Who Came First?
Hydrox predates OREO by four years. That is the one fact about the two cookies that no source disputes: Hydrox was on the market first, in the same format — two chocolate wafers around a creme filling — and OREO entered the market second. What follows from that fact is a separate question, covered in the next section.
Hydrox in 1908
Hydrox was launched in 1908 by the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company of Kansas City — Jacob Loose, his brother Joseph Loose, and their partner John H. Wiles. The company later became Sunshine Biscuits, the name most histories use for the maker. The cookie was two crisp, dark chocolate wafers around a layer of sweet vanilla cream. Several histories describe Hydrox as the original chocolate sandwich cookie, and Leaf Brands, its current maker, calls it “the original creme-filled chocolate sandwich cookie.”
OREO in 1912
OREO was first sold on 6 March 1912, made by the National Biscuit Company (Nabisco) at its Chelsea bakery in Manhattan and sold by weight to a grocer in Hoboken, New Jersey. The trademark was filed on 14 March 1912 and registered on 12 August 1913. A trade announcement on 2 April 1912 introduced OREO as one of three new “Trio” biscuits — the first sale and the announcement are two different events, and histories sometimes give one date or the other without distinguishing them.
What “First” Means — and What It Doesn’t
“Hydrox came first” means one specific thing: in 1908, a chocolate sandwich cookie in this format was already on sale, four years before OREO. It does not mean Hydrox was proven to be the first sandwich cookie ever made anywhere — no source found shows the work of surveying the pre-1908 market, and the “original” wording traces to manufacturer claims and secondary repetition. This page says Hydrox came first in the format, and that OREO followed Hydrox and became the longer-lasting standard. It does not claim OREO invented the sandwich cookie, and it does not claim Hydrox was the first sandwich cookie in history.
Did OREO Copy Hydrox?
The chronology invites the question, and several well-known histories answer it in strong language. But the strong language and the evidence behind it are not the same thing. This section separates what sources actually say from what no source shows.
What the Sources Actually Say
Some reputable outlets do call OREO a copy. On NPR’s Weekend Edition in March 2024, host Scott Detrow said Nabisco “blatantly ripped off” Hydrox, and food historian Stella Parks, author of BraveTart, called OREO a “copycat of Hydrox.” CBC Radio’s Under the Influence (January 2024) called OREO “a copycat product.” Gizmodo (2015) called OREO “a pretty blatant rip-off of” Hydrox, “cream filling, embossing and all.”
Other histories avoid the copy language entirely. Atlas Obscura and Tedium (both 2017) say only that OREO “entered the market second” — that most people thought Hydrox was the Johnny-come-lately “when it was really Oreo that had entered the market second.” NPR in 2015 said only that Hydrox “was the original two-chocolate-wafers-with-white-cream-in-the-middle cookie.” And one source often cited for this question does not address it at all: Smithsonian Magazine’s 2018 history of the OREO factory contains no mention of Hydrox.
What No Source Shows
No internal Nabisco document, memo, admission, or named witness to copying was found in any of these sources. The strongest researcher on the story, Stella Parks, is explicit about the limit of her evidence: “The only things I have access to are public documents. So we don’t necessarily get the personal or the private sides of it.” She also notes that “There’s no real evidence that anyone at Nabisco was ever sweating this” — and that the word “imitated” in the record comes from Hydrox’s own defensive advertising of the period: “Accept no substitutions!” and “always imitated!”
Mondelēz and oreo.com never mention Hydrox at all. No official statement addresses the similarity, admits imitation, or denies it. Leaf Brands, for its part, claims primacy — “the original” and “predated Oreo” — and runs the headline “don’t eat a knock off! Stick with the original, Hydrox®.” That is the current owner’s marketing, not evidence of what Nabisco intended in 1912.
So the page’s position is this: the chronology is certain, the intent is not documented, and this page does not call OREO a copy. Hydrox came first; OREO followed; OREO became the longer-lasting standard.
