Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. Hey and welcome to the short stuff. I'm. Josh. There's Chuck. Jerry's here for. Dave. And this is Short Stuff. We're. talking about one of the greatest. Americans to ever trace this earth. That's right. A uh a food scientist. named William A. Mitchell who was a re a. research chemist for 35 years um at. General. Foods. And this this is this is a great. guy. He seems like it. There was uh an. interview with a guy named Marv Rudolph. who worked with uh with Mitchell that.

said uh he just knew how to amplify. flavors in food. He knew what colors to. make something to make it more. attractive and if you had a problem he. was a guy to go to. He could figure it. out. The other great thing was uh and. this is also from the same interview is. they tried to promote him at General. Foods to management many many times but. he didn't want to do that. He was a lab. guy and wanted to stay in the lab. Yes. And that is the sign of a true artiste. Yeah, because I think we talked about in. our Peter principle episode.

appropriately enough because that's what. we're talking about here. Um you can. very easily get. um raised I guess promoted. Thank you. Out of your field of expertise and. suddenly you're a manager and not. everybody's a manager. We can tell you. for sure. Yeah, I've I've done that job. I'm okay at it. I don't love it. I'm. terrible at it. Just screaming, pounding. my fists on desks. doesn't work. Uh but. Mitchell, and we'll get to the things he. invented uh after this maybe because.

that'll be a nice little teaser. But uh. he has more than 70 food patents that he. invented uh from 1941 to 1976. But this was a guy that was born to very. very hard work as in a Minnesota farm. family or to a Minnesota farm family in. 1911. Isn't that right? Yeah. Because. his dad died while he was in elementary. school. Although I suspect if you're. born to a Minnesota farm family in 1911, you're going to work regardless. But I. think the pressure was on William. Mitchell even more than the average.

Minnesota farm child born in 1911 um. because of his father's death. So um. Bill Mitchell had to harvest peas and. beans for other farmers um to help. supplement the income of their family. Uh by the time he was a teenager, the. family was living in Colorado and he was. trapping muskrat and I guess selling. them at the local muskrat market. Yeah. Uh and harvesting melons for other. farmers, too. So, he did a lot of work. that probably the average person didn't. Um but he also worked his way through.

college, too, I guess, as a carpenter. Yeah. Uh before that though, he got a. job that would kind of come in uh handy. later on as a food scientist because he. worked the overnight shift at the sugar. crystallization uh tank room for the. American Beet Sugar Company. So that. work with sugar just sort of put a pin. in that because that'll come back. Yeah, you can kind of imagine that's probably. where he started to develop his love of. food science, right? I mean, I don't. know. One can only guess, but I mean, he.

was around all that sugar. Yeah, really. hyped him up. Well, I say that because. pretty early on after he graduated with. a master's degree in chemistry, he went. into uh research chemistry with a I. guess a lean toward food because it was. at the agricultural experiment station. in Lincoln, Nebraska. I'm guessing he. worked a lot with corn. Um and so that. was his first career was essentially in. food science or he started working with. food as a scientist. How about that? Yeah, for sure. Uh, and as you will see,

he was not a person to be deterred. because uh, not long after he started. that job, there was a pretty bad. explosion uh, from heating a cracked. beaker uh, with alcohol in it. And he. got second and third degree burns over. 80% of his body. Uh, took some time off. to recover a few months and then that is. when he landed his job and moved to. White Plains, New York with the General. Foods, excuse me, more than one food. corporation. Don't say it. Don't say any. names yet. I won't, okay? because we're. going to take a break real quick and.

we're going to come back and talk about. some of the great things that Bill. Mitchell did with his life later after. this. [Music]. So, Chuck, uh, we talked about Bill. Mitchell being an amazing person, and.

one of the reasons why is because he. developed some of the best foods that. came out of the 20th century. Not the. best for you foods, just the best. Yeah. I wondered after I did this research, I. was like, man, are we going to get. people writing in because we're like. celebrating the sky for creating junk. food. Well, they just can soak their. heads. Great. Uh, I like that term. That's a nice way to say other things. So, one of the first things uh was in. 1957. He was like, "Uh, how about a. powdered drink that tastes sort of like. sort of citrusy and people might think.

