December 13, 2021

Understanding the Post^® Cereal Cooking Process

Have you ever wondered how your favorite Post^® cereals are made? The truth is that the process isn’t too much different than baking at home – we just use different, larger appliances and a much bigger kitchen!

See the cooking process behind our Shredded Wheat cereal and Honey Bunches of Oats^® cereal in action:

Here’s a breakdown of how we cook our cereals:

1. Mix Key Ingredients

The cereal cooking process begins with our primary ingredients: corn, whole grain wheat, wheat, whole grain rolled oats, oats, almonds or rice. From there, the ingredients are poured into a hopper or mixing kettle and are mixed. Then, water and steam are added.

2. Shape Cereal Pieces

Next is the fun part – giving our cereals their iconic shapes. To create flakes in cereals such as Honey Bunches of Oats, corn pieces are flattened between two large mills. For cereals from the Shredded Wheat family, our team takes small wheat berries and runs them through shredding mills, forming string-like pieces.

3. Size and Add Flavor to Cereals Through Other Ingredients

Once the cereals are shaped, our team dries or puffs the cereal to get the desired size. Then, sugar, vitamins, and additional flavors or ingredients like homemade granola, fruits, nuts, and marshmallows.

While every Post^® cereal has its own unique cooking method, the fundamental steps remain consistent. Our cereal making magic happens in our 10 plants located across the U.S. and Canada by our team members who are dedicated to making better happen every day.

Learn more about the nutrition and production processes of Post^® cereals on our Nutrition and Production Information page.