Cheerio to Cheerios Trivia Quiz

Answer: General Mills

The cereal's name was changed from CheeriOats to Cheerios in 1945. Other cereals produced by General Mills include Cocoa Puffs, Kix, Lucky Charms, Total, and Wheaties. Cadwallader C. Washburn and his brother William D. Washburn were instrumental in the development of the mills that would make the company successful.

Answer: Whole grain oats

In addition to whole grain oats, Cheerios contain modified corn starch, sugar, salt, tripotassium phosphate, and wheat starch. A cup of Cheerios contains 210 milligrams of sodium and 3 grams of dietary fiber.

Answer: Milk

I can't think of any beverage that goes better with Cheerios than milk. Most Cheerios packaging will include nutrition facts for both a cup of Cheerios and approximately a half cup of 2% or skim milk. In addition to milk it is also common to place fruits such as strawberries and bananas in Cheerios.

Answer: Circular

When General Mills was originally designing Cheerios, the company wanted to puff oats into a recognizable shape. The shape looks just like a flattened version of the 'o' in the Cheerios name. Cheerios packaging shows a cheerio as the dot over the 'i' in the brand name.

The technical name for the shape of a cheerio is a torus which is a solid formed by rotating a closed curve like a circle around a line in the same plane but not intersecting it. Other common torus-shaped foods include doughnuts and bagels.

Answer: Cholesterol

General Mills' advertising further stated that Cheerios was clinically proven to lower cholesterol "when eaten as part of a diet low in saturated fat and cholesterol". The FDA's letter to General Mills prompted the company to either change its marketing of the product or be forced to sell Cheerios as a drug.

In 2012 the FDA and General Mills reached an agreement whereby certain claims regarding Cheerios lowering cholesterol could be used on packaging.

Answer: Cinnamon Nut Cheerios

Cinnamon Nut Cheerios were not as successful as the original Cheerios but it prompted General Mills to explore more options with the Cheerios brand. The main ingredients in Cinnamon Nut Cheerios were oats, crushed nuts and natural cinnamon. General Mills also produced Cinnamon Toast Crunch which was a very successful brand that was first released in 1950.

Answer: Buzz

A report by Nielsen in 2014 concluded that Honey Nut Cheerios was the best-selling cereal in the United States. Not surprisingly, General Mills decided to run an ad campaign touting Honey Nut Cheerios as "America's favorite cereal". In the year 2000 the bee mascot for Honey Nut Cheerios was first named BuzzBee but this name was later shortened to the more easily pronounced Buzz.

Answer: Frosted Cheerios

Frosted Cheerios still retained whole grain oats as its main ingredient but the added sugar changed the flavor quite a bit. Advertising for Frosted Cheerios featured celebrities such as Gilbert Gottfried, Florence Henderson, James Doohan, and Kathy Griffin lauding the taste while looking into an open box.

Answer: Cereal bars

The bar shape found in many types of candy seems to be the inspiration behind granola bars and other cereal bars. The Honey Nut Cheerios cereal bar has cereal on the top and bottom with a solid milk filling in the center. Interestingly when compared to a similar portion of Honey Nut Cheerios and milk, the cereal bar has comparable nutritional facts.

Answer: Cheerios Snack Mix

Interestingly Cheerios Snack Mix does not feature whole grain oats as the main ingredient but rather enriched flour. In addition to a standard Cheerios Snack Mix, General Mills also released a cheese flavored snack mix in 2008 that included Cheerios, Corn Chex, Wheat Chex, triangle crackers, pretzels and cracker sticks flavored with cheese.