Victorian food brands still extant

[yereverluvinunclebert]

@von Corax - as soon as I find a brand such as your suggestion on UK shelves I will add it to the list, I need to go scour the shelves.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

@HAC - The lea and perrins comes in 'foreign' and 'colonial' versions I am told, both different, slightly different wording on each implying originality for both. Those who know the difference swear the UK one has a more rounded flavour, "The UK version uses malt vinegar in the recipe whereas the US alternative swears by distilled white vinegar. This means that the British one has a slightly deeper taste, but the difference is not too noticeable."

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Barber's Cheddar Cheese 1833

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Matthew Walker's Christmas puddings 1899

[Captain Shipton Bellinger]

George Watkins Mushroom Ketchup - ~?1868
Baxters soups - 1868
Fray Bentos canned meat pies - 1899 (incidentally, Fray Bentos was bought by Baxters last year)

[yereverluvinunclebert]

@Captain Shipton Bellinger

George Watkins Mushroom Ketchup - 1868 - we have the Geo. Watkins sauces, but that's a reminder I can eat the range if they all existed
Baxters soups - 1868 - good addition, the list needed some soup for variety
Fray Bentos canned meat pies - 1899 - I am not sure they made the tinned meat pies until later in the 20th C. but the corned beef is in the list..

[yereverluvinunclebert]

The list - updated

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Colman's Mustard - 1814
Harrington Cheese's Stilton (and Derbyshire) -- 1720
McVitie's Biscuits - 1830
Digestives and Rich Tea biscuits
Robertson's Marmalade - 1864
Twinings Tea - 1706
Bassett's Pontefract cakes - ~1760
Matthew Walker's Christmas puddings 1899
Barber's Cheddar Cheese 1833
Andrews Liver Salts - 1894
Warburtons bread - 1876
John West tinned salmon, mackerel and sardines 1857
Crosse and Blackwell chutneys and picallili 1706
Walls sausages and bacon - 1786
Walls pork pies 1786
R Whites lemonade - 1894
Idris ginger beer - 1873
Idris fizzy cream soda
Idris dandelion and baldock
Fyffe's bananas 1878
Taylor's of Harrogate tea and coffee (1886)
Irn Bru - 1901 under the name Strachan's Brew
Holland's Pies 1854
Dickinson and Morris 1851 (maker of Melton Mowbray pork pies)
Sarson's vinegar 1794
Sharwood's chutney 1889
Cerebos Salt 1894
Paxo stuffing (1901)
Hartley's jams 1871
Frank Cooper's 1874
Haywards pickles 1868
Geo. Watkins Mushroom Relish est.1830
HP Sauce 1895
Sharwoods Mango Chutney est 1889
Walkers Shortbread 1898
Suchard chocolate 1826
Atora beef suet 1893
Brown and Poulson's cornflour 1865
Borwick's baking powder 1895
Fentiman's ginger beer 1905
Coca cola 1900 (UK)
Robinson's barley water 1830
Rose's lime juice 1867
Scott's Porage Oats 1880
Perrier water 1898
Schweppes tonic 1771
Schweppes ginger ale (1870)
jacobs cream crackers 1885
oxo 1899
Carrs water biscuits 1841
Cadbury's cocoa 1824
Tate & lyle sugar 1877
Tate & lyle syrup
Tate & lyle treacle
Birds custard 1837
Bovril 1870
Golden shred marmalade 1864
Garabaldi biscuits 1861
Patum Peperium 1828
Fray Bentos corned beef 1899
Nestles condensed milk 1867
Typhoo tea 1903
Camp coffee 1876
Huntley and Palmers nice biscuits 1895
Shippams meat pastes 1896
Rowntrees pastilles 1881
Heinz beans 1886 (UK)
Jesmona Black Bullets
Baxters soup 1868

[J. Wilhelm]

@J.Wilhelm, when I worked at Mars Chocolate factory there were huge iron gears turning a lot of the conveyor machinery, especially for the lines built in the 1930s. All these gears were lubricated with by-products of the brewing industry. No mineral oil was even allowed in the factory as it could contaminate the food. Marmite is a good grease. The fact that the brewers could make us eat a brewing by-product is quite amazing, don't you think?

Ha, ha!  Let's just call Marmite "The Ideal Steampunk Food.  Good for your gears and good for your body." They should pay me for advertising....

