Corn flakes were created in 1894 after John Harvey Kellogg and Will Keith Kellogg experimented with grains at the Battle Creek Sanitarium.
The brothers reportedly left a batch of cooked wheat dough to temper and later rolled it, producing thin flakes. They continued experimenting and eventually used corn, creating the cereal that became known as corn flakes. The flakes were toasted before serving and promoted as a light breakfast food.
John Harvey Kellogg directed the sanitarium, while Will Keith Kellogg later founded the Battle Creek Toasted Corn Flake Company, which became the Kellogg Company. Their business relationship eventually became strained, but both played important roles in the cereal’s development and commercialization.
Corn flakes are sometimes confused with Rice Krispies or other early Kellogg cereals. Their defining grain is corn, and the 1894 development story belongs specifically to corn flakes.