That ubiquitous breakfast treat and all day snack Pop Tarts hits Its' sixtieth birthday is coming up and the treat;s popularity is as strong as ever.It all started with a box of tester pastries.
New contributor and founder and host of The Box Sessions. Laura M. Holson wrote about her family's experinece with the treat in yesterday's New York Times Food section. Her family were the first to try them in 1964 during th e pastry's debut. How did they get this exciting job? Ms Holson has a theory that her mother saw an opportunity to feed eight hungry kids free dessert. They tried a variety of different flavors , frosted and unfrosted.It was a novelty for them because this was their first taste at processed foods. Ms. Holson;s family gew up in a small agrifultural commiunity in the Santa Cruz mountains. They only knew fresh fruit and vegetables.It was cheaper for their mothe r to bake dozens of cookies on a Sunday for a week ahead than to buy packaged bake goods and sweets. This was something that required no prep time except for putting it into a toaster or toaster oven. There were even two well sized one in a packet.
The Holsons were ahead of their neighbors. They recieved flavors that had yet to hit store shelves making them special in the eyes of their neighbors and friends,.They tried frosted strawberry and brown sugar cinnamon whcih are now the popular retro flavors everyone gets. The family ate POpTarts for dessert. They were too hot on the tongue to eat straight out of th e toaster and they were used to eating oatmeal to start the day. Once eaten, the Holsons filled out forms , grading the pastries for form and texture. Some just sniffed and nibbled while others toook big bites. Not all the Holson kids were enamored by them They preferred their Czexh born great-grandmothers strudels and homemade apricot kolache, a kind of mini danish laden with fruit and cream cheese. Nowadays the family doesn't even want them. Surprisignly enohg a big Pop Tart fan, Jerry Seinfeld is making a movie about them,. (he likes brown sugar cinnamon with a glass of milk)
The Holsons got to try a new idea and their opinion it seems still matters sixty years onward. Are the pastries that good? It seems they are, in all their sweetness.
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