General video · Level C2

How Oreo Cookies Are Made

In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Baking Company, also called Nabisco.

Level: C2 · 66 sentences

Transcript

  1. In 1898, several baking companies merged to form the National Baking Company, also called Nabisco.
  2. This was the birth of the organization that would eventually create the Oreo cookie.
  3. Today, Oreo cookies are produced at factories in 18 countries all over the world.
  4. These factories help produce a whopping 40 billion cookies per year.
  5. So, how do they do it?
  6. For Oreo cookies, hand making isn't an option
  7. since the sheer amount each factory has to produce is impossible to do by hand.
  8. For this purpose, the Oreo factory is full of heavy-duty machinery,
  9. equipped to churn out more than one billion cookies each year.
  10. The main ingredients essential to the cookie making process are flour, sugar, cocoa powder,
  11. vegetable oil, leavening agents, such as baking soda and baking powder,
  12. salt, flavorings, and vanilla cream filling.
  13. These are sourced from different producers
  14. and are approved by a quality control team after they arrive at the factory.
  15. The next step is preparing the batter.
  16. A worker unloads heaps of sugar into an industrial-grade mixer.
  17. Next, he adds two kinds of cocoa,
  18. both types are processed beforehand to make them milder and smoother.
  19. The cocoa gives the Oreo cookies their signature look and taste.
  20. A pre-mix of salt and other ingredients follows.
  21. A specially formulated canola oil mixture will help these dry ingredients form into a batter.
  22. As huge beaters blend everything together,
  23. water is added and the batter starts to look like a bubbling chocolate mixture.
  24. Then, dry ice is added to lower the mixture's temperature.
  25. This is important because when flour is added,
  26. the dough will turn out to be less crumbly than it would have been if it was kept at room temperature.
  27. A pre-mix of leavening ingredients goes in next.
  28. One final mix and the chocolate dough is ready to go.
  29. The workers then shovel the cookie dough into a grate
  30. and press them through the grate into a molding machine.
  31. This helps portion the large clumps of cookie dough into individual pieces that are crucial for the molding process.
  32. The molding machine then forms the dough into biscuit shapes.
  33. It also has the intricate design and logo engraved into a roller that presses it onto the cookies.
  34. This machine churns out an impressive 5,000 cookies every hour.
  35. For the baking part of the process,
  36. the cookies move from a silicon conveyor onto a steel one.
  37. This is because the excellent thermal properties of the belt deliver efficient baking and a crisp, attractive base
  38. while the hard, smooth surface ensures easy clean product release.
  39. The cookies then travel through an 85-meter long industrial-grade oven for several minutes
  40. and receive an even baking.
  41. While the cookies are being cooled, the vanilla cream filling is prepared.
  42. The filling is made from a mixture of powdered sugar, vegetable shortening, vanilla flavoring,
  43. and sometimes other ingredients to achieve a desired taste and texture.
  44. Once the vanilla filling is prepared, it is loaded onto a pump.
  45. The pump is a device that allows controlled and precise dispensing of the filling.
  46. The filling is poured into a hopper or container attached to the pump.
  47. On the other side, once the cookies are cool to the desired crispness,
  48. they're ready for assembly.
  49. They move to another conveyor which feeds into a series of chutes.
  50. The biscuits travel over ramps designed to make them fall into a certain orientation;
  51. one side lands plain side up while the other one lands with the engraved side up.
  52. This puts them in the correct position for the all-important cream filling.
  53. A cylindrical pump deposits the vanilla filling onto the plain side of the biscuits.
  54. These biscuits then travel to a station where machinery presses the top biscuit onto the bottom one.
  55. Once the cookies have been assembled, mechanical fingers separate them into bunches,
  56. then grippers swing into action and move each bunch forward and then release it into plastic trays.
  57. The entire cookie making process takes about 90 minutes,
  58. churning out 3,000 cookies every minute.
  59. The trays, now full of biscuits, move on to the quality control station.
  60. At the QC station, the Oreo cookies undergo quality control checks
  61. to ensure they meet the company's standards.
  62. Once approved, they are packaged into larger boxes or containers
  63. and shipped to distribution centers
  64. where they are then sent to retailers for sale.
  65. This iconic cookie is available in more than a hundred countries around the globe,
  66. and approximately 34 billion are sold each year.