Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor

Summary

Podcast Summary: Stuff You Should Know – Episode: Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor

Introduction

In the episode titled "Short Stuff: William A. Mitchell: Food Inventor" from the "Stuff You Should Know" podcast by iHeartPodcasts, hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant delve into the life and legacy of one of America's most influential food scientists, William A. Mitchell. Released on May 21, 2025, this episode offers an engaging exploration of Mitchell's numerous contributions to the food industry, highlighting his ingenuity, resilience, and lasting impact on everyday products.

Early Life and Education

William A. Mitchell was born in 1911 into a Minnesota farm family, a background that instilled in him a strong work ethic from an early age. Tragically, his father passed away during Mitchell's elementary school years, compelling him to take on significant responsibilities to support his family. By his teenage years, Mitchell had relocated to Colorado, where he engaged in various labor-intensive activities such as trapping muskrat and harvesting melons for local farmers. This period of his life not only showcased his resilience but also laid the groundwork for his future in food science.

Mitchell pursued higher education diligently, working as a carpenter to fund his studies. He eventually earned a master's degree in chemistry, a testament to his dedication and intellect. His academic pursuits led him to the agricultural experiment station in Lincoln, Nebraska, where he began his career in food science, primarily focusing on corn research.

Career at General Foods

After recovering from a severe accident in which Mitchell sustained second and third-degree burns over 80% of his body due to a laboratory explosion, he joined General Foods in White Plains, New York. This move marked the beginning of a prolific career spanning 35 years at the company, where he would become a pivotal figure in food innovation. Despite numerous attempts by management to promote him, Mitchell chose to remain in the laboratory, embodying the true spirit of a dedicated scientist.

Key Inventions and Contributions

William A. Mitchell's legacy is cemented by his over 70 food patents, each demonstrating his ability to blend creativity with practicality to solve everyday problems.

1. Tang (1957)

   In 1957, Mitchell developed Tang, a powdered citrus-flavored drink mix that was 98% sugar with added vitamin C and flavor crystals. Initially, Tang did not gain immediate popularity. However, its breakthrough came when it was selected for NASA's Mercury space missions. As Chuck Bryant recounts, "Tang wasn't a big hit right away, though. It took a little while to catch on. But when it went into outer space in 1962, it launched Tang into the public consciousness" (07:20). This association with space exploration captured the American imagination and established Tang as a household name.

2. Jell-O Quick-Set (1967)

   Mitchell addressed the lengthy preparation time of traditional Jell-O by inventing a quick-set version that used cold water instead of boiling. As Josh Clark highlights, "Bill Mitchell was like, look at that, presto change-O. You got cold Jell-O in no time flat" (11:04). This innovation not only made Jell-O more convenient but also expanded its versatility in various recipes.

3. Cool Whip

   Known as the "master of disaster" in the food science industry, Mitchell played a significant role in the development of Cool Whip, an artificial whipped cream alternative. Initially devoid of any milk products, the addition of skim milk allowed Cool Whip to be frozen, enhancing its shelf life and usability. Chuck Bryant humorously notes, "We are 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" (12:13). Today, Cool Whip remains a staple in many households, particularly during holiday seasons.

4. Pop Rocks (1960s Development)

   Mitchell's experimentation with carbonating flavor crystals laid the foundational process for Pop Rocks. Although his initial attempts did not produce the desired soda product, his legacy process was later refined to create the iconic popping candy. Josh Clark explains, "Can you describe Pop Rocks if people don't know what those are? They're little, very tiny candy... the CO2 that's inside just like starts to get released and it makes the candy crackle" (13:06). Pop Rocks became a cultural phenomenon, beloved by children and adults alike.

Challenges and Innovations

Mitchell's career was not without its challenges. After a debilitating accident early in his career, he demonstrated remarkable resilience, returning to his work with undiminished passion. His ability to innovate under pressure and his refusal to be pigeonholed into managerial roles highlight his commitment to pure scientific inquiry. This dedication is encapsulated in Chuck Bryant's admiration: "He was a lab guy and wanted to stay in the lab" (01:30).

Moreover, Mitchell addressed public misconceptions about his inventions. A prevalent myth suggested that consuming Pop Rocks with soda could cause stomach explosions. In response, General Foods featured Mitchell in a full-page ad where he confidently dispelled this myth. Josh Clark recounts, "They trotted him out and they were like, tell everybody, Bill... You explain it" (15:26). This proactive stance not only protected his reputation but also built trust with consumers.

Personal Life and Legacy

Beyond his professional achievements, William A. Mitchell was a devoted family man. He was married for 60 years and fathered seven children, including Cheryl Mitchell, who followed in his footsteps to become a renowned food scientist herself. Cheryl continued the family legacy with innovations like Rice Dream and Elmhurst Nut grain and seed milk, further cementing the Mitchelts' impact on the food industry.

Upon his passing in 2004, Mitchell was remembered as a "devoted, stimulating, and loving parent" whose work significantly influenced the diets of American families. Josh Clark emphasizes this sentiment, stating, "He made a pretty big impact on, you know, the diet of American kids" (16:03).

