One of the most popular breakfast cereals was invented by accident.

Bowl of Corn Flakes

Well before the name Kellogg became synonymous with milk-infused breakfast fare and animated tigers, it was associated with health. While serving as director of the Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan, physician John Harvey Kellogg earned widespread fame in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for his efforts to cure a range of illnesses. To treat digestive problems, Kellogg developed a concoction called Granula in the 1870s that was made from wheat flour, oatmeal, and cornmeal, baked at high temperatures, and crumbled into tiny pieces. Though it was a hit with patients, the food was a little too similar to what is now considered the first breakfast cereal, the identically named Granula created by nutritionist James Caleb Jackson in 1863, fueling a lawsuit that forced Kellogg to change his product’s name to Granola.

Around 1894, Kellogg and his associates, which included his wife, dietitian Ella Eaton Kellogg, and younger brother Will Kellogg, tried developing a new flaked cereal made from wheat dough. While the exact origin is unclear, several sources point to one batch of dough being left out longer than planned. This slightly moldy but fermented batch produced large, delightfully crispy flakes when baked, and the team debuted their creation, dubbed Granose, to a strong reception in the summer of 1895. Of course, the health-minded Dr. Kellogg refused to allow any sugar in this cereal; it was only after former patient C.W. Post hit it big with the 1897 launch of Grape-Nuts, a flavored spinoff of the Granola he saw produced in the sanitarium’s kitchen, that Will devised the sweeter, corn-based version of Granose that became ubiquitous on American kitchen tables as Corn Flakes.

By the Numbers

Did you know?

The Kellogg brothers sued each other over the brand name.

From the 1880s until 1906, Will Kellogg quietly managed the Battle Creek Sanitarium's operations under the critical eye of his domineering older brother. After the younger sibling finally achieved success with his Kellogg's Toasted Corn Flake Company, he was none too thrilled when his elder relation began selling his own cereals under the label Kellogg's Food Company of Battle Creek. Will subsequently filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement in August 1910, prompting a countersuit from his brother. Although they initially settled out of court in 1911, Will reignited the legal furor a few years later when he began marketing bran cereals in direct competition with those created by his brother. However, a Michigan judge determined the Kellogg trademark belonged to Will’s company, a decision upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1920, ensuring the family’s cereal glory would thenceforth be the sole domain of the younger brother.