C.C Washburn, who began a flour mill in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He formed the General Mills Company. He introduced a wheat flake that became Wheaties in the 1920s, and is still popular today.
Cereal flake breakfast
