Melba toast is difficult to make. If you put it in a toaster , parts easily burn. If you don’t compact it, the toast is too “airy” 😴 . And, if you compact it in between hot plates, you don’t get an encircling crust 😞 . In 1942, Harry Tatosian patented the perfect method for … Read more
Mar 22nd, 2024Before 1988, you could buy partially baked rolls 🥖 , but not croissants 🥐 . Ever wondered why? Partially baking bread is easy – it’s spongey and the small air bubbles don’t collapse after initial baking. However, croissants, with their thin layers of laminated dough separated by butter, are flaky and form relatively large holes … Read more
Mar 15th, 2024What makes Popping Candy Pop? It’s not a chemical reaction, and scientifically it’s quite the opposite to vacuous Space Dust. It’s those crazy little compressed air bubbles trapped in solidified sugar that explode when the sugar melts, triggering a gas-popping party in your mouth. Here’s how those Willy Wonkas concoct this magical treat:– Melt sugar and keep it at … Read more
Mar 8th, 2024Edward Mandelbaum really wanted to patent his Hotdog Roll, but struggled to come up with something “new”. Most Hotdog Rolls were simply cut; others were bored (and not so popular); and some were bored and slotted. What on earth could he change while continuing to provide customers what they were accustomed to? The cut roll … Read more
Mar 1st, 2024Did you know that the original peanut butter was meant to be sliced and placed in a sandwich? Well, it wasn’t very popular. Kellogg’s original 1897 peanut butter recipe was: – Blanche nut kernels– Roast the kernels or boil them for 4-6 hours– Grind / roll the kernels to a pulp– Add 1 part water to every … Read more
Feb 23rd, 2024In 1964, William Brastad added a vacuum pump to his oven to see whether it would shorten the time for baking bread. To his surprise, he found that reducing the pressure to 0.35 atmosphere shortened the time to raise the dough from 45 minutes to 1 minute! However, each time he equalised the ambient pressure, the … Read more
Feb 16th, 2024I bet you don’t know the origin of Pizza Hut’s Deep-Pan Pizza. It’s deep for a reason, and not because people actually crave mouthfuls of crust. Spreading toppings on a delicate pizza base is too arduous for Pizza Hut. So, they take pre-formed topping disks, slap them on a rimmed pizza base and heat. One problem: … Read more
Feb 9th, 2024Ever wondered why Shredded Wheat advertising always includes fruit – but in the wrong place? … something only centenarians would notice. Back in 1915, Kellogg’s patented the unique shape of Shredded Wheat – “a cylindrical cereal biscuit made with a concave top”. The concave top was intended to contain berries or fruit, and causes the milk … Read more
Feb 2nd, 2024German Utility Models (otherwise known as Gebrauchsmuster) can now be filed online via GlobalIPCo. GlobalIPCo and Prisma IP (a German patent law firm) have created an easy-to-use online system for filing national phase, convention and direct German Utility Models. Although, only national phase German Utility Models are available to general users, direct and convention German … Read more
Jan 30th, 2024Hotdogs are great. Saucy hotdogs are super, but a messy shirt is the pits Newton Hall was partial to a hotdog with plenty of butter, mustard and condiments, but he was also particular about his appearance. So, he set about boring a blind hole along a roll and slotting the roll partly along the bore. The slot allows for liberal squirtings of sauce, … Read more
Jan 26th, 2024Aging tenderizes a steak, but takes time. Pounding is quick and effective, but you risk the steak being mistaken for a schnitzel. What if you’re handicapped by a brisket and need to deliver a thick, tender steak on short notice? For reasons I can’t explain, it fell to American Mine Door Company – a supplier of mine doors to the mining … Read more
Jan 19th, 2024What’s the bigger challenge: un-scrambling an Egg 🍳 ; or un-mincing Fish 🐟 ? 🤔 Whereas, we unquestioningly accept we can’t accomplish the former, the clever scientists at Sea Harvest set about reconstituting a minced fish. Likely, you’ve unwittingly eaten un-minced fish, mistaking it for the real deal! 😳 Here’s the patented secret: – Roll minced … Read more
Jan 12th, 2024How to make the best hot, crispy chips: freeze them! Totally counter-intuitive, but that’s the McDonald’s secret; the secret that McDonald’s unwittingly stumbled upon. If you:– simply deep-fry chips, they turn into “slap chips” – limp and soggy;– double-fry chips, they become crispy, but with a hollowed-out interior; or– over-fry chips, they, well, … burn. … Read more
Jan 5th, 2024How did KFC crack the secret of crispy, juicy chicken? B(KF)C, chicken was either crispy or juicy, never both. To open the gates to chicken Nirvana, those clever chicken-fryers from Kentucky:1. immersed chicken in a bath of oil heated in a pressure cooker to 175-205C;2. reduced the oil temperature rapidly to 120‐135C;3. cooked the chicken for 2 … Read more
Dec 29th, 2023Why is it so difficult to tell the difference between a Fisher Price Little Snoopy (1965) and a real dog? It’s those clever patented V-shaped wheeled axles, which cause Snoopy’s body to bob when driven ‐ perfectly mimicking the natural movement of a Basset frolicking about wild grassy plains. (US3407531) GlobalIPCo – Easily file provisional … Read more
Dec 22nd, 2023