Sunday, January 11, 2015

History of Worcestershire sauce

Worcestershire sauce takes its name from the English county – or shire – of Worcestershire, the home of the condiment’s inventor, Sir Marcus Sandys.

Despite its name, Worcestershire sauce was originally an Indian recipe, brought back to Britain by Lord Marcus Sandys, ex-Governor of Bengal.

One day in 1835 he appeared in the prospering chemist’s emporium of John Lea and William Perrins in Broad Street, Worcester and asked them to make up a batch of sauce from his recipe.

The result tasted so horrible that it was abandoned in its vat in the basement, After a couple of years, someone had a second thought, took another sip, and shouted for joy.

With the assistance of the English grocers, Lea and Perrins, Sandys began selling his sauce in 1838. In 1842, Lea & Perrins sold 636 bottles of Worcestershire sauce. In 1845, factory was set up in Bank Street, Worcester. Ten years later the yearly sales were up to 30,000 bottles of Worcestershire sauce.

During the 1800s, the ingredients used in making Worcestershire sauce were a carefully kept secret. Forman in 1886 was one of the first to state that soy sauce is used as an ingredient in Worcestershire sauce.

Soy sauce remained the main secret ingredient until World War II, when supply problems caused it to be replaced by hydrolyzed vegetable protein.
History of Worcestershire sauce

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