it's good for you, but it's a 98% sugar. Yeah, it is. It is primarily sugar. Got. a little bit of vitamin C in there and. those flavor crystals happening. And. you're going to mix that together with. water and you're going to get a bright, very bright, almost unsettlingly bright. orange color. uh tangerine colored drink. and it's called Tang. Yeah. And you said. flavor crystals. That was a big one. because William Mitchell was known in. the food science industry is the master. of disaster and then in parenthesis they.

would put disaster being flavor. crystals that just couldn't find. anything that rhymed with it. Yeah. Yeah. Uh tank wasn't a big hit right. away though. Uh it took a little while. to catch on, but one of the big things. that uh helped, you know, helped launch. it, no, I guess pun intended, um was. when it went into outer space in 1962. It was on board John Glenn's Mercury. space flight cuz he was like, "Man, we're storing this drinking water in and. metal uh cans and metal vats and it. tastes gross." So he's like, "Just throw.

some tang powder in there and you're all. good." Yeah. So yeah, I mean this was. the time when America was just totally. fascinated with space. You know, you. could have put an old leather boot in. space and sold it as tang and people. would have drank it. Yeah. So um you. talked about um John Glenn saying it was. gross to drink metallic water. Later on. Buzz Aldrin said Tang is gross. As a. matter of fact, he said Tang sucks. And. he said it while he was doing the most.

2013 thing you could possibly be doing. He was pre presenting a Spike TV Guys. Choice Award to Felix Bombgardner. Oh, was he the the parachute guy? Yeah. Yeah. That jumped from space. Yeah. Yeah. Sponsored by Red Bull probably. Great. Yeah. And I don't know how it. came up. I didn't see the clip, but that. was the what made the rounds in the. media. Tang sucks in quotes. Oh, good. for you, Buzz. Uh, speaking of being. sponsored though, by the time Apollo 8. rolled around, Tang was such a thing for.

space flights that uh the the televised. event was sponsored by Tang. They were. like, "We got we got to get in on this. thing." Did you drink Tang when you were. a kid? Uh, a little bit, but we I drank. a lot of water. My mom was, you know, we. couldn't afford a lot of stuff, even. though Tang was like super cheap. And I. think mom also didn't want us just. having a ton of junk. Um, it wasn't like. super health food family or anything, but it was just one of those things like. I'm not gonna waste my money on that. garbage. I'm I guess you probably didn't. um drink Kool-Aid either. A little bit.

here and there. Those were treats I. usually got at other kids' houses. Yeah, Kool-Aid was the best. Did you just. drink all that stuff? I drank so much. Kool-Aid. Cherry, lime was really good. Um, grape was probably the best. Oh my. god. Good freezer pops, too. Yes. But if. you ever made it, Chuck, you would put. the Kool-Aid powder in a pitcher and it. would be like a couple tablespoons maybe. pops and then you would pour literal.

cups of sugar on top of it. Add water, stir, and just thank me later. Yeah. Hey, Kool-Aid. It was It was nuts. Like. looking back, it was insane that that's. what kids drank. Pretty great. God bless the 70s. Uh, Bill Mitchell was trying to solve a lot. of problems often when he came up with. these inventions for food. Um, try to. save people time in the kitchen uh, at. the time, you know, trying to save mom's. time in the kitchen. And in 1967, he was. like, Jell-O takes way too long to make. because you have to use this hot water.

uh, boiling water to dissolve that. stuff. So, he came up with a and got a. patent for a quick set form of Jell-O. using cold water. It was like, look at. that, everybody. Presto changenjo. You. got cold Jell-O in no time flat. No time. flat. So what's interesting is Jello is. very famous for making some really weird. being a part of some really weird. mid-century recipes. So Bill Mitchell. had his hand in Jell-O. He also had his. hand in another ingredient in some. really weird recipes from mid-century.

which was cool whip which was to and. still is to almost totally artificial. whipped cream. It's made with water, hydrogenated vegetable oil, high. fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, and. then skim milk. And the skim milk is a. modern addition. There used to be. nothing that was a milk product in Cool. Whip, which meant you could freeze it, which was a huge boon to General Foods, right? Yeah, but I think you missed one. ingredient. Um, love the hand of God. So, you're a cool whip dude, huh?

I mean, we don't get it because it it's. just, you know, it's garbage. But it's, you know, when we uh pumpkin pie and. pecan pie and stuff like that around. Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will get. Cool Whip. Uh I don't like the shake a. can ready whip stuff. Um we're a Cool. Whip family and it does not last long in. our house because it just gets eaten out. of the container with a spoon by all. three of us. Same with Ready Whip. though. You just turn it up and spray it. right in your mouth and then when it's. out you it gives you a pretty good buzz.

