MIT Scientists Are Working On The Best Way To Open An Oreo, Seriously
MIT scientists have found the perfect technique to split an Oreo with even amounts of creme on each side.
How do you eat your Oreos? Do you eat them dry, dunk them in milk, twist them apart, and eat the creme, or even use a fork like they were a meatball to dunk them in milk and keep your hands dry? If you’re someone who pulls your cookies apart, there is a team of MIT scientists that tried finding the best way to pull Oreos apart to distribute the creme evenly — with science! (via The Wall Street Journal)
According to MIT scientists, the creme in an Oreo tends to stick to one side of the cookie rather than both sides. If you’re someone who pulls your cookies apart, maybe you noticed that this happens more often than not. Specifically, the scientists observed that this phenomenon happened about 80 percent of the time.
Another interesting factoid is that the MIT scientists published their Oreo findings in the peer-reviewed journal Physics of Fluids. Why Physics of Fluids, you ask? Well, technically the creme inside the sandwich cookies is considered a liquid.
The MIT scientists used a rheometer to test the properties of the creme in the Oreos. The creme is considered a stress-yield fluid, which means it appears solid but flows when pressure is applied. If you didn’t think the study was strange enough, now you know that you’re eating cookies with liquid in the middle when you eat these tasty treats.
Obviously, the question remains if the MIT scientists found the best way to pull apart Oreos. Apparently, they tried twisting, peeling, pressing, sliding, and other methods to pull the cookies apart in an attempt to find the best creme distribution method possible. However, the attempts were fruitless as the creme tended to stick to one side regardless of the methods they used by hand or in the rheometer.
The study wasn’t for naught though, as the MIT researchers had some suggestions on how Oreo might change its manufacturing process to ensure a those who pull apart their cookies will get creme on each side. One suggestion was to flip the cookie wafers to have the textured side facing the creme. Presumably, the textured side of the cookie would help the creme stick better.
However, this suggestion from the MIT team would likely be rejected by Oreo, considering it would hide their branding on the inside of the cookie. Of course, they could potentially texture both sides, though that might incrementally reduce the amount of cookie the consumer is getting. Luckily, they had another idea that would seemingly do the trick.
According to the MIT scientists, if the manufacturing process would stick the Oreo wafers together to the creme at the same time, the creme would stick. The idea being that the creme likely sticks to the wafer that hits it first when pulled apart. Unfortunately, the cookie company responded to the amusing study, and it doesn’t appear they’re going to kowtow to these demands.
The MIT scientists got a response from Oreo’s parent company Mondelēz, which decided to take a neutral stance on the matter. Michelle Deignan, vice president of Oreo U.S. at Mondelēz International, said that “there’s just not one ‘right’ way to eat an Oreo cookie.” Oreo enjoyers may disagree, but it seems we’ll just have to make the sacrifice of only having creme on one side of the cookie for the foreseeable future.
