Nilla
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Nilla is a brand owned by Nabisco that is most closely associated with its line of wafer cookies. The name is a shortened version of vanilla, a flavor common to all Nilla-branded products.
Nilla wafers are round, shortbread-style cookies that are often eaten with milk as a snack. Nilla's wafers are so closely identified with this style of cookie in the U.S. that "Nilla wafer" is used colloquially as a genericized trademark for similar products. The brand was registered in the U.S.A. in 1968, having been first used in late 1967.
They are quite crisp and light, and have a hint of vanilla flavor. 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. 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.
In pop culture, on the TV show Scrubs, the character of Carla refers to Elliot as "Nilla wafer, here".
Nilla wafers reached their peak in the late 1990s, but have gradually faded out in the realm of cookie competition as Nabisco, as of 2000 under instruction of Phillip Morris, has changed its inventory.[citation needed]
