RIP Rastus; Land o’Lakes Indian Maiden et al.

I too found this site when looking up the differences between the various times available. I was refilling our Coco Wheats supply (that’s what I was raised on!) so I also ordered Cream of Wheat to get my total high enough for free shipping. I *have* to order Coco Wheats online, but CoW is available at our grocery store so my husband normally gets it. So this order was the I first I’d encountered all the different CoW cooking times available – cue the indecision! Luckily it sounds like I chose correctly with 2.5 minutes, since evidently the 10-minute variety is stovetop only.

With as much as my mom made us Coco Wheats growing up, I oddly didn’t encounter CoW until college. I was working in the dining hall and it was served one day for breakfast, and I was like “What is this stuff??” We had 1 student and 1 adult employee at each area, and older lady I was working with told me it was CoW and to try it with brown sugar. So I did and it was delicious – and then I realized that it was non-chocolate Coco Wheats!

Kim: I hope you’ve been cooking yours for longer and that your tummy feels better! Linda’s reply to you was one of my favorites of this entire thing, haha!

Once I left the comfort of childhood and became an adult there was little time in the morning for making even 2.5 minute C.O.W., as it usually took closer to 10 minutes to make because I had not mastered bringing the milk to a boil first, without burning the bottom of the pot and having hot milk boil over the top of the pot, making a huge mess of the stove. To avoid this I would start it at a much lower temperature and have to cook it and watch it carefully for 10 minutes. I am happey to report that somewhere around the age of 40 years I improved my cooking skills and have shaved a few minutes off the cooking time no longer burning the bottom of the pot, and rarely have the milk boil over the top due to lack of attention. However I have never gotten it down to 2.5 minutes. Maybe 4.5 minutes is my best time. Yes I time it, because my goal is to get to 2.5 minutes.

Now retired I love being able to have a hot breakfast most mornings, which occurred much less frequently in my childhood. Cream of Wheat is one of my go to hot breskfasts. It used to be once a week but it now competes with my hot sterl cut oats that take 30 minutes to cook but is healthier, along with my #1 – scrambled eggs/bacon/breakfast potatoes breakfast.

As for the other varieties. I tried the instant version when I became an adult and was buying my own groceries. I found it grainy, no creaminess and gross. I never tried making it with milk so maybe that would make a slight difference, but I can’t imagine making it palatable. In any case I would avoid just like the instant oatmeal. The quality, taste and texture is not palatable in my humble opinion. Plus all the added sugar.

Now back to what I have discovered traveling down the C.O.W. rabbit hole before I arrived here. The 10 minute original version might be the purest of them all. Disodium phosphate was discovered to reduce the required cooking time to 2.5 minutes for C.O.W.. Unknown if this additive is in the 10 minute version. In my rabbit whole travels I landed at the manufacturer’s website however their list of products and ingredients does not include the 10 minute version. I did not even know there was a 10 minute version until the rabbit whole led me to Wikipedia, and now I want to try it. However it is not clear to me if the 10 minute version is still being manufactured. I see it advertised for sale on various websites but maybe it is old and discontinued, or maybe it is still being produced and sold for other countries and making it’s way back to the U.S. by way of 3rd party sellers. Anyone have more info about the 10 minute version and if still being sold in the U.S. at a national retail chain?

Speaking of varieties there are even more! In Canada they sell the 8 and 3 minute versions of Cream of Wheat! Crazy. Guessing it is the chemical additives that determine the cooking time. Which is why I am now interested in finding tbe 10 minute version.

Last thought/comment – If you have only tried the instant version I highly recommend you try the 2.5 minute version made with milk not water. The quality and taste is much better. Same goes for steel cut oats, far superior to rolled quick cooking oats.

~ A C.O.W. fan forever!