I enjoy shredded wheat, but it always seems like a basic breakfast food, so I was surprised to see a recipe in a hundred-year-old cookbook for Shredded Wheat Biscuit with Strawberries (and an option for making it using other berries or fruits). A hole is made in the top of the biscuit to create a basket, which is then filled with the berries.
Here’s the original recipe:
Since the old recipe gave the option of using a variety of different berries or other fruit, when I made this recipe I decided to use a mixture of strawberries and blueberries. When I updated the recipe I changed the name of it from Shredded Wheat Biscuit with Strawberries to Shredded Wheat Biscuit with Berries since it better describes some of the options.
The shredded wheat was lovely with berries.
I didn’t warm the shredded wheat biscuit in the oven. There didn’t seem to be a need. Perhaps the biscuits were more likely to be stale a hundred years ago, and heating in the oven may have made them crispier.
Here’s the recipe updated for modern cooks:
Shredded Wheat Biscuit with Berries
1 shredded wheat biscuit
strawberries (quarter if large), blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.
sugar, if desired
milk or cream
Cut or crush an oblong hole in the shredded wheat biscuit to create a basket. Fill the hole with berries or other fruit. Serve with milk or cream, and sugar (if desired).
I cut out the middle man and don’t bother with the hole. These days, breakfast cereal with a handful of berries is thoroughly mainstream, isn’t it?
Agree- breakfast cereal with berries is definitely mainstream. Some of the photos on the shredded wheat box show the biscuit with berries. Those pictures looked similar to my photo – except that there was no hole, and the photos were much clearer and better composed. 🙂
I haven’t thought of Shredded Wheat in a long time and didn’t even know they still made it.
It’s still around. We buy it from time to time.
The history behind so many cereal products is very interesting and their origins surprise people. As my own written stroll down culinary memory lane(s) suggests, I eat this stuff up!
I also like shredded wheat. I don’t know much about the history of shredded wheat, but know that some of the other breakfast cereals were originally considered health foods.
So true … But I would definitely add a huge asterisk next to the word “health” given the history and the origins of many of these. 😉
Agree – “Health foods” can mean many different things to different people, and at different times. And, sometimes they may not actually be very healthy.
We used to eat them broken up with milk in warm weather but more often as a quick hot breakfast in winter. Pour boiling hot water over them just long enough to heat and soften. Pour the water off and add milk and brown sugar. I don’t think we used fresh fruit much but berries were not available year round like they are now. I haven’t had them in years.
When I did this post, and mixed strawberries and blueberries, I wondered if I was being historically accurate. I think that the seasons for the two fruits barely overlapped years ago. And, as you noted, fresh berries won’t have been available for much of the year.
We had shredded wheat a lot when I was growing up. My grandmother lived with us and always poured a little warm water on her biscuit to soften it, then drained it out before adding the milk. I don’t think her teeth were too good. I liked it crispy, and we often put berries on ours.
Both you and someone else commented about how the remember warm water being poured on the biscuits first. It apparently as a popular way of preparing the biscuits years ago.
And I thought it was just my grandmothers teeth!
Everything is better toasted don’t you think?
Definitely – foods are better when toasted.
I have always eaten the mini shredded wheat cereal, and had not seen the large biscuits since I was growing up. A couple of weeks ago, they had a large biscuit box at Larson’s and I bought it! Randy laughed at me, but I enjoyed it and of course, added blueberries and strawberries, albeit not in a hole in the middle. 😁. A “recipe” for adding berries to cereal–who knew? Fun post!
Like you, I’ve had fun eating the old-fashioned large biscuits.
My grandparents used to eat this when I was a kid (over 60 years ago, goodness), never could figure out why as it tasted nasty to me and took forever to chew! I felt like a horse eating hay, worse yet, lol.
I like your analogy. ”I felt like a horse eating hay” made me smile.
ate this many times as a kid. Dad used to put boiling water on the biscuit to soften it and then add milk and sugar.
I think that people often put water on the biscuits to soften them years ago – but I haven’t heard of anyone doing that recently. I wonder if the biscuits were harder in days gone by.
I have no memory of adding hot water to the biscuits. With milk, they soften very quickly, like most cereals. Post Toasties, Cheerios, corn flakes…the only exception I can think of is Grape Nuts–which no matter what you did were hard and I never ate them !
Grape nuts are almost impossible to eat. I bought one box of them years ago – and think that I may have thrown most of it out.
I do not blame you! 😌