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Brittle, yes, but not fickle.
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There are Canadians who would not recognize the most distant ancestors of the beloved puffed wheat square, but they’re not in Red Deer, Alta.
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A.J. Russell was born in rural New Brunswick in 1868 but went West after a years-long rough patch in business early in life.
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His story is one of a plucky 19th-century self-starter who left home at 14 and worked as a lumber camp cook and in other vocations including the restaurant business before landing on candy.
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The original recipe for the celebrated snack seen by some to emulate the hardscrabble ethos of the Prairies employed molasses as a sweetener with sugar rationed due to the First World War. Puffed grains were popularized as a nutritional staple for their ability to stretch a pantry, also during wartime.
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Russell’s descendants told the CBC in 2019 that he created what we know as a puffed wheat square by adapting one of his popular brittle recipes for a Quaker Oats Company candy bar recipe contest.
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(The major Canadian Quaker plant in Peterborough, Ont. was originally established as the American Cereal Company in 1902, lured as many manufacturers were by the city’s abundant hydroelectric power.)
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Online recipe authors stress cooking time is key to a puffed wheat square with that ideal ooey-gooey adjacent consistency: Don’t boil the candy mixture for too long.
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“Drop a small dollop of the mixture into a cup of cold water. If it forms a ball, you are good,” advises Visit Red Deer.
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Other recipes mix in marshmallows for texture and peanut butter for a flavour contrast.
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