What’s Really In The Oreo Creme Filling?

Since their introduction in 1912, Oreos have been one of the most popular cookies in the United States. The cookie’s continuous popularity likely has something to do with the fact that they are relatively simple: just two chocolate wafers and a glob of sweet white filling. You may have noticed that any time that filling is mentioned on Oreo packaging, it’s called “creme.” This is no typo. Technically, the creamy filling inside an Oreo is not cream at all: The recipe used actually contains no dairy; as such, the FDA prohibits Nabisco from labeling the product as “cream.”

Although the original recipe for Oreo creme filling contained lard (also known as pig fat), which creams up into a buttery-like substance, Nabisco switched to using partially hydrogenated vegetable oil in the 1990s. While this change made Oreos unofficially vegan and kosher, the official recipe for Oreo creme remains a mystery. However, you can put together a rough outline by looking at the back of the box.

Using the process of elimination on the ingredients list on a box of Original Oreos, you can deduce that Oreo filling contains sugar, high fructose corn syrup, soy lecithin, artificial flavor, and “palm and/or canola oil.” The short ingredient list contains ingredients you’ve probably already heard of, and at its core, the basic recipe—sweetener, emulsifier, oil—generally contains nothing you wouldn’t find in a homemade sandwich cookie filling. Oreo creme may not be cream, but there isn’t technically anything wrong with that.