Our story begins in 1928.

Walter E. Diemer, an accountant in a food company, liked to spend his spare time fiddling with recipes for new products. Generally, his experiments yielded duds. But one day, he hit on a magic formula - and also happened to find some pink dye lying around the factory.

What did Walter Diemer create? Listen to the full story, above. 

Want to hear more of our historical innovation segments?

• What's the Backstory? Try to Guess
• A Wartime Invention Goes Mainstream
• A Marketing Triumph
• The Cold War Children's Book