Ever heard of ‘Oreology’? MIT scientists study the perfect way to eat an Oreo
A team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tested 1,000 Oreos in order to find the best way to split the treat so the creme filling is split evenly between the two sides of the cookie.
Here’s what they learned.
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How to perfectly split an Oreo cookie
CBS News reported that the researchers said there are a lot of factors, such as feel and softness, that are “intrinsic to enjoyable consumption, with one example being the habit of twisting a sandwich cookie apart before eating.”
More than 1,000 cookies were used to test, according to The Wall Street Journal.
“We also tested the cookies by hand — twisting, peeling, pressing, sliding and doing other basic motions to get an Oreo apart,” MIT doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering, Crystal Owens, said.
MIT News reported that the researchers found the creme filling to be strong, and no matter the speed you split the cookie, it would stick to one side 80% of the time.
Owens continued, “There was no combination of anything that we could do by hand or in the rheometer that changed anything in our results.”
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Why did MIT scientists do this?
Food and Wine reported that Owens said there was a personal desire for herself to find the best way to evenly split the cookie.
“I was personally motivated by a desire to solve a challenge that had puzzled me as a child: how to open an Oreo and get creme evenly arranged on both wafers?” Owens told Vice in 2022. “I preferred the taste of the cookies with the creme exposed. If I got a bite of wafer alone it was too dry for me, and if I dunked it in milk the wafer would fall apart too fast.”
