История завтрака Chex: от Ralston до General Mills

General Mills breakfast cereal

Chex is an American brand of breakfast cereal currently manufactured by General Mills. It was originally known as Shredded Ralston, first produced in 1936 and owned by Ralston Purina of St. Louis, Missouri, then later renamed Chex in 1950. The Chex brand went with corporate spinoff Ralcorp in 1994 and was then sold to General Mills in 1997. Rival cereal company Kellogg's has the rights to the Chex brand in South Korea and Singapore. The name "Chex" reflects the square checkerboard logo of Ralston Purina. For many years, advertisements for the cereal featured the characters from Charles Schulz's Peanuts comic strip.

Chex cereal traces its lineage back to Shredded Ralston, which was first produced in 1936. One 1936 grocery store advertisement for the cereal described it as, "ready to eat, made from pure whole wheat . Cooked, shredded, and toasted to a delicious golden brown; new in flavor." Bite sized Shredded Ralston was described in one early promotional article as whole wheat that had been "shredded and baked into crisp bite size biscuits." In addition to being recommended as a breakfast cereal, it was suggested as soup croutons, a snack with melted butter, and as the heart of a homemade candy flavored with honey and lemon. one advertisement described it as, "Golden toasted shreds of rice, crisscrossed into hollow, Bit Size waffles. Shaped just right for easy eating." In 1951, Shredded Ralston was rebranded as Wheat Chex, initially stating "We are changing the name of Shredded Ralston to Shredded Ralston Wheat Chex," but often using both the short name and the longer name within the same ad copy. Side by side photos in the early 1950s show that the shape of Wheat Chex was not yet changed to the waffle shape of Rice Chex, retaining its denser, biscuit like form. When Corn Chex was released in 1959, it was given the Rice Check "criss crossed" shape, described as helping it stay crispy in milk. When Ralcorp sold the Chex Brand to General Mills, the Federal Trade Commission required General Mills to permit the production of private label (store brand) versions of Chex, including by Ralcorp itself.

The 1970s varieties Sugar Chex and Super Sugar Chex featured Casper the Friendly ghost on the box.

From 1950 to 1955, Chex served as the primary sponsor of the popular TV and radio show Space Patrol, which ran for over 1,000 television episodes and 129 radio episodes. These episodes included many advertisements, promotional offers, and prizes related to Chex cereal, specifically Wheat Chex and Rice Chex.

In 1968, Chex ran a series of TV commercials on the adventures of The Chexmates, a cartoon threesome who ate Chex to get the strength they needed to travel to Mars, overcome tough obstacles or subdue evil doers. The characters were a muscular man named Chexter, an Asian karate expert named Chop Louie, and a blonde cowgirl named Jessie Jane. Their voices were provided by John Erwin, Tommy Cook and Julie Bennett.

Chex is featured in a series of first person shooter computer games (Chex Quest, Chex Quest 2, and Chex Quest 3) in which the player takes on the role of a Chex Warrior clad in Chex Armor. The games use a modified version of DOOM's IWAD (graphics, sounds, levels, etc.) and executable.

Chex is also the basis for a baked snack called "Chex Mix", in which different kinds of Chex are mixed with nuts, pretzels, and baked crackers, and then often baked again with butter and various other spices (Worcestershire sauce in the original mix) to add flavor. Commercial and homemade varieties exist and the snack is often served during the holiday season in the United States. Chex Mix recipes were regularly featured on Chex cereal boxes, and several varieties of commercially prepared Chex Mix is sold in supermarkets.

Chex can also be used to make a chocolate snack called "Chex Muddy Buddies", also known as Puppy Chow.