Remember as a kid on a hot summer day drinking an ice cold glass of Kool Aid? I remember my Mom bought grape Kool Aid so there would be less arguing on what flavor we wanted. I guess because my flavors were limited, I offered a variety to my kids. But I have found that my grandkids tend to like Tropical Fruit Punch. 

Now we are heading into our fourth generation and the Great Grandkids seem to always wear a Kool Aid smile. Kool Aid has been around longer than the four generations, but my mom couldn’t afford even the nickel for a package of Kool Aid when she was a kid. Sometimes the flavor of Kool Aid can take you back to your childhood in an instant.

Here is a bit of trivia about our favorite childhood refreshment. Kool Aid got its start in Nebraska. It started out as a liquid concentrate called Fruit Smack, invented by Edwin Perkins. 

Young Edwin was fascinated by chemistry and enjoyed experimenting with concoctions in his mother’s kitchen in Hendley, Neb. His father had a general store, and it was a dessert mix that entranced Edwin. It turn out, his childhood sweetheart, Kitty Shoemaker, introduced a popular powder dessert mix in six delicious flavors and called it Jell-O. Edwin convinced his father to carry the dessert in his store.

In 1918, Edwin married Kitty, and he developed a remedy to kick the tobacco habit, Nix-O-tine. By 1920, the demand for this and other products was so great that he and his family moved to Hastings, Neb., which had a better rail service for shipping.

Another one of Edwin’s products that was selling quickly was the original Fruit Smack. Like Jell-O, it came in six flavors. The concentrated 4 oz. bottle made enough for a family to enjoy at an affordable price. However, shipping the bottles proved to be costly and breakage was also a problem.

In 1927, Perkins developed a method of removing the liquid from Fruit Smack so the remaining powder could be repackaged in envelopes (which Perkins designed and printed under a new name called Kool-Ade. (He later changed the spelling to Kool Aid.)There was the outer package, which protected the inner packet of Kool-Aid. The product, which sold for 10 cents a packet, was first sold to wholesale grocery, candy and other suitable markets by mail order in six flavors; strawberry, cherry, lemon lime, grape, orange and raspberry. By 1929, Kool-Aid was distributed nationwide to grocery stores by food brokers. It was a family project for the Perkins to package and ship the mix around the country.

By 1931, the demand for Kool-Aid was so strong, Edwin needed to drop other items to concentrate on Kool-Aid. Expanding production required moving the business to Chicago. During the Great Depression, Perkins cut the price in half to just 5 cents a packet, which was a “luxury” most families could afford. Young entrepreneurs sprung up across the country setting up Kool-Aid stands. Most of the product was consumed by the children. It was a fun time and fun memory for the youngsters. 

We set our Kool-Aid stand up in our yard across from the shirt factory and the ladies were our special customers.

Edwin introduced off-shoots of Kool-Aid, including pie fillings and ice cream mixes. During World War II, fruit acid and dextrose rationing prevented any expansion. After the war, the demand for Kool-Aid was so great that Perkins had to expand the factory and by 1950, some 300 production workers produced nearly one million packets of Kool-Aid each day.

In 1953, Perkins announced to his employees that he was selling Kool-Aid to General Foods. Within a year, the popular smiling face pitcher was introduced in print advertisements. Root Beer and Lemonade flavors were added to the original six flavors in 1955, and pre-sweetened Kool-Aid was developed in 1970. Kraft bought out General Foods. They refined the Kool-Aid pitcher into Kool-Aid Man. Kool-Aid is still popular after a hundred years.

Great childhood memories and do you remember the Kool-Aid jingle? Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid taste great. Kool-Aid, Kool-Aid can’t wait! Here’s a collection of commercials, even one with the Monkees.

The accompanying image and others are on Pinterest.