Does Grape-Nuts Cereal Actually Contain Grapes or Nuts?

There’s no cheese in head cheese, and sweetbreads are neither sweet nor bread -- so a name doesn’t always accurately describe what you might be eating. Grape-Nuts is another example of this. Created by C.W. Post in 1897, the breakfast cereal does not actually contain grapes or nuts. It’s made from wheat and barley and is popular enough to still be on store shelves more than 120 years later. The widely accepted story is that Post came up with the name because he believed that glucose, which he called “grape sugar,” formed during the baking process, and he liked the nutty flavor of this new concoction.

More nuggets about Grape-Nuts:

• Another possible naming explanation from the Post website: Employees back then thought that the new cereal resembled grape seeds.
• To create the cereal, C.W. Post made a batter that came out of the oven in a solid sheet, which he broke into pieces and crushed into nut-sized kernels with a coffee grinder.
• During World War II, Grape-Nuts were included as part of the rations for Allied troops. In the 1960s, advertisements promoted Grape-Nuts as the cereal that “fills you up, not out.”