[von Corax]

Mr. Wilhelm, I am surprised, nay, shocked, that you neglected to mention McIlhenny Co. of Avery Island, LA., founded in 1868, makers of TABASCO^® Sauce, which (apparently) had been introduced to England by the late 1870s, and so is suited to both your and UncleBert's lists.

On this side of the 49^th, we also have:

• Crosby Molasses, of St. John, NB, founded 1879;
• Schneider Foods (Kitchener ON), founded 1886 as J. M. Schneider Meats (now owned by Maple Leaf Foods)
• George Weston Ltd. (Toronto ON), founded 1882, and by 1900 Canada's largest baker
• Labatt Brewery (London ON), founded 1847 (now owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V.)
• Molson Brewery (Montreal QC), founded 1786 (Canada's 2^nd-oldest company), now half owners of Molson Coors
• Clover Leaf Seafoods (Markham ON), founded 1871 as Loggie & Company (New Westminster BC; Clover Leaf name first used 1889); one of the world's top 10 branded seafood companies; now owned by Connors Bros.
• Connors Bros. (Blacks Harbour NB), established 1885 & incorporated 1893, producer of Brunswick brand canned sardines & herring; now owned by George Weston Ltd.
• Windsor Salt, founded 1893 in Windsor ON
• Redpath Sugar, Montreal QC, 1854 (now owned by American Sugar Refining Inc.)

I'm sure there are more...

TODO:

• reformat list
• Red Rose Tea (1894, St. John NB)
• Alexander Keith's
• Seagram's Distilleries
• Carling Brewing (1878, London ON)
• Peek Frean's biscuits, imported to Ontario ca. 1870
• Magic baking powder, made in Canada since 1897

[Flightless Phoenix]

@J.Wilhelm, when I worked at Mars Chocolate factory there were huge iron gears turning a lot of the conveyor machinery, especially for the lines built in the 1930s. All these gears were lubricated with by-products of the brewing industry. No mineral oil was even allowed in the factory as it could contaminate the food. Marmite is a good grease. The fact that the brewers could make us eat a brewing by-product is quite amazing, don't you think?

Ha, ha!  Let's just call Marmite "The Ideal Steampunk Food.  Good for your gears and good for your body." They should pay me for advertising....

I adore Marmite too- I think I might have died of malnutrition as a child without Marmite (I was one hell of a fussy eater).

Can we put Marmite on the list? I know the factory only opened in 1902 but it was invented before that...

[J. Wilhelm]

@J.Wilhelm - Strangely enough Liptons Tea is one of those brands that is considered quintessentially English but has very little presence over here in the UK. My first taste of Liptons tea was in the US. Up until very recently I didn't think you could buy Liptons tea over here in the vast majority of shops, I certainly never have. Also, iced tea is purely a US invention and is quite a bizarre idea over here.

To understand iced tea (yes it took me a while to get used to it too; to me, as a child, it tasted like water runoff from the roof), you have to travel to the American South or the Southwest during the summer months -preferably in the South proper; 98 percent humidity and near the 42 C temperature mark.  It's a tad like cold soup or Gazpacho; you need to be placed in the right environment and then it makes perfect sense.

And it helps if you dress and talk like this gentleman played by Tom Hanks (just kidding):
http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi871694617/

[J. Wilhelm]

Mr. Wilhelm, I am surprised, nay, shocked, that you neglected to mention McIlhenny Co. of Avery Island, LA., founded in 1868, makers of TABASCO^® Sauce, which (apparently) had been introduced to England by the late 1870s, and so is suited to both your and UncleBert's lists.

 My sincerest apologies Mr. Corax!  The name of McIlhenny Co. will be added to the forthcoming list! (in my best southern gentry drawl)

[Darkhound]

@J.Wilhelm - Strangely enough Liptons Tea is one of those brands that is considered quintessentially English but has very little presence over here in the UK. My first taste of Liptons tea was in the US. Up until very recently I didn't think you could buy Liptons tea over here in the vast majority of shops, I certainly never have. Also, iced tea is purely a US invention and is quite a bizarre idea over here.

Sir Thomas Lipton, the Great Grocer of Scotland, humanitarian, and yachting fanatic (five failed America's Cup attempts), had 300 shops at his peak in 1888. He bought his own tea plantations in Ceylon to bypass the Mincing Lane tea wholesalers. The brand was available in Britain at the time, as cheap working class tea, mostly in Scotland and North England. It never had the "lower class" association in the US, and remains popular.

