Hydrox Cookies Are Dead
The Wall Street Journal says that Hydrox cookies (similar, but apparently superior in some way to Nabisco's OREO cookies) have been discontinued by Kellogg, much to the dismay of Hydrox loyalists.
We've never had this cookie, so we're not going to pretend to care if it is discontinued, but we do remember what happened when, early this century, we went to the store and found out that Jell-O Pudding Pops no longer existed. It was not pretty. No, it was not. (They eventually came back, are they still around?) Also, we used to like TEAM flakes when we were very, very tiny. It's bullsh*t that they discontinued that cereal. We don't even remember what it tasted like, but it's still bullsh*t.
In 2003, without warning or announcement, Kellogg Co. killed off the cookie -- by then rechristened Droxies -- after failing to gain ground against the dominant Oreo, one of the country's best-selling snack foods.While aware that Hydrox cookies were becoming harder to find, many of their fans are learning only now they are gone.
"This is a dark time in cookie history," wrote Gary Nadeau of O'Fallon, Mo., last year on a Web site devoted to Hydrox. "And for those of you who say, 'Get over it, it's only a cookie,' you have not lived until you have tasted a Hydrox."
So, Hydrox people, we feel your pain. Have you all tried launching an EECB (executive email carpet bomb) on Kellogg? To learn to launch an EECB, click here.
The Hydrox Cookie Is Dead, and Fans Won't Get Over It [WSJ]
Hydrox Fan Site
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Comments:
It's amazing how Nabisco has managed to convince everyone that the Oreo was the original and the Hydrox cookie was a knock-off. In fact, it was the other way around.
I've tried both Hydrox and Oreo, and it's not even close. Hydrox was not nearly as good and that's probably why it is no more.
I never understood the appeal of either brand, but it looks like kosher people that are into disgusting "cookies" are out of luck now.
Hmm, I remember Hydrox. Those were the cookies with the dust on the packaging. Wasn't their big selling point the fact that they were cheaper than Oreos?
what kind of name is "Hydrox"? does that mean the cookies are filled with Hydrogen goodness?
(can't look up the linked WSJ story, by the way... either the link is dead or it requires a subscription)
Gelatinous Lard between two pseudo-cookies... I will pass on both. Yuck!
Hydrox were always my favorite. The cookie part had more crunch and the filling had a superior mouth feel and taste not just a gelatinous lump of sweetness like Oreos, IMHO. I liked their Vanilla Fingers too.
Oreos were superior... until they got rid of the trans fats.
@ClayS:
Still, it's as if Shasta called it quits after deciding Coca-Cola and Pepsi were far better with their Fanta and Tropicana Twister (respectively) brands.
For me the Drox brings back memories of childhood snack times and a slew of cheap parties. But the real tragedy here is loss of choice, regardless of whether you liked one brand or the other.
Maybe Kellogg's should have made Hydroios cereal to reinvigorate the brand.
Hydrox taste like chemicals...
Jello Pudding Pops are now being distributed by the Popsicle company. They're for sale at grocery stores in some markets (DC area has them) and not others (I couldn't find them in NYC). The shape is now skinny, and it comes in a variety pack: chocolate, vanilla & chocolate-vanilla.
Hydrox's milk dipping capabilities were far inferior to Oreos. And really, who eats these without milk?
No, he's talking the Hostess Pudding Pie. Like the fruit pies, but full of pudding. They were sublime.
My heart broke the day that Little Debbie discountinued "Chocolate Twins" ... After visiting MacKee bakery's outlet store (Collegedale, TN), I was told that the Swiss Cake Roll was an adequate substitute. NOT!!!!
The Jell-O pudding pops for sale now are not the one's that we had growing up. They are the bastardized child of a pudding pop and a fudgecicle.
Reminds me of the time I found out that Planter's Cheese Balls went out of production. I was a sobbing, blubbering mess for a whole week.
Ahh memories...
I used to torment the old ladies at the blood-mobile at my college every blood drive because they only brought Hydrox. I am an Oreos woman first and always!!
I personally thought they tasted the same...oh man I could go for an oreo right now...
Hydrox main selling point for many years was it's status as the only kosher mass produced chocolate sandwich cookie. Oreo's have been kosher for about 5-6 years now, so Hydrox's days were numbered.
I prefer oreo's, but my fiancee liked hydrox.
By comparison, Hydrox tastes better than Oreo's.
I wonder if anyone of the Grocery stores still have some left..... Better stock up and sell on Ebay!!!
Did Hydrox drastically change its recipe at some point in the early 1970s? I used to like Hydrox when I was a kid, but then suddenly they started tasting like a cheap store-brand knockoff of Oreos. Was it my imagination?
I guess I can sympathize a little - I haven't had B00-Berry cereal in years although apaprently it is still available in some magical mystery realm. And I really used to like Aspen soda.
