Postum

Postum News

This is a list of news items which have appeared on the Google search engine, relative to the discontinuance of Postum. As other news items are discovered, they will be added here. Kraft Foods quietly halted the production of Postum and it wasn't until people started looking for it that its presence was missed.

May 15, 2008: According to Cassandra Kyle of The StarPhoenix newspaper, a permanent stop to Postum production is causing panic among the caffeine-free drink's fans, leading to product hoarding and profiteering on EBay. In Canada, life-long consumers of the beverage are scouring store shelves and working off tips to get as many of the blue-labeled jars as possible before they disappear completely. Demand for any remaining product is so high, people from Canada are calling United States-based markets and people from the United States are calling Canada-based markets to try and find it.

March 3, 2008, NPR (National Public Radio): Oregon resident and Postum-lover Ellen Mandel talks to Scott Simon about the drink's 100-year run as coffee's caffeine-free cousin. Before the final goodbye, the two enjoy one last drink. Letters from listeners include reaction to Kraft Foods' announcement that it will stop making the frothy coffee substitute.

December 2007 and January 2008: Popular blogs (jeffunderwood.ca, untwistedvortex.com and others) featuring articles about Postum started to receive more traffic to those articles than usual. People were commenting that, after contacting Kraft Foods to find out where they could buy Postum, Kraft Foods had halted production.

November 27, 2007, Reuters: Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. said it would acquire Kraft Foods, Inc.'s Post cereals business. The deal includes about $950 million in debt assumed by Ralcorp. The deal for the maker of Grape Nuts and Fruity Pebbles is worth $2.6 billion, said Ralcorp, which also makes frozen bakery foods. The deal is expected to close in mid-2008, according to Ralcorp. [Note: Halting the production of Postum was probably a measure by Kraft Foods to make the deal more attractive to Ralcorp.]

Filed Under News | 2 Comments

Post and the Postum Cereal Company

Charles William Post was a genius. He saw a market for cereals and beverages using grains and tapped into it. Postum was sold in the United States for over 100 years and it was his first product. He later produced "Grape Nuts", a product without grapes and without nuts and it's still sold today.

  • C.W. Post visited the Battle Creek Sanitarium operated by Dr. John Harvey Kellogg for his failing health. He was inspired to start his own cereal company based on the products used there.
  • In 1895, he founded the Postum Cereal Company with his first product, Postum cereal beverage. Post's first breakfast cereal premiered in 1897, and he named the product Grape Nuts cereal because of the grape-like aroma noticed during the manufacturing process and the nutty crunch of the finished product.
  • In 1908, Post followed up the Grape Nuts label with a brand of corn flakes first called Elijah's Manna that was later renamed Post Toasties. It's still available today.
  • Post attempted to develop a Utopian community in Texas later named Post, Texas in his honor. It became the county seat of Garza County, Texas.
  • Post died in Santa Barbara on May 9, 1914, apparently by suicide. His 27-year-old daughter, Marjorie Merriweather Post, inherited his company along with most of his vast fortune.
  • The Postum Cereals Company, after acquiring Jell-O gelatin in 1925, Baker's chocolate in 1927, Maxwell House coffee in 1928, and other food brands, changed its name to General Foods Corporation in 1929.
  • General Foods was acquired by Philip Morris Companies in 1985.
  • In 1989, Philip Morris merged General Foods with Kraft Foods, which it had acquired in 1987 to form the Kraft General Foods division. The cereal brands of Nabisco were acquired in 1993. In 1995, Kraft General Foods was reorganized and renamed Kraft Foods.
  • On November 15, 2007 Kraft announced it will spin off Post Cereals and merge that business with Ralcorp Holdings.

Filed Under History | Leave a Comment

Is a Postum Resurrection Possible?

Excerpts from "Can Postum fans revive their beloved beverage?" at The Christian Science Monitor:

Products abandoned by their makers, or "orphan brands," aren't uncommon. Even as companies work hard to establish emotional bonds between consumers and their goods, thousands of items quietly slip away each year if they don't turn a profit. But with the advent of online communication, consumers not quite ready to let go are showing their discontent by writing blogs, selling hoarded supplies at marked-up prices, and sharing recipes and tips. In some cases, if the consumer response is broad enough, a product can earn a second life.

