Preserves - Jams, Marmalades, Sauces and Pickles
Preserves are foods treated so they will keep, originally so we could eat during the winter months. Preserving can be achieved by drying (as in dried peas and dried tomato), salting (often done with meats), smoking (mostly used for fish) or pickling (using salt, sugar or vinegar). Cooking food and canning it is also a method of preserving foods but that is discussed separately.
Fruit preserves can be made by boiling up the fruit with sugar, the Romans knew they could boil up quince to make a form of jam, although they did not understand how this worked. The key to the setting of the jam is the amount of pectin in the fruit. Most fruits have enough pectin to form a good jelly like consistency but some, such as strawberries and ripe blackberries, often need to have pectin added. The additional pectin can be obtained from pectin rich fruit or by adding a little lemon juice. High-pectin fruits include blackcurrants, redcurrants, cooking apples, damsons, quinces, gooseberries and some plums. Commercially pectin can be produced from apples, and this is the sold to the jam makers. The fruit works best of it is almost but not quite ripe, coarse white sugar is preferred for jam making.
Traditional jams are made by boiling up the fruit (usually pulped or chopped) with sugar, the acids and pectin in the fruit react with the sugar (some of which caramelises) and when the mix cools it sets into a gel. If the fruit contains a lot of seeds the pulp can be sieved before cooking with the sugar to produce a 'seedless' version of the jam. In America a preserve made using just the juice of the fruit with sugar is called 'Jelly', in the UK we just call it jam. As new varieties of jams and marmalades were introduced in the later 19th century the distinction between jams made with home grown fruit ‘Conserve’ and foreign produce ‘Preserve’ was made.
Factory made jam can be made in the same way, using an open pan and boiling it until most of the water has been driven off. However most factory made jams use the 'vacuum pan' method, using a sealed container pumped out to a partial vacuum. The vacuum reduces the temperature required to boil off the water and hence saves on fuel, but once cooked the jam still has to be heated to normal boiling temperature to kill off any bacteria.
Home made jams are either tinned (home tinning was common up to the 1950s) or bottled and covered with a paper disk folded down and secured with a rubber band. When the jam is bottled at the factory they add a metal top, it is standard practice to squirt in some steam as the lid goes on, this condenses and forms a vacuum inside the bottle which helps prevent the jam going off in storage.
British marmalade was developed in Scotland in the 17th century, probably by a lady called Janet Keller in Dundee. Marmalade is a sweet preserve, similar to jam but with a bitter tang, usually made from oranges or lemons. ('Seville oranges' are preferred, these have more pectin than sweet oranges). To give it the tang some of the peel of the fruit is chopped up and simmered in fruit juice until it goes soft. Marmalade can also be made from limes, grapefruit, strawberries or any combination of these.
Chutney is made from fruit and/or vegetables using vinegar as the preserving agent. The ingredients are chopped up and simmered in a vinegar and sugar mix along with some spices. The traditional British chutneys are usually made with locally grown vegetables or orchard fruits, but other fruit such as peaches, bananas and apricots also work well. Mango is another favourite for making chutney (at one time every P&O ship would have a supply of Abdullah's Extra Hot Mango Chutney). The vegetables and/or fruit are normally chopped and simmered with the vinegar, sugar and spices before being transferred to sterilised jars and stored for up to a year.
To pickle something you can either put it in a water solution with acid (usually vinegar), salt (pickling is sometimes called 'brining') or sugar (or a combination of these). In the case of sugar a fermentation takes place and the end result is a mixture of salt and acid. Meat and fish are pickled in brine, the brine commonly used is a mix of sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite and sodium chloride (common salt) in water. Apples, peaches and pears are pickled in a mixture of vinegar, spices and sugar and walnuts are pickled in salt, sugar and acid.
Most chutneys and pickles need to be left to mature for about three months before eating - this allows the ingredients to absorb the vinegar and for the vinegar to mellow.
