The Hydrox Cookie Is Dead, and Fans Won't Get Over It

WSJ ^ | 1/21/08 | CHRISTOPHER RHOADS

[BurbankKarl]

Robert Fliegel was craving a Hydrox. The 52-year-old computer consultant says he always liked the way the chocolate sandwich cookie, which he found crisper than Oreos, "stood up to the milk" when dunked.

But Mr. Fliegel, who used to be able to devour an entire package of the crème-filled biscuits in a sitting, couldn't find them in any stores near his East Stroudsburg, Pa., home.

Only when he went online a few months ago to try to order some did he learn the truth: Hydrox is dead.

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.

[Liberty Valance]

Bump! Great rant ;o)

[BuffaloJack]

My mom used to get them because they didn’t get soft a few days after opening them and we couldn’t tell the difference in taste between Hydrox and Oreos anyway.

I blame insurance companies and the nannie state for this attack on our palate.

[Live free or die]

I thought Hydrox were simply a clever scheme by Nabisco to market the Oreos that had been accidentally overcooked. Never knew they existed of their own right.

Ah well.

[MarkL]

I just have a hunch it is because of the soon coming war against trans fats. That deliscious “creme” filling in those types of cookies (including Oreos and my favorite “Nutter Butters”) are nothing but trans fats. I bet Kelloggs was just making a pre-emptive move in killing of Hydrox. Sad.

I hope that they don't take away my Nutter Butter Cream Wafers. I don't care about the cookies... But if they touch my cream wafers, I'm going to be really pissed.

Mark

[MarkL]

Much better than Oreos. They did not get bendable soggy a day after opening the package.

And they weren't as sweet as Oreos either. You actually tasted a cookie in there, as opposed to just SUGAR!

Mark

[MarkL]

Hydrox sounds like a kitchen cleaning solution.

(They tasted like inferior to Oreos)

SPLITTER!

;-)

Mark

[WakeUpAndVote]

no.

[Real Cynic No More]

This is such a serious issue that it needs to be under “Breaking News”.

[joesbucks]

Several years ago, Oreo’s were being produced, among other places, in a jobber plant in Northwestern Ohio. I’m not sure if it’s that way today, but likely is. It was a large baking facility that produced for the majors, the store brands and their own label. Their own label is often what you find marked 2/$1.00 at the quickie marts.

These large companies have been jobbing out production for years to the low cost producer.

[bert]

Many years ago, Hydrox changed the recipe, changing the taste, becoming an Oreo clone.

I wrote the company a letter disparaging their action destroying a wonderful cookie.

I received a long reply with an actual signature......

“We wanted to adjust our product to meet the public tastes”

[jimfree]

To bend the commercial script a bit “How do you say goodbye to a Drox?”

[mad_as_he$$]

http://www.sweetpalace.com/

[sphinx]

Product discontinuations are like a death in the family, but the more ubiquitous threat is "progress." I shopped for years at a perfectly serviceable ghetto Safeway. No problems; I could find everything I needed blindfolded.

Now it's getting hard to find real food amongst all the "reduced fat," "low sodium," and "new and improved" products. Then there's the invasion of the store brands. More and more staples are being replaced with Safeway knockoffs; if I ate cardboard, Safeway would come out with a drier, more tasteless version and my favorite would disappear.

I'm not opposed to progress per se. I just wish they'd put all the new products together in a clearly marked aisle so I could avoid them all at the same time. I've been buying more own food for a long time now, and what I want is the same product in the same packaging in the same spot on the shelves, period. I am not interested in an adventure in comparison shopping every time I go to the grocery story.

[reagan_fanatic]

But Mr. Fliegel, who used to be able to devour an entire package of the crème-filled biscuits in a sitting...

I wonder what the scale says when this guy steps on it.

[tlb]

Post Toasties: discontinued in April of 2006.

http://kraft.liveworld.com/topic/Ask-The-Moderator/Post-Toasties-Discontinued/1700000584

[Xenalyte]

I’m still ticked at the discontinuance of taco-flavor Doritos. Those were great and are no longer available (in Houston, at any rate).

[The Great RJ]

I’m sure the government nannies are pleased that another junk food has been removed from our consumption. Perhaps we will have to make do with some nice tofu cookies with our unpasteurized organic milk.

[varina davis]

Good news for all of you. Try this site for hundreds of items you thought were gone:

http://www.hometownfavorites.com/

[LongTimeMILurker]

I had noticed 10-15 years ago that Hydrox cookies were hard to find.

I had mostly stopped eating Hydrox and Oreos because I was told to lay off the trans fats.

Another brand we really miss here is Bill Knapp’s. It was a great family restaurant chain in the Midwest and Florida. It appealed to an older consumer, though, and didn’t serve alcohol. Most of the thriving chains get a lot of their profit from serving alcohol, and the family chains struggle. Anyway, Bill Knapp’s had a great chocolate cake that you got free at birthdays. You could still get them for a while after the chain closed, but I haven’t seen them in a while.

[P-Marlowe]

B*stards!,...First they no longer stock Nabisco Ideal bars, ..now this!!!!

I'm probably 20 pounds lighter because of that decision. I went through "Ideal" withdrawls for years.