Pamela Low (March 16, 1928 in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...

– June 1, 2007 in

New London, New Hampshire New London is a town in Merrimack County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,400 at the 2020 census. The town is the home of Colby–Sawyer College. The town center, where 1,266 people resided at the 2020 census, is defined as t ...

) was an American

flavorist A flavorist, also known as flavor chemist, is someone who uses chemistry to engineer artificial and natural flavors. The tools and materials used by flavorists are almost the same as that used by perfumers with the exception that flavorists seek ...

, best known for developing and creating the

flavor Flavor or flavour is either the sensory perception of taste or smell, or a flavoring in food that produces such perception. Flavor or flavour may also refer to: Science *Flavors (programming language), an early object-oriented extension to Lis ...

coating A coating is a covering that is applied to the surface of an object, usually referred to as the Substrate (materials science), substrate. The purpose of applying the coating may be decorative, functional, or both. Coatings may be applied as liquid ...

for

Cap'n Crunch Cap'n Crunch is a maize, corn and oat breakfast cereal manufactured by Quaker Oats Company, a subsidiary of PepsiCo since 2001. After introducing the original cereal in 1963, marketed simply as ''Cap'n Crunch'', Quaker Oats has since introduced n ...

breakfast cereal Cereal, formally termed breakfast cereal (and further categorized as cold cereal or warm cereal), is a traditional breakfast food made from processed cereal grains. It is traditionally eaten as part of breakfast, or a snack food, primarily in ...

Biography

Pamela Low was the daughter of Kneeland West and Pauline (Smith) Low. She graduated from the

Pinkerton Academy Pinkerton Academy is a secondary school in Derry, New Hampshire, United States. It serves roughly 3,269 students, making it by far the largest high school in New Hampshire, more than 1,300 students greater than the next largest high school. Pi ...

in 1946 and studied microbiology at the

University of New Hampshire The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Durham, New Hampshire. It was founded and incorporated in 1866 as a land grant college in Hanover in connection with Dartmouth College, mo ...

where she graduated in 1951. She went on to work as a flavorist for the

Arthur D. Little Arthur D. Little is an international management consulting firm originally headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, founded in 1886 and formally incorporated in 1909 by Arthur Dehon Little, an MIT chemist who had discovered acetate. ...

consulting firm in the

Boston metropolitan area Greater Boston is the metropolitan region of New England encompassing the municipality of Boston (the capital of the U.S. state of Massachusetts and the most populous city in New England) and its surrounding areas. The region forms the northern ar ...

. She was reportedly asked to develop a flavor for the new Cap'n Crunch cereal in the early 1960s. Her inspiration for the flavor coating was a

recipe A recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. A sub-recipe or subrecipe is a recipe for an ingredient that will be called for in the instructions for the main recipe. His ...

flavored with

butter Butter is a dairy product made from the fat and protein components of churned cream. It is a semi-solid emulsion at room temperature, consisting of approximately 80% butterfat. It is used at room temperature as a spread, melted as a condiment ...

and

brown sugar Brown sugar is unrefined or partially refined soft sugar. Brown Sugar may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Brown Sugar'' (1922 film), a 1922 British silent film directed by Fred Paul * ''Brown Sugar'' (1931 film), a 1931 ...

that her grandmother, Luella Low, used to serve her when she was younger in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry (), is the second-largest city in Northern Ireland and the fifth-largest city on the island of Ireland. The name ''Derry'' is an anglicisation of the Old Irish name (modern Irish: ) meaning 'oak grove'. The ...

. Cap'n Crunch was officially unveiled in 1963 and the original recipe has been unchanged since its launch. She is often referred to as the "Grandmother" of Cap'n Crunch. She also worked on the flavors for

Almond Joy Almond Joy is a candy bar manufactured by Hershey's, consisting of sweetened, shredded coconut topped with whole almonds and covered in milk chocolate. The company also produces Mounds bars, a similar confection without nuts, coated in dark ch ...

and

Mounds A mound is an artificial heap or pile, especially of earth, rocks, or sand. Mound and Mounds may also refer to: Places * Mound, Louisiana, United States * Mound, Minnesota, United States * Mound, Texas, United States * Mound, West Virginia * Moun ...

candy bars while at Arthur D. Little, where she worked for 34 years. Pamela Low lived in

since 1973. She was President of the Baptist Women's Fellowship from 1987 to 1988, and of the New London Hospital Auxiliary in 1992. In 1996, she established a scholarship at the University of New Hampshire for students in clinical microbiology. She was also the President of the Women's Golf League of the country club of New Hampshire Pamela Low died at the

New London Hospital New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

on June 1, 2007 at the age of 79. Her body lies at the Forest Hill Cemetery in

East Derry, New Hampshire East Derry, also known as the Upper Village, is an unincorporated community in the town of Derry in Rockingham County, New Hampshire. The village center constitutes the East Derry Historic District, listed on the National Register of Historic Plac ...

. Low never married nor did she have kids.

References

External links

Boston Globe: Pamela Low; kin's treat inspired creation of Cap'n Crunch flavorPamela Low, created flavor for Cap'n Crunch, dies at 79Concord Monitor: Flavorist made it happen: The Cap'n owes it to New Hampshire
{{DEFAULTSORT:Low, Pamela 1928 births 2007 deaths Women food scientists American food scientists Place of birth missing 20th-century American women scientists 20th-century American scientists People from New London, New Hampshire Pinkerton Academy alumni 21st-century American women