Lucky for junk food fans, there’s always another weird food holiday celebrating something crunchy, kinda greasy and almost without any nutritional value whatever.
March 5th is a case in point.
All hail National Cheese Doodle Day.
Good news for gluten-free eating
Invented in the 1940s by one Morrie Yohai, a US Marine deployed overseas in World War II, cheese doodles are made of cornmeal that’s been puffed, then baked or fried and coated with cheddar cheese.
There’s no wheat gluten in them, although they may be processed on equipment that also processes wheat products.
Make sure to read the back of the bag. Most brands of puffed cheese snacks specify either gluten-free or a warning about other kinds of allergens.
Know your cheese doodles (Please see accompanying list.)
As you’d expect, once they hit the market, several different companies engineered their very own brands.
For the record, the Cheez Doodles® trademark belongs to Wise Foods, once a division of Borden. Their current offerings include:
- Cheez Doodles Puffed – the baked snack version in cheddar, white cheddar, honey BBQ, Hot’n’ Honey flavors
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy – the hard, crunchy fried version in cheddar, BBQ & ranch flavors
- Cheez Doodles Crunchy, Reduced Fat
- Cheez Doodles Puffed Balls – cheddar & BBQ flavors
Cheez Doodles® were and still are big sellers. Wise celebrated its 90th birthday in 2011.
That other cheese-doodle biggie – Cheetos® by Texas-based Frito-Lay® – was invented in 1948 by Charles Elmer Doolin, who also invented Fritos®.
Just like Cheez Doodles®, Cheetos® come both baked and fried and in exotic flavors like
- CHEETOS® Crunchy Cheddar Jalapeno Flavored Snacks
- CHEETOS® Crunchy FLAMIN' HOT® Limon Cheese Flavored Snacks
- CHEETOS® Crunchy Salsa Con Queso Cheese Flavored Snacks
- CHEETOS® Puffs FLAMIN' HOT® Cheese Flavored Snacks
- CHEETOS® Puffs SIMPLY NATURAL™ White Cheddar Cheese Flavored Snacks
To be clear, there are always plenty of cheese doodles around when you need some.
The Wise® brand alone produces over 15 million pounds of cheese doodles each year, enough to fill 36 Olympic-sized (100 meter) swimming pools.
Your Examiner enjoys the both the very fine Crunchy Flamin’ Hot Limon Cheetos® and the Wise® Cheez Doodle Puffed Balls, cheddar.
The latter she buys at Family Dollar® for $1 – for the big bag.
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OFFICIAL BIO: K Truitt is a second-generation, native Floridian born in Jacksonville. Truitt worked in public higher education for 25 years and knows newspaper publishing, printing and graphic design. Contact: kt.4examiner@yahoo.com
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