Yeah, but I like that cool whip better. I like the taste. Yeah, I'm with you. I. like it frozen, too. I like it both. ways, but it's really good frozen as. well. Yeah. Um I think I told you before. Cool. Yeah, we talked about this. Cool. whip and peanut butter. It's a dangerous. combination. Oh, I still didn't try. that. I forgot. I'll have to try that. this Thanksgiving. You know, you. probably just shouldn't. I don't think. you should. It's like you might as well. have just said, I think I'll start. smoking cigarettes. Yeah, that's a good. point. So the the the granddaddy of them. all um Bill Mitchell had a hand in in.

that he kind of laid the groundwork for. the product to come. But back in 1956, William Mitchell was trying to figure. out ways to carbonate Kool-Aid. Yeah. To. basically create instant soda. Yeah. And. he was like, "Let me just figure out how. to add carbon dioxide to flavor. crystals." Because again, he was the. flavor crystal king. Yeah. Uh, and I. guess he he did enough so that like he. created a legacy um uh process of adding.

CO2 to to flavor crystals. It just. wasn't creating the soda that he was. looking for. So, he shelved it and then. somebody else came along and picked it. up. Right. Yeah. 20 years later, uh, somebody else tweaked it just a bit and. thankfully the the world the United. States and the world over got Pop Rocks. Yeah. Can you describe Pop Rocks if people. don't know what those are? Oh, they're. little very tiny uh candy on the kind of. like the size and shape of nerds. And if.

you don't know what nerds are, we're. just totally lost here. Um not quite as. coated if if they are at all, but when. they touch your tongue, that CO2 that's. inside just like starts to get released. and it makes the candy crackle. So, not. only does it make a cool sound, a. fizzing sound just like the top of like. when you pour a Sprite, um it like you. can feel it on your tongue, too. It's. very delightful. Yeah. So, I mean, the. idea was you would take a scoop of this. and add water. So, in this case, the.

water is just the your saliva and the. moisture from your mouth and your. tongue. Yeah. And uh I gave Ruby someh. when she was like four or five. I was. like, "You've never had Pop Rocks, kiddo. You got to try this out." And she. was, it was sort of one of those great. mind-blowing moments as a parent. She. like more. No, not really. She's not one. of those kids that it's weird. She loves. the thing, but maybe it's the ADHD. She. She kind of forgets about it after that. Usually ADHD laser focuses on something.

like a big sugar rush. So, she's. fortunate. Yeah. Um, so there was a. myth, I think some people probably still. believe this if they've heard it, Chuck, that if you drink soda and pop rocks, eat Pop Rocks at the same time, you're. at risk of blowing your stomach up from. all of the carbon dioxide. And that is. just not true. But it was persistent. enough that General Foods had to take. out a full page ad back in the 70s. And. I looked it up. It's an open letter to.

parents talking about pop rocks and how. it's safe. And it was written by Bill. Mitchell. Oh, that's great. Yeah. So, they trotted him out and they were like, "Tell everybody, Bill, because we don't. understand how they work. You explain. it." Yeah. They stood next to him with a. knife gently pressed into the side of. his. neck. Uh, so we salute you, William A. Mitchell. He retired from General Foods. in 1976. Uh, tried to find out some dirt. on this guy, but he seems like a just a. pretty great person. Uh he was a father. of seven. He's married for 60 years. Uh.

and when he uh passed away in 2004, his. obituary said he was devoted, stimulating and loving parent and uh. made a pretty big impact on you know the. diet of American kids. Yeah. And we. should say one of those seven children. is Cheryl Mitchell, his daughter. She. became a food scientist as well, followed in her father's footsteps. And. if you like rice stream, you can thank. Cheryl Mitchell or Elmherst um nut grain. and seed milk, you can thank her as. well. And she's known as a quote world.

authority on sweeteners, rice. processing, and the extraction and. metabolism of inulin. But not flavor crystals. No, that was. her dad's jam. Yeah. I love the legacy. continues, though. Pretty cool. Same. here. All right. Well, thank you and uh. thank you for signing off uh as a salute. to to William Mitchell, too, Chuck. I. appreciate it. And I think that also. means short stuff is out. Stuff You Should Know is a production of. iHeart Radio. For more podcasts, iHeart.

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