The iconic brand in the bold yellow box is 70 years old, and it's still a powerful force in the breakfast cereal market. One out of every eight boxes of cereal sold in the United States is a box of Cheerios.
The Associated Press reports the process of how Cheerios are made. (Don't worry. It's nothing like making a hot dog or sausage, so when you find out, you'll still want to eat Cheerios). Balls of dough are heated and then shot out of a "puffing gun" at hundreds of miles per hour.
General Mills considered more than 10 different shapes and sizes before settling on the distinctive little Os.
The traditional flavor has been supplemented with new flavors, including Honey Nut Cheerios, Chocolate Cheerios and Cinnamon Burst Cheerios.
Fun facts to know and tell about Cheerios:
The first name for the cereal was CheeriOats. The name was changed to Cheerios in 1946 due to a trademark dispute with Quaker Oats.
It was introduced on May 1, 1941 as the first oat-based, ready-to-eat cold cereal.
In 1974, General Mills began advertising Cheerios as a first food for toddlers.
Cheerios is made from whole-grain oats with three grams of fiber and one gram of sugar per serving.
General Mills's waterfront plant in Buffalo, New York has been making Cheerios since 1941.
The aroma of Cheerios wafts through Buffalo, giving it a distinctive toasty-with-a-sweet-finish aroma, which has inspired T-shirts announcing "My city smells like Cheerios."