Conclusion

William A. Mitchell's contributions to food science are monumental, with inventions like Tang, Jell-O Quick-Set, Cool Whip, and Pop Rocks becoming integral parts of American culinary culture. His dedication to innovation, coupled with his personal resilience and commitment to his craft, make him a quintessential example of how one individual's creativity can shape industry standards and consumer habits for generations. This episode of "Stuff You Should Know" not only celebrates Mitchell's achievements but also serves as an inspiration for aspiring scientists and innovators.

Notable Quotes

• Chuck Bryant (00:52): "If you had a problem, he was a guy to go to, he could figure it out."
• Josh Clark (02:25): "Bill Mitchell had to harvest peas and beans for other farmers to help supplement the income of their family."
• Chuck Bryant (07:04): "Are we going to get people writing in? Because we're like celebrating this guy for creating junk food."
• Josh Clark (08:59): "Tang sucks."
• Chuck Bryant (15:27): "They stood next to him with a knife gently pressed into the side of his neck. So we salute you, William A. Mitchell."

Legacy Continues

The influence of William A. Mitchell extends beyond his own inventions, inspiring future generations through his daughter's achievements and the enduring presence of his products in kitchens worldwide. His story is a testament to the profound impact that dedicated and innovative individuals can have on everyday life.

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Disclaimer: The timestamps correspond to moments within the provided transcript and are used to reference specific quotes and discussions in this summary.

Transcript

[Chuck Bryant]

You're listening to an iHeart podcast.

[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

This information is provided by Lilly USA, LLC. 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 grace this earth.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. A food scientist named William A. Mitchell, who was a research chemist for 35 years at general Foods. And this is a great guy. He seems like it. There was an interview with a guy named Marv Rudolph who worked with Mitchell that said 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, 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.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. And that is the sign of a true artiste.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Because I think we talked about our Peter Principle episode, appropriately enough, because that's what we're talking about here. You can very easily get 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.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I've done that job. I'm okay at it. I don't love it.

[Josh Clark]

I'm terrible at it. Just screaming, pounding my fists on desks. It doesn't work.

[Chuck Bryant]

But Mitchell. And we'll get to the things he invented after this, maybe, because that'll be a nice little teaser, but he has more than 70 food patents that he invented from 1941 to 1976. But this was a guy that was born to very, very hard work in a Minnesota farm family or to a Minnesota farm family in 1911, isn't that right?

[Josh Clark]

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 because of his father's death. So Bill Mitchell had to harvest peas and beans for other farmers to help supplement the income of their family. 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 and harvesting melons for other farmers, too. So he did a lot of work that probably the average person didn't. But he also worked his way through college too, I guess as a carpenter.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Before that, though, he got a job that would kind of come in handy later on as a food scientist because he worked the overnight shift as at the sugar crystallization tank room for the American Beet Sugar Company. So that work with sugar, just sort of put a pin in that. Cause that'll come back.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, you can kind of imagine that's probably where he started to develop his love of food science. Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, I don't know. One can only guess. But I mean, he was around all that sugar.

[Josh Clark]

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 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. And so that was his first career, was essentially in food science. Or he started working with food as a scientist. How about that?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. And as you will see, he was not a person to be deterred because not long after he started that job, there was a pretty bad explosion from heating a cracked beaker with alcohol in it. And he got second and third degree burns over 80% of his body. 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.

[Josh Clark]

Don't say it. Don't say any names yet.

[Chuck Bryant]

I won't.

[Josh Clark]

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. For adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, or osa, and obesity, refreshing sleep may be hard to come by. And who likes to lag and drag through the day.

[Chuck Bryant]

OSA is a serious condition where your airway partially or completely collapses during Sleep, which may cause breathing interruptions and oxygen deprivation that could leave you feeling tired and fatigued.

[Josh Clark]

Loud snoring, choking or gasping for air during sleep could be signs of OSA. Don't sleep on the symptoms. Learn more at don'tsleeponosa.com this information is.

[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

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[Josh Clark]

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[Chuck Bryant]

Be dentist ready. Shop the Colgate Total Active Prevention system by visiting shop.colgate.com total.

[Josh Clark]

So, Chuck, 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, but the best.

[Chuck Bryant]

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 this guy for creating junk food.

[Josh Clark]

Well, they just can soak their heads.

[Chuck Bryant]

Great. I like that term. That's a nice way to say other things. So one of the first things was in 1957, he was like, how about a powdered drink that tastes sort of like, sort of citrusy? And people might think it's good for.

[Josh Clark]

You, but it's a 98% sugar.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, 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, tangerine colored drink. And it's called Tang.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And you said flavor crystals. That was a big one. Because William Mitchell was known in the food science industry as the master of disaster. And then in parentheses, they would put disaster being flavor crystals that just couldn't find anything that rhymed with it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, yeah. Tank wasn't a big hit right away, though. It took a little while to catch on. But one of the big things that helped, you know, helped launch it. No, I guess pun intended, was when it went into outer space in 1962, it was on board John Glenn's Mercury space flight because he was like, man, we're storing this drinking water in metal cans and metal vats and it tastes gross. So he's like, just throw some Tang powder in there and you're all good.