I am reliably informed you could pick up a quick shilling or two after 1951 betting Heinz pickles and sauces were American in the pubs that served them, as the Royal Warrant on the label was a good deal easier to see than the home office address. (It was granted for services during the War and as purveyors to Queen Elizabeth II). The whole line of products was available from 1886 on, originally at Fortnum and Mason.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Then we have to add them to the UK list...

[greensteam]

The list - updated

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

Colman's Mustard - 1814
Harrington Cheese's Stilton (and Derbyshire) -- 1720
McVitie's Biscuits - 1830
Digestives and Rich Tea biscuits
Robertson's Marmalade - 1864
Twinings Tea - 1706
Bassett's Pontefract cakes - ~1760
Matthew Walker's Christmas puddings 1899
Barber's Cheddar Cheese 1833
Andrews Liver Salts - 1894
Warburtons bread - 1876
John West tinned salmon, mackerel and sardines 1857
Crosse and Blackwell chutneys and picallili 1706
Walls sausages and bacon - 1786
Walls pork pies 1786
R Whites lemonade - 1894
Idris ginger beer - 1873
Idris fizzy cream soda
Idris dandelion and baldock
Fyffe's bananas 1878
Taylor's of Harrogate tea and coffee (1886)
Irn Bru - 1901 under the name Strachan's Brew
Holland's Pies 1854
Dickinson and Morris 1851 (maker of Melton Mowbray pork pies)
Sarson's vinegar 1794
Sharwood's chutney 1889
Cerebos Salt 1894
Paxo stuffing (1901)
Hartley's jams 1871
Frank Cooper's 1874
Haywards pickles 1868
Geo. Watkins Mushroom Relish est.1830
HP Sauce 1895
Sharwoods Mango Chutney est 1889
Walkers Shortbread 1898
Suchard chocolate 1826
Atora beef suet 1893
Brown and Poulson's cornflour 1865
Borwick's baking powder 1895
Fentiman's ginger beer 1905
Coca cola 1900 (UK)
Robinson's barley water 1830
Rose's lime juice 1867
Scott's Porage Oats 1880
Perrier water 1898
Schweppes tonic 1771
Schweppes ginger ale (1870)
jacobs cream crackers 1885
oxo 1899
Carrs water biscuits 1841
Cadbury's cocoa 1824
Tate & lyle sugar 1877
Tate & lyle syrup
Tate & lyle treacle
Birds custard 1837
Bovril 1870
Golden shred marmalade 1864
Garabaldi biscuits 1861
Patum Peperium 1828
Fray Bentos corned beef 1899
Nestles condensed milk 1867
Typhoo tea 1903
Camp coffee 1876
Huntley and Palmers nice biscuits 1895
Shippams meat pastes 1896
Rowntrees pastilles 1881
Heinz beans 1886 (UK)
Jesmona Black Bullets
Baxters soup 1868

My word, I realise I have at one time or another in my life eaten all these except the camp coffee, stilton cheese and the liver salts. Are liver salts really considered food??? Perhaps they should be in a different list.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

@greensteam - Not eaten stilton, you must be a cheese virgin! To have not eaten stilton is not to have lived. If I had to name only one, it is probably the single most important prerequisite food for a steampunk Englishman.

[yereverluvinunclebert]

The camp coffee is also rather nice and the liver salts, even in my day were offered as a refreshing drink. It doesn't say that on the label now but it used to back in the 60s/70s.

Question for the North Americans here, can you get Stilton cheese in the US?

[yereverluvinunclebert]

Do we now have three lists? UK, US and Canada? Von corax, will you maintain the Canadian list?

[Darkhound]

Stilton cheese is available, as an expensive import, but the traditional starters and mold spores are tightly controlled by the handful of authorized producers in England, so it's one of the few cheeses not made here.

Which brings up a sore point with me; how in the name of all that is holy, in a country that can and does match any cheese but a handful of the most tightly controlled, did this bland processed artificial imitation muck come to be called "American"? Longhorn is an American cheese. Monteray Jack is an American cheese. "American cheese" isn't even cheese, dammit!

[yereverluvinunclebert]

We don't have american cheese over here, which sounds lucky on our part, is it the processed stuff? Feel free to vent your anger I am sure I can be made to feel the same about some food over here...

Stilton can only be called Stilton if it is made in three counties in the midlands in England.

