Oreo, the sandwich cookie with two crispy chocolate wafers and a creamy vanilla filling, is a beloved snack. But a little-known fact about these sweet treats is that they were inspired by a similar product that debuted a few years earlier.
First introduced in 1908, Hydrox had a four-year headstart but ultimately lost out to Oreo in a big way when it comes to cookie dominance. In Hydrox’s case, being first wasn’t enough to dominate the market. Its rival Oreo would become the definitive creme-cookie sandwich, while Hydrox would languish in obscurity, eventually being discontinued until revived, discontinued again, and brought back.
Hydrox isn’t a causality of any major misstep; it simply lost out in the cutthroat world of snacks. Sunshine Biscuits manufactured Hydrox, which at one point was the third-largest bakery in the US, for a century before being discontinued around 1999 after Keebler acquired the company. Besides Hydrox, Sunshine also made the savory cracker Cheez-It, which saw more success than its chocolate and creme counterpart and remains popular today.
