History and invention of shredded wheat

Shredded wheat was invented in Denver in 1893 at the home of Henry Perky. This health fanatic originally made it for his own consumption.

He was hoping to market the machine used to form the biscuit rather the foodstuff itself. Soon other health nuts in and outside Denver were demanding the crunchy breakfast food Perky called “little whole wheat mattresses.” The process involved boiling, extruding and drying raw wheat then baking it. Soon others were buying it in quantities so large that he needed and industrial facility.

Perky couldn’t find a suitable location in Denver, but Niagara Falls, New York, coaxed him into establishing the operation at a waterfall-powered plant in 1900. The production of shredded wheat begins in Niagara Falls, New York in 1901, at the Natural Food Company. It later became the Shredded Wheat Company.

 As part of a programme of expansion, in 1925 a Shredded Wheat plant was opened in the UK in Welwyn Garden City. Three years later the company was sold to The National Biscuit Company which ultimately changed its name to Nabisco.
History and invention of shredded wheat