@zibby: I was watching the food channel not long ago, and there's a guy who has a website devoted to Boo Berry cereal. He was, um, a bit scary as it was cultlike how much cereal-related stuff he had.
I'm too lazy to look up the link, but if you google "boo berry" I'm sure his site will be one of the first hits.
The only food-related that I miss terribly is Surge Soda. No other soda I've tried has come close to its taste (and it was gone before I was old enough to see what alcohol it mixed well with!)
I grew up eating Oreos. I had my first Hydrox in my 20s. I liked them too.
More recently, I discovered Joe's O's at Trader Joe's. Wow! The vanilla creme has more flavor and more texture. I haven't bought an Oreo or Hydrox in years.
@zibby: Until the late 90's/early 00's, Oreos weren't kosher, and so Hydrox had a steady, if small market among those who keep kosher, but once Oreo got its certification, those people stopped eating Hydrox. As far as I can recall, Hydrox had a distinctly different taste, but I can't remember liking it better or worse.
i still love hydrox... i've got to go start stocking up!!!
What I think is shoking about this story is how much people buy into product branding. It's a crappy cookie made by a giant company. Yet somehow people have bought into the whole marketing and branding of the thing and now it's become this subculture.
I know this happens with a lot of products (Coke vs. Pepsi, Mac vs. PC, etc.) but this is just nuts. It's just a flippin cookie!
I'm just glad my grandmother didn't live to see this sad day.
When I was younger my grandmother always had a cookie jar of stale hydrox cookies. Having never had them any other place, I thought that the cookies were supposed to taste that way.
I wouldn't call Hydrox superior, though they are/were different: though the filling was pretty much the same, the cookie was heavier and had a stronger chocolate flavor. It's a subtle deviation from the Oreo pattern, but appealing in its way.
The item I really miss that NEEDS to be brought back:
Planters Cheez Ballz.... Seriously. Those things were awesome.
Why does Hydrox have to "compete" with Oreo? Just because they're making a similar product? I should think both could turn a profit. The mark up on that crap is nuts.
And I'm glad someone mentioned that the new pudding pops are bastardized. I always thought they were sort of unspectacular and blamed it on the false memories of nostalgia. Damn you, Popsicle!
I was always an Oreo fan, though I love everything from Trader Joe's, so I might have to give those a try. I've seen Boo Berry and Frankenberry around at Halloween. Grocery stores usually have a display somewhere of the Boo Berry, Frankenberry and Count Chocula. What I really miss from childhood is a breakfast cereal call "Crispy Critters." If my memory is correct, they tasted like Kix but were in animal shapes. It was like eating animal crackers for breakfast. The commercials had puppet animals, the lion was always the main one, that said the cereal was "indubitably delicious."
@public enemy #1: Actually those Hostess pies are still around. Some dude brought a few by the office the other day. So at least somewhere in NYC they're available.
@zibby:
Ugh. The Boo Berry that is available now is wayyyyyy inferior to the Boo Berry of the early 80's. I have no idea why G took it off the market, changed the formula, and then put this crap on the shelves and called it Boo Berry. It's a bastardized version, and it's not even tasty. There's no boo/blueberry about it. :(
Also, I haven't seen Frankenberry in a while, but last time I had it, it no longer tasted like franken/strawberry. :(
I too miss the Planters cheese products, although I liked the curls rather than the balls. But my big miss is Blueberry-favored New York Seltzer. Sigh.
@conformco: Oh that doesn't mean they're still around. Did you see how many Today Sponges Elaine hoarded when they were taken off the market?? :)
i was heartbroken when i learned that they stopped making RC Draft Cola. It was far and away the best cola i've ever tasted.
What makes it doubly sad is that i'm taunted by the soda delivery trucks with the HUGE bottle of frosty RC Draft painted on the side that you occasionally see still making the rounds in Manhattan (delivering other sodas now though).
@conformco: I LOVED Planter's Cheese balls. We only bought them when we went camping (non-crushable containers!!) and they were a yummy treat.
I bought some oreos for Christnas to make chocolate bark. I ate one out of the package, & I guess I hadn't eaten just a plain oreo (sans ice cream or whatever) in a while, because I found them gross. They let a yucky crisco-y film in my mouth. Still OK in the chocolate bark, though.
I will keep an eye out for the pudding pies in Manhattan and report back.
I can't recall having seen any, but I haven't been looking either.
Hydrox was weird - I never saw anyone buying them or eating them, but somehow they just never went away until now. Hydrox was the Huey Lewis of snack foods. (Have you guys ever met a Huey Lewis fan? No. But it took forever to stop hearing his songs on the radio.)
Sad as it is to see a quality product disappear from the marketplace, I honestly can't say when I bought a package of any kind of cookies. Maybe in college when I was really fat? Honestly, we all need to eat less junk food.
I think I need my insulin now.
I remember when they stopped making those Hostess pudding pies. I part of me died that day.