Snap . . . crackle . . . world record?

by Steve Sullivan
A sticky situation may put Iowa State in the record books.

In observance of the university's "Strengthening Families to Become the Best" celebration and to honor alumna Mildred Day, Iowa State students will attempt to make a 2,500-lb. Rice Krispies Treat during Veishea week. If the effort is successful, it will set a new Guinness world record.

Day earned a degree in home economics from Iowa State in 1928 and is credited with creating the prototype for the Rice Krispies Treats while employed at Kellogg. She died in 1996 at age 92.

The treat will be made on Friday, April 20. It will ride in the Veishea parade on Saturday, and be displayed briefly north of the Campanile, where it will be cut into pieces. The pieces will be sold; proceeds will benefit Youth and Shelter Services of Ames.

It will take about eight hours to assemble the treat, which will pressed into a 12-foot by 6-foot by 2-foot form made of Plexiglass and plastic. (The form was built by ISU crews, with funding from the Government of the Student Body.)

The Rice Krispies Treat will be prepared in the Friley Hall kitchen. Four steam kettles will be used, with volunteers stirring the batches. It will be loaded onto a flatbed truck and weighed at the weigh station off of Elwood Drive.

The current Guinness world record for the largest Rice Krispies Treat -- 2,260 lbs. -- is held by Michigan State University.

If you're curious, the ingredients for the 2,500-lb. Rice Krispies Treat are:

• 818 lbs. of Rice Krispies, donated by the Kellogg company
• 1,466 lbs. of marshmallows, sponsored by the Ames Hy-Vee stores
• 217 lbs. of butter, donated by Land O' Lakes Dairy