Cheese puffs, cheese curls, cheese balls, or corn curls are a puffed corn

Puffed grain

Puffed grain includes ancient puffed grains like popcorn as well as puffed rice. Modern puffed grains are often created using high temperature, pressure, and/or extrusion....

 snack

Snack food

A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....

, coated with a mixture of cheese or cheese-flavored powders

Powder (substance)

A powder is a dry,thick bulk solid composed of a large number of very fine particles that may flow freely when shaken or tilted. Powders are a special sub-class of granular materials, although the terms powder and granular are sometimes used to distinguish separate classes of material...

. Common brands include Cheetos

Cheetos

Cheetos is a brand of cheese-flavored cornmeal snack made by Frito-Lay, a subsidiary of PepsiCo. Fritos creator Charles Elmer Doolin invented Cheetos in 1948, and began national distribution in the U.S. The initial success of Cheetos was a contributing factor to the merger between The Frito Company...

 (U.S.), Cheez Doodles

Cheez Doodles

Cheez Doodles are a cheese-flavored cheese puff produced by Wise Foods, Inc. which are similar to Frito-Lay's Cheetos. They debuted several years after Frito-Lay's snack in the 1950s. Originally developed and manufactured by King Kone Corp. of the Bronx , it became the prevalent cheese puff snack...

 (Northeastern U.S.), Cheezies

Cheezies

Cheezies are a brand of cheese curl snack food made and sold in Canada by W.T. Hawkins Ltd. The snack is made from aged cheddar and sold in various size bags.-History:...

 (Canada), Twisties

Twisties

Twisties is a snack food product available in Australia, New Zealand , Singapore, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Papua New Guinea and Fiji, among others. It was launched in 1950 by the General Foods Corporation. The brand name is owned by The Smith's Snackfood Company...

 (Australia), Utz

Utz Quality Foods, Inc.

Utz Quality Foods, Inc. , based in Hanover, Pennsylvania, is the largest independent privately held snack brand in the United States. The company was founded in 1921 and distributes a variety of potato chips and other snack foods throughout the United States....

 (U.S.) Wotsits

Wotsits

Wotsits is a brand of cheese puffs sold by Walkers. The most common form are cheese flavoured curly shapes. However over the years various other shapes and flavours have also been sold...

 (U.K.), and Ostbågar (Scandinavia).

They are manufactured by extruding heated corn dough

Dough

Dough is a paste made out of any cereals or leguminous crops by mixing flour with a small amount of water and/or other liquid. This process is a precursor to making a wide variety of foodstuffs, particularly breads and bread-based items , flatbreads, noodles, pastry, and similar items)...

 through a die

Die (manufacturing)

A die is a specialized tool used in manufacturing industries to cut or shape material using a press. Like molds, dies are generally customized to the item they are used to create...

 that forms the particular shape. They may be ball-shaped, curly ("cheese curls"), straight, or irregularly shaped. Some are even shaped as animals or other objects. Some cheese puffs are puffy while others are crunchy.

History

Cheese puffs were invented in the United States of America in the 1930's; there are two competing accounts.
According to one account, Edward Wilson and/or Clarence J. Schwebke of the Flakall Corporation of Beloit

Beloit, Wisconsin

Beloit is a city in Rock County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 census, Beloit had a population of 36,966. The greater Beloit area is home to more than 91,000 residents.-Claim to fame:...

, Wisconsin (a producer of flaked, partially-cooked animal feed

Compound feed

Compound feeds are feedstuffs that are blended from various raw materials and additives. These blends are formulated according to the specific requirements of the target animal...

) deep-fried and salted the puffed corn produced by their machines, and later added cheese. He applied for a patent in 1939 and the product, named Korn Kurls, was commercialized in 1946 by the Adams Corporation, formed by one of the founders of Flakall and his sons. Adams was later bought by Beatrice Foods

Beatrice Foods

Beatrice Foods Company was a major American food processing company. In 1987, its smaller international food operations were sold to Reginald Lewis, a corporate attorney creating TLC Beatrice International, after which the majority of its domestic brands and assets were acquired by Kohlberg,...

.

Another account claims they were invented by the Elmer Candy Corporation of New Orleans, Louisiana some time during or prior to 1936 at which time the sales manager for Elmer’s, Morel M. Elmer, Sr., decided to hold a contest in New Orleans to give this successful product a name. The winning name "CheeWees" is still being used today by the manufacturing company, Elmer's Fine Foods

Elmer's Fine Foods

Elmer's Fine Foods, or just Elmer's, is a snack food company based in New Orleans, Louisiana. Started in 1946, Elmer's makes snack products like its popular Chee Wees and Mardi Gras cheese curls sold in various southeast states. The Elmer's mascot is a mouse in a tuxedo and spats...

.

An imaginary brand named "Cheesy Poofs" appears regularly in the animated television series South Park

South Park

South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...

.