Kellogg’s “Sugar Frosted Flakes” were introduced in 1952. They were a sweetened version of their “Corn Flakes” that had been around since 1894. Corn Flakes were created by Will Kellogg for patients at the Battle Creek Sanitarium where he was working with his brother John. Each corn kernel makes about three flakes. In the fall it is harvested and taken to a mill. At the mill, the corn is sifted and rolled then sent to a Kellogg’s factory for the final steps: Cooking, drying, rolling, and toasting. Add the sugar frosting, and viola, Corn Flakes become Frosted Flakes.
Ingredients
- Milled corn
- Sugar
- Malt flavor
- Contains 2% or less of salt
- Vitamins and Minerals: Iron (ferric phosphate)
- Niacinamide
- Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride)
- Vitamin B2 (riboflavin)
- Vitamin B1 (thiamin hydrochloride)
- Folic acid
- Vitamin D3
- Vitamin B12
To downplay the amount of sugar being fed to the children Kellogg’s removed the word “Sugar” from the name in 1984. They were simply called “Frosted Flakes”. Tony the Tiger has been the mascot since the beginning of 1952. For 5 decades, Thurl Ravenscroft was the voice of Tony and is credited with the catchphrase “They’re Grrreat!”.
Tony, the Tiger’s Frosted Sugar Flakes character was born with the pipes of Dallas McKennon, who was Tony from 1952 to 1953. Lee Marshall served as an understudy to Ravenscroft and provided a singing voice from 1999 to 2005 and took over for Ravenscroft from 2005 until 2014. Tex Brashear and Jim Cummings have taken over since then, and several other voices can be heard in other countries. Tony is drawn wearing a red bandana on all Frosted Flakes cereal boxes.
Other Frosted Flake flavors have been the 1981 “Banana Frosted Flakes”, “Birthday Confetti Frosted Flakes” for 1 year only in 1997, “Cocoa Frosted Flakes” also in 1997, “Tony’s Cinnamon Crunchers” in 2003, and “Frosted Flakes Gold” (honey) in 2008. Kellogg’s brought in “Frosted Flakes Chocolate” in 2011 and again in 2013, “Cinnamon Frosted Flakes” in 2016, and “Honey Nut Frosted Flakes” in 2018. Each of those varieties is still available – and popular – in 2022.
Frosted Flakes are wheat-free, but they are not listed as gluten-free because they contain malt, which comes from barley and may contain gluten. Frosted Flakes contain 12 grams of sugar per serving without milk. Ravenscroft was the voice of the Grinch in the song, “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” He also voiced characters in animated movies including, “Pinocchio”, “Cinderella”, “Alice in Wonderland”, “Mary Poppins”, and “Aladdin”.
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