Cheddar is not protected as they stopped making cheddar in Cheddar for a while and the name is now a generic term merely for a type of cheese. A good one is worth travelling for.

Here is a list of UK (blue) cheese types (Wikip.), I will need to find the old brands for each to see if there are any of the original producers still extant. I reckon I can find more than one.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

   * Bath Blue
    * Barkham Blue
    * Blue Monday
    * Buxton Blue (Protected Designation of Origin)
    * Cheshire Blue
    * Devon Blue
    * Dorset Blue Vinney
    * Dovedale (Protected Designation of Origin)
    * Exmoor Blue (Protected Geographical Indication)
    * Harbourne Blue
    * Lanark Blue, Scotland
    * Lymeswold no longer produced.
    * Oxford Blue
    * Shropshire Blue
    * Stichelton
    * Stilton (Protected Designation of Origin)
    * Blue Wensleydale
    * Yorkshire Blue

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_British_cheeses - some wading to do

[Wormster]

Cheddar is not protected as they stopped making cheddar in Cheddar for a while and the name is now a generic term merely for a type of cheese. A good one is worth travelling for.

AHHAHHHH!, There is locally produced cheddar cheese matured underground not a mile or so away from me in goughs cave, as part of the grockle tour you pass by the cheese racks, the same can be done down the road in wookey as well. the results as sold in the tat shops comes out a tad expensive, but the taste of the local fare is worth the spend!

[J. Wilhelm]

@greensteam - Not eaten stilton, you must be a cheese virgin! To have not eaten stilton is not to have lived. If I had to name only one, it is probably the single most important prerequisite food for a steampunk Englishman.

Ha, ha, ha!  Sorry but I'll have to tweet this! Ha, ha, ha!

[J. Wilhelm]

Stilton cheese is available, as an expensive import, but the traditional starters and mold spores are tightly controlled by the handful of authorized producers in England, so it's one of the few cheeses not made here.

Which brings up a sore point with me; how in the name of all that is holy, in a country that can and does match any cheese but a handful of the most tightly controlled, did this bland processed artificial imitation muck come to be called "American"? Longhorn is an American cheese. Monteray Jack is an American cheese. "American cheese" isn't even cheese, dammit!

 An important point, brought about in Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_cheese

"Today’s American cheese is generally no longer made from blended cheeses, but instead is manufactured from a set of ingredients[1] such as milk, whey, milkfat, milk protein concentrate, whey protein concentrate, and salt. In the United States it may not be legally sold as "cheese", and must be labeled as "processed cheese", "cheese product", or similar--e.g., "cheese food".

So in essence not even the US Govt. will recognize it as cheese.  You may not label it cheese either! "processed cheese" or "cheese product" may still be used.  But not cheese.

According to this same article, originally it was a blend of cheeses, most notably Cheddar-style cheese made in America - yet it sold outside of America, because of its low price

British colonists made cheddar as soon as they arrived in America. By 1790, American cheddars were being exported back to England. The British referred to American cheddar as "American cheese", or "Yankee cheese", and post-Revolution Americans promoted this usage to distinguish their product from European cheese.[6] For example, an 1878 newspaper article in The New York Times lists the total export of American cheese at 355 million pounds per year, with an expected growth to 1,420 million pounds.[7]

Originally, the English considered American cheese inferior in quality; still, it was cheap, so it sold. This connotation of the term American cheese became entrenched in Europe. "American cheese" continued to refer to American cheddar until the advent of processed cheese. Americans referred to their cheddar as "yellow cheese" or "store cheese", because of its popularity and availability.[6] By the 1890s, once cheese factories had sprung up across the nation, American cheddar was also referred to as "factory cheese". And in the 1920s another slang term arose for the still popular cheese: "rattrap cheese", or "rat cheese"

The name "American Cheese" was acquired, oddly enough, outside of America where imported yellow cheese would be called "American" (!)  So we didn't even get to name the name this atrocity!  What American merchants did was in fact promote the name as a marketing tool.

I think the association of the name  "American Cheese" with this processed product actually exacerbated the perceptions of American cheeses as low quality cheeses around the world.

[Dr. Madd]

Altoids- Founded in the 1700's.

[Darkhound]

There is nothing wrong with American cheddar, it even comes in regional varieties. I like Vermont extra sharp cheddar myself.

You will never find artificial imitation processed slices on my cheeseburgers! Or anything else I cook.