Type Brand Website Snack Works | Industry Food | |
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Headquarters East Hanover, New Jersey, United States Parent Nabisco (Kraft Foods until 2012 Mondelēz International 2012-present ) | ||
Nilla is a brand name owned by Nabisco that is most closely associated with its line of vanilla-flavored, wafer-style cookies. The name is a shortened version of vanilla, the tropical type of flavor common to all Nilla-branded products. Nilla wafers have been flavored with synthetic vanillin since their introduction.
Contents
Nilla wafers are round, thin, light wafers. "Nilla wafer" may sometimes be used colloquially like a genericized trademark for similar, but unrelated products. The brand was registered in the United States in 1968, having been first used in late 1967.
Uses
Several varieties of Nilla wafers are manufactured, including a reduced-fat version. Nilla wafers are often used in homemade recipes as an ingredient, particularly for banana cream pie or with banana pudding. A banana-flavored Nilla wafer was also offered at one time. The wafers are also used in icebox cake which is a no-bake cake made by layering wafers with cream and pudding. Nabisco also offers Nilla-branded pie crusts designed to save time for cooks who would otherwise have to crush the wafers by hand. The pie crust brand was registered in 1993. Nabisco also sponsored the "B'Nilla Bowl" game in 2001.
History
The original recipe and production process for the Nilla wafer was invented by German confectioner Gustave Mayer in New Dorp, Staten Island, about a hundred years ago. Briefly owned by Philip Morris USA from 2000, Nabisco was combined with Dinner Foods and spun off in 2007.