[Josh Clark]

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.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

So you talked about 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 presenting a Spike TV guy's choice award to Felix Baumgartner.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, is he the parachute guy? Yeah, yeah. That jumped from space.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sponsored by Red Bull.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And I don't know how it came up. I didn't see the clip, but that was what made the rounds in the media. Tang sucks in quotes.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, good for you, Buzz. Speaking of being sponsored, though, by the time Apollo 8 rolled around, Tang was such a thing for space flights that the televised event was sponsored by Tang. They were like, we gotta get in on this thing.

[Josh Clark]

Did you drink Tang when you were a kid?

[Chuck Bryant]

A little bit, but 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. It wasn't like super health food, family or anything, but it was just one of those things where like, I'm not gonna waste my money on that garbage.

[Josh Clark]

I guess you probably didn't drink Kool Aid either.

[Chuck Bryant]

A little bit here and there. Those were treats I usually got at other kids houses.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, Kool Aid was the best.

[Chuck Bryant]

Did you just drink all that stuff?

[Josh Clark]

I drank so much Kool Aid. Cherry lime was really good. Grape was probably the best. Oh, my God.

[Chuck Bryant]

Good freezer pops, too.

[Josh Clark]

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 tops. And then you would pour literal cups of sugar on top of it, add water, stir, and just thank me later.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, hey, koolaid.

[Josh Clark]

It was nuts. Like, looking back, it was insane that that's what kids drank.

[Chuck Bryant]

Pretty great. God bless the 70s. Bill Mitchell was trying to solve a lot of problems, often when he came up with these inventions for food, tried to save people time in the kitchen at the time, you know, trying to save mom's time in the kitchen. And in 1967, he was like, jello takes way too long to make because you have to use this hot water, 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 and was like, look at that, everybody. Presto change O. You got cold Jell O in no time flat.

[Josh Clark]

No time flat. So what's interesting is Jell O 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 and still is 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?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but I think you missed one ingredient. Love the hand of God.

[Josh Clark]

So you're a Cool Whip dude, huh?

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, we don't get it. Cause it's just, you know, it's garbage. But you know, when we pumpkin pie and pecan pine, stuff like that, around Thanksgiving and Christmas, we will get Cool Whip. I don't like the shake a can ready whip stuff. 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.

[Josh Clark]

Same with Ready Whip, though. You just turn it up and spray it right in your mouth. And then when it's out, it gives you a pretty good buzz.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, but I like that Cool Whip better. I like the taste.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I'm with you.

[Chuck Bryant]

I like it frozen too. I like it both ways, but it's really good frozen as well.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I think I told you before Cool Whip. Yeah, we talked about it. It's Cool Whip and peanut butter. It's a dangerous combination.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I still didn't try That I forgot. I'll have to try that this Thanksgiving.

[Josh Clark]

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.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's a good point.

[Josh Clark]

So the granddaddy of them all, 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 to basically create instant soda.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

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.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And I guess he did enough so that, like, he created a legacy process of adding CO2 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?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. 20 years later, somebody else tweaked it just a bit. And thankfully, the world, the United States and the world over got pop rocks.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Can you describe pop rocks if people don't know what those are?

[Josh Clark]

Oh, they're little, very tiny 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. Not quite as coated, 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, fizzing sound, just like the top of, like when you pour a Sprite, you can feel it on your tongue too. It's very delightful.

[Chuck Bryant]

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.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And I gave Ruby some when she was like four or five. I was like, you've never had pop Rocks, kiddo. You gotta try this out. And she was. It was sort of one of those great mind blowing moments as a parent she'd 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 kind of forgets about it after that.

[Josh Clark]

Usually ADHD laser focuses on something like a big sugar rush. So she's fortunate.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

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. Two parents talking about pop Rocks and how it's safe. And it was written by Bill Mitchell.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, that's great.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So they trotted him out and they were like, tell everybody, Bill, because we don't understand how they work. You explain it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. They stood next to him with a knife gently pressed into the side of his neck. So we salute you, William A. Mitchell. He retired from General Foods in 1976. Tried to find out some dirt on this guy, but he seems like a just a pretty great person. He was a father of seven. He's married for 60 years, and when he passed away in 2004, his obituary said he was devoted, stimulating, and loving parent and made a pretty big impact on, you know, the diet of American kids.

[Josh Clark]

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 dream, you can thank Cheryl Mitchell or Elmhurst 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 parentheses, but not flavor crystals. That was her dad's jam.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I love. The legacy continues, though. Pretty cool.

[Josh Clark]

Same here. All right, well, thank you and thank you for signing off as a salute to William Mitchell Tuchuk. I appreciate it. And I think that also means short story stuff is out.

[Chuck Bryant]

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