Ruth Miriam Siems (February 20, 1931 – November 13, 2005) was the home economist who created

Stove Top Stuffing Stove Top is a stuffing that was introduced by General Foods in 1972. It is a quick cooking ("instant") stuffing that is available in supermarkets. Unlike traditional stuffing, Stove Top can be prepared on the stove, in a pot, and can also be prep ...

. A native of

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...

, she developed the stuffing, one of General Foods Corp.'s (now

Kraft Foods Inc. Kraft Foods Inc. was a multinational confectionery, food and beverage conglomerate. It marketed many brands in more than 170 countries. 12 of its brands annually earned more than $1 billion worldwide: Cadbury, Jacobs, Kraft, LU, Maxwell H ...

) top convenience products, in 1971 while working at the corporation's

Tarrytown, New York Tarrytown is a village in the town of Greenburgh in Westchester County, New York. It is located on the eastern bank of the Hudson River, approximately north of Midtown Manhattan in New York City, and is served by a stop on the Metro-North ...

facility. Her name was the first on a

patent A patent is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the legal right to exclude others from making, using, or selling an invention for a limited period of time in exchange for publishing an enabling disclosure of the invention."A p ...

application for the product. Her patent was based on a certain size of

bread Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour (usually wheat) and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history and around the world, it has been an important part of many cultures' diet. It is one of the oldest human-made f ...

crumb that makes the rehydration, or addition of water, work. In an interview with ''The Evansville Courier'' in 1991, Siems said the idea for the instant stuffing came from the marketing department, but it was up to the research and development staff to create the product. The test kitchens, the chefs and all the workers in research and development were given a shot at developing the stuffing, but Siems' idea was the one the company chose. Today, Kraft Foods, which now owns the brand, sells about 60 million boxes of it at

Thanksgiving Thanksgiving is a national holiday celebrated on various dates in the United States, Canada, Grenada, Saint Lucia, Liberia, and unofficially in countries like Brazil and Philippines. It is also observed in the Netherlander town of Leiden and ...

, a company spokeswoman said. Some sources say that Siems first sold the recipe to the Mrs Cubbison's corporation, and that later she further developed it for wholesale purposes in the

General Foods General Foods Corporation was a company whose direct predecessor was established in the United States by Charles William Post as the Postum Cereal Company in 1895. The company changed its name to "General Foods" in 1929, after several corporate ...

Kitchen. Siems graduated from Bosse High School in

Evansville Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in S ...

and earned a degree in home economics from

Purdue University Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donated land and money ...

in 1953. She was employed for almost four years in product research and development at the old Igleheart Brothers plant of

in Evansville, working on quality control for

angel food cake Angel food cake, or angel cake, is a type of sponge cake made with egg whites, flour, and sugar. A whipping agent, such as cream of tartar, is commonly added. It differs from other cakes because it uses no butter. Its aerated texture comes fro ...

mixes and researching the

Swans Down Swans are birds of the family Anatidae within the genus ''Cygnus''. The swans' closest relatives include the geese and ducks. Swans are grouped with the closely related geese in the subfamily Anserinae where they form the tribe Cygnini. Someti ...

brand of cake mixes and flours. She retired from General Foods Inc. in 1985 after a 33½-year career. "Everyone always had me pegged as a creative person," she said in a newspaper interview. "I've always liked to put things together." Siems died in

Newburgh, Indiana Newburgh is a borough in Ohio Township, Warrick County, Indiana, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 3,325 at the 2010 census, although the town is part of the larger Evansville metropolitan area which recorded a population of ...

, after suffering a heart attack at her home.

References

1931 births 2005 deaths People from Evansville, Indiana Purdue University College of Health and Human Sciences alumni Home economists Kraft Foods people {{Improve categories, date=October 2020