Cheezels are a brand of Australian

snack food A snack is a small portion of food generally Eating, eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged snack foods and other processed foods, as well as items made from fresh ingredients at home. Traditionally, snack ...

currently produced by

Snack Brands Australia Snack Brands Australia (SBA) is one of the largest suppliers of snack foods in Australia and acts as the main competitor to the long established The Smith's Snackfood Company. The company was founded in August 1998 as a subsidiary of parent co ...

. Made from

corn Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. Th ...

and

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

, they are a crisp puffy ring with a strong, savoury

cheddar cheese Cheddar cheese (or simply cheddar) is a natural cheese that is relatively hard, off-white (or orange if colourings such as annatto are added), and sometimes sharp-tasting. Cheddar originates from the English village of Cheddar in Somerset. Ched ...

flavour and aroma. They are similar in texture to

cheese puffs Cheese puffs, cheese curls, cheese balls, cheese ball puffs, cheesy puffs, or corn curls are a puffed corn snack, coated with a mixture of cheese or cheese-flavored powders. They are manufactured by extruding heated corn dough through a die th ...

, American

Cheetos Cheetos (formerly styled as Chee-tos until 1998) is a crunchy corn puff snack brand made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The initi ...

, or Canadian

Cheezies Cheezies are a brand of cheese puffs, cheese puff snack food made and sold in Canada by W. T. Hawkins Ltd. The snack is made from extruded cornmeal covered in powdered cheddar cheese, and sold in distinctive red-and-white bags. History The snack ...

. In some countries they are distributed by Laura Matte (which since 2016 has been owned by

Universal Robina Universal Robina Corporation (URC) is a Philippine company based in Quezon City, Philippines. It is one of the largest food and beverage companies in the Philippines. History The precursor to Universal Robina Corporation (URC) was founded on ...

Corporation, and previously by The Real McCoy Snackfood Company). In Malaysia, Cheezels were originally produced by

Danone Danone S.A. () is a French multinational corporation, multinational food-products corporation based in Paris. It was founded in Barcelona, Spain. It is listed on Euronext Paris where it is a component of the CAC 40 stock market index. Some of t ...

and later by

Kraft Foods The second incarnation of Kraft Foods is an American food manufacturing and processing conglomerate, split from Kraft Foods Inc. in 2012 and headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. It became part of Kraft Heinz in 2015. A merger with Heinz, arra ...

, and are currently owned by

Mondelēz International Mondelez International, Inc. ( ), often styled Mondelēz, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational confectionery, food industry, food, holding and drink industry, beverage and snack food company based in Chicago. Mondelez has an ...

, together with

Twisties Twisties are a type of cheese curl corn-based snack food product, available mainly in Australia, and other Oceanian countries such as Papua New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu and Fiji, the Southeast Asian countries Malaysia, Thailand, Singap ...

. In New Zealand, Cheezels are owned by

Bluebird Foods Ltd Bluebird Foods Ltd is a New Zealand division of the U.S.-based PepsiCo corporation, that manufactures snack foods, cereals and muesli bars. All snacks are manufactured at the Bluebird Foods factory in Wiri, Auckland. History Originally p ...

and PepsiCo subsidiaries.

History

According to any modern packet of Cheezels, the snack entered the market in 1971. Company folklore has it that the creative team were stuck for a name when the boss chipped in with "Just call 'em Cheezels". As of 2017 Cheezels are gluten free.

Flavours

Usually, Cheezels are made from corn and rice,Snack Brands Cheezels web page
/ref> and many kinds of powdered cheeses. Other flavours of the snack have been produced by Snack Brands Australia, such as: *Original Cheese *Pizza *Smokin' BBQ *Cheese & Bacon - also previously known as Rashers Cheese & Bacon *Hoops & Crosses Burger Flavoured - cheeseburger-flavoured Cheezels shaped like the Xs and Os in the game tic-tac-toe *Minis - miniature versions of Cheezels *Chilli Cheese

International variants

Italy

In Italy, Cheezels are known under the name Yonkers, also owned by Mondelēz International. The snack has no slogan, and features a mascot named "Yonky", after the snack. The snack is much less cylindrical than its Australian counterpart, shaped more like the Australian Burger Rings, Burger Ring, and is less puffy. For seasoning, Yonkers uses a less tangy, finer cheese powder than that of Cheezels, but with a relatively similar aftertaste. Yonkers' aroma is more pungent, and relies on the same child-friendly gimmick of Cheezels by popularising using them as rings to wear on your fingers. The ingredients for Yonkers are as follows, in order of percentage of product: corn grit 61.7%, palm oil, cheese powder 6.2%, whey powder, salt, flavouring, dried yeast, emulsifier (mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids (E471)), yeast extract, flavour enhancers (E621, E627, E631), lactose (from milk), dye (carotenes).

References

{{reflist Australian snack foods Snack Brands Australia brands Products introduced in 1971 Mondelez International brands

History

Flavours

International variants

Italy

See also

References