Susan Fournier, a marketing professor at Boston University says a similar uproar happened in the late 1980s when Coca-Cola took the original Coke off the market and replaced it with New Coke. As soon as word hit the street, an organization called the Old Coke Drinkers of America popped up and fought back. Enthusiasts started driving across state lines to find stores still selling the original Coke. Some hoarded cans in their basements, while others turned a profit off their own stockpiles. The Old Coke Drinkers of America logged some 60,000 calls to the company's national headquarters, and eventually New Coke was pulled and the original Coke reinstated.

The Yahoo group aimed at saving Postum that was established early in 2008, as well as The Christian Science Monitor reference above, seems to suggest a miracle may still be possible. The objective is to get a smaller company to acquire the rights to Postum. As the excerpt above reflects, it happened with Coca-Cola. It also happened with the candy called "Good & Plenty". Other orphaned products resurrected or in the process of being resurrected include "Comet" (cleanser), "Ovaltine", "Gold Bond Foot Powder", "Pepsodent" (toothpaste) and "Prell" (shampoo).

A number of small companies are being approached as potential buyers, by consumers seeking to revive Postum.

Filed Under References | 2 Comments

More Postum Recipes

In order to make these recipes, you will first either need to find a jar of Postum (if available) or make your own using one Postum recipe or another.

Dainty Lady Cake

Ingredients:

  • 6 eggs, separated
  • 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar, divided
  • 4 tablespoons of water
  • 1 1/2 cups of cake flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon of salt
  • 3 tablespoons of Postum
  • 1 can of prepared cream cheese frosting

Preparation:

Beat the egg yolks until they're very thick. Add half of the sugar and continue beating until mixed. Add the water and all the dry ingredients that have been sifted together three times. Fold gently. Fold in the stiffly beaten egg whites combined with the remaining sugar.

Bake the mixture in two greased 9-inch cake pans at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 to 35 minutes. Let it cool completely before frosting the cake with the cream cheese frosting.

Total Time: 1 hour
Makes: 10 slices of cake
Serves: 8-10 people

Russian Black Bread

  • 2 1/2 teaspoons yeast
  • 1 cup rye flour
  • 1 1/2 cups of unbleached white flour
  • 1/2 cup of oat bran
  • 1 teaspoon of brown rice syrup
  • 1 teaspoon pf salt
  • 1 teaspoon of Postum
  • 1 teaspoon of minced dried onion or 1/2 small raw onion, finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar
  • 1 cup of water
  • 2 tablespoons of caraway seeds

Place all ingredients in a bread machine. Use dough setting. At the end of the dough cycle, remove the dough to a non-stick bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Set the dough in a warm, draft-free place to rise until nearly doubled in bulk. This may take anywhere from 1 to 2 hours.

Prepare a baking sheet or loaf pan, sprinkle with cornmeal. Punch down the dough and on a floured board, shape it into either a loaf or dome. Let the bread rise once again until almost doubled in bulk.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F and then lower the oven to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 30 minutes, or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.

Filed Under Recipes | Leave a Comment

Another Homemade Postum Recipe

This is another way to make homemade Postum. You should have at least 6 hours to spare.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F
4 cups wheat bran
2 cups cracked wheat
1 cup black strap molasses

The cracked wheat should be ground in a coffee grinder to corn meal consistency. Grind before mixing with molasses so it doesn't gum up the grinder.

Combine all of the above ingredients in a bowl and mix well with your hands. Make sure the grain and bran are well combined and that the molasses is thoroughly mixed into the grain/bran mix. This will take about 5-10 minutes to make sure there are no pockets of molasses and that it looks like dark, very damp sawdust. Spread this mixture on two baking sheets with rims and put it in the oven. Stir mixture every 20 minutes for about 5 hours, or until the mixture is a very deep dark mahogany. Don't try to toast this in a hotter oven because it will burn. This is a recipe that requires patience in order to caramelize the molasses, and not burn it. When you open the oven to stir it you will notice a very slight smokiness during the last hour and a half. This is normal.

Remove the baking sheets from the oven and cool on wire racks stirring occasionally to release heat faster.

To prepare: This is not instant and needs to be brewed the same as coffee, or steeped as you would tea. The ratio is 2 Tablespoons mix per cup of water.

If you need to make this for the Carob Postum Cooler, you should make a cup of this mix and put it into a sauce pan and reduce it on high to medium high heat until there are about 2 tablespoons left in the pan. Keep a close eye on it and be ready to put in an ice cube if you reduce it too far. It will bring it back to the amount you need and cool the mix at the same time. Swirl the cube around the pan a couple of times until you have the amount you need.

Filed Under Recipes | 1 Comment

keep looking »