VANILLA WAFERS - CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE®

Information updated December 2023

Nabisco Nilla Wafers are the #1 vanilla wafer cookie in the U.S. (Source: Statista 2023) They are owned by Mondelez International. 

HOMEMADE INGREDIENTS: If we were making Vanilla Wafer cookies at home from scratch, the ingredients might look something like this >> flour, sugar, butter or oil, eggs, vanilla extract, baking soda and salt.

NABISCO NILLA WAFERS HAVE NO VANILLA LISTED AS AN INGREDIENT. There is no Vanilla Extract as an ingredient in these cookies, perhaps that is why they were Originally called Vanilla Wafers and are currently called “Nilla”, short for "Vanilla". (Source for Nilla Wafers ingredients: Mondelez Snackworks Web site 12/23)

NABISCO NILLA WAFERS ARE BANNED AT WHOLE FOODS MARKET: Nilla Wafers contain two ingredients which are on a list of ingredients which Whole Foods cites as “Unacceptable in food”. (Source: Amazon Whole Foods Web site 12/23) These two banned ingredients in Nilla Wafers are High Fructose Corn Syrup and Artificial Flavor.

NABISCO VANILLA/NILLA WAFERS THEN vs. NOW COMPARISON:

Once upon a time, Nabisco Vanilla Wafers contained nine ingredients. (Source: Historical Nabisco Vanilla Wafers Package)

Now, owned by Mondelez International, these cookies have 14 ingredients including Canola Oil, Palm Oil, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Whey, Monoglycerides, Diglycerides, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor and Artificial Flavor.  There is no Vanilla listed as an ingredient.

Seen below, FERRERO’S KEEBLER VANILLA WAFERS ARE ALSO BANNED AT WHOLE FOODS MARKET: Similar to Nabisco Nilla Wafers, these Keebler cookies also contain High Fructose Corn Syrup and Artificial Flavor, but Ferrero’s Keebler Vanilla Wafers also contain another ingredient banned by Whole Foods: TBHQ >> this simple acronym stands for a chemical creation known as Tert-Butylhydroquinone. (Source for Keebler ingredients: Ferrero Keebler Web site 12/23)

VANILLA WAFER COMPARISON: Let’s compare Nabisco Nilla Wafers and Keebler Vanilla Wafers to Whole Foods 365 Organic Vanilla Wafers.

The Nabisco and Keebler products (below center and right) are made with High Fructose Corn Syrup and have no Vanilla listed as an ingredient, while the Whole Foods 365 cookies (below left) are made with Organic Cane Sugar and also do not list Vanilla as an ingredient. The Nabisco and Ferrero products both contain Soy Lecithin as an emulsifier; according to the USDA 2023, 94% of U.S. Soy acreage is genetically modified. 

WHOLE FOODS CHANGED THEIR VANILLA FROM ORGANIC VANILLA EXTRACT TO ORGANIC VANILLA FLAVOR << AN INGREDIENT THEY USED TO DISPARAGE IN COMPETITORS. In a Whole Foods Blog posted 10/14/12 and seen on the Whole Foods site 12/23 >> Whole Foods deservedly toots its own horn for using organic vanilla extract and then puts down competitors by writing, “We use organic vanilla extract for that classic real vanilla taste. They use …um….what do they use?” However, today, Whole Foods no longer uses organic Vanilla Extract, they use flavoring instead, so, um…

BY THEIR OWN DEFINITION, WHOLE FOODS IS NOT BEING TRANSPARENT. This Whole Foods blog states that, “By listing ‘natural and artificial flavors’, they’re not being transparent” (referring to the Major National Brand of Vanilla Wafer Cookies). Today, Whole Foods Organic Vanilla Wafers contain ‘Natural Flavor’ as an ingredient << the very thing they denigrated in others they are now using themselves.

Q: Why do you think Amazon changed the ingredients in Whole Foods Organic Vanilla Wafers?

Q: Was this change made in the interest of the consumer or the corporation?

Q: Which cookie do you think is cheaper to mass produce?

Here is a decades old print ad for Nabisco cookies targeted at parents for kids' consumption, back when the cookies were called Vanilla Wafers:

This old Nabisco ad above states, "Let them have another, Mother, they're pure NABISCO cookies!" Under the Vanilla Wafers the copy reads: "We aim for perfection in our Nabisco Vanilla Wafers. We follow our old and famous recipe using pure butter, wholesome ingredients."

Today, Mondelez International no longer follows this "old and famous recipe" and the Nabisco Nilla Wafers are made, not with butter, but with Canola Oil and Palm Oil and they are banned at Whole Foods.

Sometimes, we miss the old days . . .

CLOSEST TO HOMEMADE: Here are three Vanilla Cookies with Real Vanilla Extract and no Artificial Flavors or Colors, no Corn Syrups, no TBHQ, no Soybean Oil and no Glycerides >> Rustic Bakery Vanilla Shortbread Cookies with real Vanilla and Vanilla Extract and Cane Sugar; Hain Celestial-owned Thinsters Vanilla Bean Cookies, and Bimbo Bakeries-owned Emmy’s Organics Coconut Gluten-Free Vanilla Bean Cookies with Organic Vanilla Extract and Organic Vanilla Bean Powder (Sources: Rustic Bakery Web site 12/23; Hain Celestial Thinsters Web site 12/23; Bimbo Bakeries Emmy’s Organics Web site 12/23)

Here are two more Closest To Homemade Gluten-Free options from Partake and Homefree:

Discover more food and beverages whose ingredients are Closest To Homemade in 275+ categories. Neither money nor products are ever accepted to appear on the Closest To Homemade list.

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