Hydrox vs OREO at a Glance
The table at the top of this page puts the two cookies side by side. Read it with the serving size in mind: a serving is 2 cookies for Hydrox and 3 cookies for OREO, so the calorie and fat numbers only make sense next to those servings. All figures come from current US labels, checked in November 2026, and labels vary by country and by pack — check your own pack before comparing.
Three cells need a note before you read the table. Hydrox’s sodium, saturated-fat, and fiber figures are not published here as single numbers, because different label versions in circulation give different figures for them — see Nutrition: The Numbers below. The Hydrox serving weight also varies by label (27 g or 28 g), which is why the table gives the serving in cookies first. Everything else in the table is a figure every label version agrees on.
Ingredients: What’s Inside
Hydrox Ingredients
The current Hydrox label lists: sugar, enriched flour (wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm oil, sunflower oil, cocoa (alkalized), corn flour, corn starch, leavening (baking soda, monocalcium phosphate), salt, sunflower lecithin, natural vanilla flavors, and unsweetened chocolate. It contains wheat and soy ingredients. Leaf Brands publishes no ingredients list on its own site, so this list comes from retailer listings reproducing the current label.
OREO Ingredients
The current OREO Original label lists: unbleached enriched flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate [vitamin B1], riboflavin [vitamin B2], folic acid), sugar, palm oil, soybean and/or canola oil, cocoa (processed with alkali), high fructose corn syrup, leavening (baking soda and/or calcium phosphate), salt, soy lecithin, chocolate, and artificial flavor. It contains wheat and soy. Milk is not an ingredient, but the cookies are made on equipment shared with milk-containing products, so milk cross-contact is possible.
The HFCS and Artificial-Flavor Difference
The clearest ingredient difference is also the one Leaf Brands talks about most. After acquiring Hydrox, Leaf rolled the formula back: it removed high fructose corn syrup, replacing it with real cane sugar, removed hydrogenated oils, and in February 2017 removed artificial flavors and GMOs. The current Hydrox label has no high fructose corn syrup and no artificial flavor. The current OREO label has both.
One caution: an older Hydrox label version still in circulation lists vegetable shortening (palm oil, interesterified soybean oil) and “natural and artificial flavor” — that version predates the 2017 change. This page uses the current version, which matches Leaf’s published claims. No health claim follows from any of this: the difference is a label fact, not a verdict on either cookie.
Nutrition: The Numbers
The Figures Every Label Agrees On
Per label serving, Hydrox is 130 calories per 2 cookies, with 6 g total fat, 19 g total carbohydrate, 12 g sugars, and 1 g protein. OREO Original is 160 calories per 3 cookies (34 g), with 7 g total fat, 25 g total carbohydrate, 1 g dietary fiber, 14 g sugars (13 g added), and 1 g protein. OREO’s sodium per serving is 130 mg.
Per cookie, the two sit close together: about 65 calories for one Hydrox and about 53 for one OREO. Those are derived figures — the label numbers divided by the cookie count — so they are always written with “about.” Per gram the two are within a few percent of each other: about 4.7 calories per gram for OREO, and about 4.6–4.8 for Hydrox depending on which label’s serving weight you use. The serving-size difference, not a nutritional gulf, is what makes the per-serving numbers look far apart.
Why Sodium and Saturated Fat Are Flagged
This page publishes no single sodium, saturated-fat, or fiber figure for Hydrox, because the label versions in circulation disagree. Different listings and pack photos give different sodium figures, different saturated-fat figures, and different fiber figures, and they give the serving weight as 27 g in one version and 28 g in another. One of the versions still shows the pre-2016 label format, which marks it as an old printing rather than a current label.
Leaf Brands publishes no Nutrition Facts panel on its own site, so there is no official panel to settle the conflict. Until a current label is verified directly, the honest choice is to publish only the figures every version agrees on and to flag the rest as label-dependent. That is what the table above does.
Taste and Texture: Only What the Makers Say
No independent taste test is cited on this page. What follows is what each maker says about its own cookie — quoted, and attributed.
