Local Girl Scouts selling cookies now
Published 9:54 am Wednesday, January 9, 2013
It’s Girl Scout Cookie time again. Brewton area Girl Scouts are taking cookie orders now, with proceeds going to fund their troop activities. Booth sales will begin on Friday, Feb. 1. While you wait to receive your annual goodies, take a look at these fun facts about Girl Scouts and Girl Scout cookies.
Girl Scouts was founded by Juliette Gordon Low on March 12, 1912, in Savannah, Ga.
The Girl Scout Cookie Program started in 1917.
Girl Scout cookies were originally baked in the kitchens and ovens of Girl Scouts and their mothers.
The earliest mention of a cookie sale found to date was that of the Mistletoe Troop in Muskogee, Okla., which baked cookies and sold them in its high school cafeteria as a service project in 1917.
Greater Philadelphia became the first council to sell commercially baked cookies in 1934.
In 1936, the national Girl Scout organization began the process to license the first commercial baker to produce cookies that would be sold by girls in Girl Scout councils.
During the 1960s, when baby boomers expanded Girl Scout membership, cookie sale volume increased significantly.
In 1960, licensed bakers first began wrapping Girl Scout Cookie boxes in printed aluminum foil or cellophane to protect the cookies and preserve their freshness.
By 1966, a number of varieties were available. Amond the bes sellers were chocolate mint, shortbread and peanut butter sandwich cookies.
• In 1978, Girl Scouts of the USA began to supply bakers with standard cookie package layouts and pictures. For the first time in history, the boxes featured Girl Scouts in action, such as hiking or canoeing.
• Today, Girl Scout cookies come in a colorful variety, with five standard cookies that include Shortbreads, Peanut Butter Sandwiches, Peanut Butter Patties, Caramel Delites and Thin Mints.
• All Girl Scout cookies now are kosher.
• The top-selling cookie in the United States is the Thin Mint (Oreos are No. 2.)
• The top-selling cookie for Girl Scouts in southern Alabama is the Caramel Delite.
• Girl Scouts of Southern Alabama serves more than 9,000 girls and 3,500 adults in southern Alabama.