J.D. Pooley | Sentinel-Tribune Ethan Jordan serves his Fried Shredded Wheat at his Bowling Green home. 1/9/2020When Ethan Jordan thinks of his favorite childhood winter memories, there’s snow forts, snowball fights,
sledding — and Fried Shredded Wheat.
“My mom would make it for me, and her and mom made it for her. I think of it as a 1950s thing. The idea
is to just warm it up and give it something special,” Jordan said. “The idea is it’s a cold day. Let’s
make something special and have some Fried Shredded Wheat.”
The large biscuits are about 1 ounce each and are unsugared.
“My mom would make this often. Everyone thought is was kind of weird, but everything’s fried today, so
it’s not considered not that far out of the realm of possibility — like fried Snickers bars,” Jordan
said. “It’s really just browned with butter. So that makes it a little bit tastier, a little bit
crispier and a little bit more unctuous. So it’s quite tasty.”
The treat is definitely a treat.
“We had it when we were kids, but I think adults would like it as well,” Jordan said. “It’s kind of an
indulgence and probably not on everybody’s weight loss plans. But there’s no doubt it’s delicious.”
Jordan teaches English courses at Bowling Green State University. He grew up in Elyria.
It had been a family recipe for years and no one knew how it had been created or invented, until there
was a random discovery at a Salvation Army thrift shop. It turned up a National Biscuit Shredded Wheat
advertising storage tin with lithograph recipe printed on the side.
“Everyone thought we were insane, but she was vindicated. As soon as she saw it, she was like, ‘I’m not a
crazy person! It’s on the side of this tin.’ So it’s been very helpful for her,” Jordan said. “I’ve got
a weird recipe.”
“It’s delicious hot, too,” states the directions on the tin. “Here’s how — Dip biscuit quickly into hot
water, drain and serve with hot or cold milk.”
His mother’s version is a little more detailed. Use boiling water, not just hot water, so the biscuit
will flatten out. It will keep virtually the same length and width, but the thickness will drop by about
half. Make sure to let it drain a bit. Too much butter in the pan will make for a lot of splatter.
“The hardest part is dipping it in the boiling water. You dip it in the water just to soften it and get
it flat,” Jordan said. “And you use real salted butter. You can also put on brown sugar or strawberries
on it. Maybe a little banana.”
The plain, unsugared, large biscuits used to be made by Nabisco, which had been called the National
Biscuit Company. Today, that cereal division is owned by the Post Cereal Division. However, Jordan
believes they are exactly what his mother made when he was little. In Bowling Green, they are available
at Kroger.
“It seems like a very corporate thing. ‘Here’s our big biscuits in a different way.’ But it’s got that
old school thing, because it is the big biscuits,” Jordan said.
Asked about the “nutritious cereal” claims with “phosphorus, iron and Vitamin B,” stated on that tin,
Jordan was skeptical, because of the frying and sugar.
“Oh no. I’m pretty sure this will kill us all,” he said.
He uses stevia, instead of real sugar.
“I told my mom about this, just to verify the recipe and she said ‘That sounds so good,’” Jordan said.
He plans on making the Fried Shredded Wheat for his son, but thinks he might be a little too picky of an
eater to try it.
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