What Leaf Brands Says About Hydrox
Leaf Brands describes Hydrox with three labels on its product page: “Darker Chocolate (Cookie)”, “Less Sweet (Filling)”, and “Crunchier (Cookie).” The page adds: “It tastes like the original Hydrox you remember; less sweet than the others and those amazing crispier cookies!” Leaf’s CEO put the same comparison in a press interview: “The cosmic difference between Hydrox™ and Oreo is that Hydrox™ is a little more crispy; a little less sugary and stands up better in milk.”
Those are Leaf’s claims about its own product. “Less sweet than the others” is a taste claim, not a measured sugar comparison — and the sugar numbers above (12 g per 2 Hydrox vs 14 g per 3 OREO) do not by themselves prove a taste difference, because the servings are different sizes.
What Mondelēz Says About OREO
Mondelēz describes Original OREO as “America’s favorite sandwich cookie for over 100 years” and as “Supremely dunkable,” sandwiching “a rich creme filling between the bold taste of two chocolate wafers — making them milk’s favorite cookie.” The official copy also says OREO is “Always made with Real Cocoa.” The word “crunchy” does not appear in the official Original product copy; “crisp, delicate” is the wording used for OREO Thins, not for Original.
Who Makes Them Now
Leaf Brands and Hydrox
Hydrox is made by Leaf Brands, LLC, of Newport Beach, California. Leaf Brands acquired the Hydrox trademark and relaunched the cookie on 4 September 2015, with production at its facility in Vernon, California. Leaf also makes Tart n Tinys, Wacky Wafers, and Astro Pops. Before Leaf, the cookie passed through Sunshine Biscuits (bought by Keebler in 1996), a rename to Droxies in 1999, Kellogg’s acquisition of Keebler in 2001, withdrawal of Droxies in the early 2000s (sources give 2002 or 2003), and a brief Kellogg revival for the cookie’s 100th anniversary in 2008 that lasted less than a year.
Mondelēz and OREO
OREO is made by Mondelēz International, through its US unit Mondelēz Global LLC. Philip Morris Companies acquired Nabisco in December 2000, and on 1 October 2012 Kraft Foods spun off its North American grocery business and the remaining global snacking company was renamed Mondelēz International. OREO is still produced and sold in the United States — current US retailer listings show it in stock at Target, Kroger, and oreo.com itself.
Where to Buy Them
Hydrox Availability
Hydrox is sold mainly online, with limited in-store availability. Leaf Brands said in 2021 that Amazon shipments sold out quickly, and the cookie is listed through Amazon, Walmart.com, and delivery apps such as Instacart and Uber Eats. In stores, the only currently verified listing is Menards, which sells the 13 oz pack in stores only — not online. Walmart stopped carrying Hydrox in its stores in 2017, and Kroger did the same in 2018. Leaf Brands does not sell Hydrox directly to consumers, and it asks customers to request the cookie from their local grocer. Stock varies and sells out, so check the current listing before assuming a pack is available. No price is published on this page.
OREO Availability
OREO is widely available in US retail: supermarkets, supercenters, warehouse clubs, drug stores, and convenience stores, as well as oreo.com and online retailers. Current US listings show Original in stock at Target, Kroger, and oreo.com. For the full picture — stores, online, bulk, and how to compare prices — see where to buy OREO cookies.
How to Choose Between Them
Start with availability: OREO is on most US store shelves, while Hydrox is mainly an online purchase with limited in-store availability, so the practical question is often which one you can actually buy. Then consider what each maker claims: Leaf Brands describes Hydrox as less sweet, darker, and crunchier, and says it is certified vegan; Mondelēz describes OREO as supremely dunkable with a rich creme filling. OREO also comes in many flavors and formats — Original, Double Stuf, Golden, Thins, and more — while Hydrox is sold in one flavor, chocolate. This page ranks neither cookie as better or healthier; the numbers, the labels, and the makers’ own words above are the basis for the choice, and the current label on your own pack is the final check.
OREO Site is an independent site and is not affiliated with Mondelēz International, OREO, Leaf Brands, or Hydrox. Figures on this page are from US labels checked in November 2026 and change; check the current label before you buy.