Dip them in milk, lick off the filling or eat them in one bite – the best way to enjoy a chocolate chip cookie can be a source of fierce debate.
Since the “twirl, lick, dunk” tagline came from an ad for Oreos, this particular treat could be considered the face of the campaign for non-traditional cookie eaters.
Consumers have been encouraged to split the sandwich cookie in half, lick off the exposed cream, and then dip the remaining wafers in milk before eating.
But this method can produce a terrifying result; where a wafer is completely devoid of cream and must be eaten as such.
Fortunately, scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been working to discover the best way to separate an Oreo to ensure the filling is evenly distributed.
Scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have been working to discover the best way to separate an Oreo to ensure the filling is evenly distributed
The team used their own specially designed piece of kit to spin both wafers of an Oreo in opposite directions at different speeds, until the cookie broke in half in the middle.
“I’ve always been annoyed that I have to twist them apart and then push cream from one side to the other,” mechanical engineering doctoral student Crystal Owens told the Wall Street Journal.
Her team developed their own equipment for the task, called the “Oreometer,” using pennies and elastic bands.
This caused both wafers of an Oreo to rotate in opposite directions at different speeds, until the cookie broke in half in the middle.
The researchers could then visually see how much cream remained on each wafer.
The device is inspired by the ‘rheometer’, a real laboratory instrument that measures how liquids deform under torsional forces by being sandwiched between two rotating surfaces.
Their study, published in Physics of Fluidssacrificed over 1,000 Oreos of various flavors and filling levels to the Oreometer.
These include regular, dark chocolate, and “gold” flavors and regular, Double Stuf, Mega Stuf, and Team USA triple-stuf levels of filling.
But regardless of these factors, they found that most of the stuffing would stick to one side about 80 percent of the time.
“I had in mind that if you twist the Oreos perfectly, you should split the cream perfectly down the middle,” Ms. Owens said.
“But what actually happens is that the cream almost always peels off on one side.”
The speed of the twist didn’t matter either, with the slowest option taking five minutes to separate the cookie, and most of the cream still ending up on one wafer.
The scientists found that most of the filling would stick to one Oreo wafer about 80 percent of the time, regardless of flavor and level of “dust”
Her team developed their own equipment for the task, called the “Oreometer,” using pennies and elastic bands
When cranked to maximum speed, about 100 times faster than a human could spin, the stuffing separated from both sides.
“We also tested the cookies by hand: twisting, peeling, pressing, sliding and doing other basic movements to break apart an Oreo,” Ms. Owens told the Wall Street Journal.
“There was no combination of anything we could do by hand or in the rheometer that changed anything in our results.”
Dipping the cookie in milk prior to spinning also proved to make things much worse, as they disintegrated into pieces after just a minute of force.
They did manage to draw some conclusions; the minimum force required to split an Oreo by turning it is about the same as it takes to turn a doorknob.
There was also a relationship between the speed of the twist and the amount of force it takes to get a clean break.
“If you try to spin the Oreos faster, it takes more effort and more stress to break them,” Ms. Owens said.
“Maybe this is a lesson for people who are stressed and desperate to open their cookies. It’s easier if you slow down a bit.’
The team found that more often than not, the cream adhered to the wafer facing the inside of the box it came in, rather than the closest edge of the box.
The team found that more often than not, the cream adhered to the wafer facing the inside of the box it came in, rather than the closest edge of the box.
“This may indicate that environmental influences (ambient heat or mechanical disturbances) affect the biscuits in individual boxes, with the greatest influence on biscuits near the perimeter,” they wrote in their paper.
These factors can cause the filling to loosen slightly from the wafer to which it is less firmly attached, which can be decided during cookie construction.
Ms Owens said: ‘Videos of the manufacturing process show them laying down the first wafer and then spreading a scoop of cream on that wafer before placing the second wafer on top.
“Apparently that little delay can help the cream stick better to the first wafer.”
This is supported by the fact that when a physicist from the University of Groningen repeated their experiment, he found that the cream tended to split evenly.
This suggests that the formula of the filling process or the manufacturing process is different in Europe.
The researchers conclude their study by suggesting how Oreos’ parent company, Mondelēz International, could stop the split problem.
They wrote, “If cookie manufacturers themselves want to influence creme distribution, providing wafers with through holes or texture on the inside should promote creme-wafer adhesion on both halves.
‘Our results and research methods can also be widely applied in understanding other torsion events in the kitchen, from braided loaves and dough mixing to ideal opening kinematics of stubborn jam jar lids.’
Chocolate side up or down? Scientist Reveals the Best Way to Eat a Chocolate Digestive
With their crunchy cookie base and luxurious chocolate topping, Chocolate Digestives have been a favorite with cookie lovers since their launch in 1925.
But one question has been much debated about the biscuits: In which direction should they be eaten?
Now researchers at Oxford University think they’ve settled the debate, claiming that you should pick up the cookies chocolate-side up, but flip them before eating them.
The experts say this method allows the brain to register the chocolate coating, while flipping before eating maximizes the “oral-somatosensory experience” of chocolate melting on the tongue.
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Oxford University researchers think they have settled the debate, claiming you should pick up the biscuits chocolate side up, but turn them over before eating them