Some types of fruit and vegetables can be oven dried to preserve them, notable examples are tomatoes and peppers. These are then added to soups or casseroles or eaten as a snack. The fruit or vegetables are washed and sliced and left in an oven for a day or two. Once cool they can be tinned or bottled.
Jam and Marmalade Factories
These factories could be located in country areas, such as the Wilkin & Sons plant at Tiptree (which is surrounded by orchards) but several large works were set up in built-up areas. A larger works might produce any or all of the above, a smaller works might only produce one or two products.
For a small works in a town you can get away with the single siding serving a low relief building, the example shown under 'Coastal and Riverside Industries - Gutta Percha, Rubber and Tyres' would serve perfectly well as a jam or sauce factory, but jam and marmalade factories located in country areas tended to be rather more expansive.
The sketch below shows a possible track plan for a larger works loosely based on a real (Robertson's) jam factory located in a country area, this would serve for a larger works producing a wide range of products. There is no run round loop, the plan assumes a small works loco would handle the shunting within the works area using the headshunt. Trains on the Up line would reverse onto the site at the right, leaving their 'cut' of wagons on the line marked A. Trains on the Down line would reverse into the site using the crossover at the left and can access lines A and B. In either case the brake van and any other wagons would be left on the main line while the works was shunted.
Preserve factory track plan
Traffic would include fruit vans and vans of bagged sugar, along with milk churn vans and sheeted cattle wagons pressed into service for seasonal fruit and vegetables and supplies of empty cans and/or jars. Some supplies would be in sheeted opens and there would be regular rakes of vans (and possibly containers) to take out the boxes of products. Unusual traffic might include PO salt wagons and possibly fuel oil tankers (replacing coal wagons) for the boilers.
Pickle and Chutney Works
Pickling food is one of the four main ways of preserving foods (the others being canning, freezing and dehydrating).
This section refers to the making of pickled foods sold in jars. The process is essentially simple, for home production you sterilize a jar and lid, put in the pickle mixture, seal it (usually putting it boiling water for a few minutes), and leave it to stand for a couple of weeks.
You need to process the vinegar based pickles and chutneys in wooden, stainless steel, enamelled metal or glass containers, you cannot use cast iron, aluminium, copper or brass as these all react with the acid.
Pickle Works for a Layout
A British pickle factory would typically produce a range of goods, usually including pickled onions and mixed pickle, many produced sauces and some produced jam as well (there was a combined jam and pickle factory in Gloucester that closed in the later 1950s).
No characteristic buildings are required, the buildings can be any 'industrial' structures. Quite a few seem to have been former mills or breweries. As with almost any factory a boiler with a substantial chimney would be required and given the seasonal nature of some of the ingredients there would be storage for the finished product. Some factories had large vats to hold supplies of brine, but speaking to a couple of people who visited in-town pickle works no one remembered seeing any vats outside.
Pola offer a 'pickle factory' kit which includes large 'brine tanks', however this is a weatherboarded structure of distinctly European appearance and as far as I have been able to discover the UK factories had the tanks inside buildings. This is really a 'toy train set' model, a small self-contained item on a single base, it actually makes a good starting point for a wood distillation works, but if you covered the walls in brick paper and added a couple more buildings you might use it for a British pickle works.
Pola Pickle Factory kit
I understand this kit is now also available from Model Power in the USA
A very large pickle factory might make its own vinegar but most would buy it in (either wooden barrels or perhaps a bulk vinegar tank wagon as shown above). There would be a number of the barrels visible at such a works.
Traffic might include sheeted over cattle wagons or milk vans bringing in the fruits and vegetables, and vans and sheeted open wagons bringing in the barrels of vinegar, sacks of sugar and salt and empty glass jars.
A larger works might even see occasional tank wagons of vinegar.
Fig ___ British Vinegars tank wagon
A pickle works would also justify an occasional visit by one of the peak roofed salt wagons, the Saxa yellow and red 'non pool' livery is I believe accurate.
Fig ___ PO Salt Wagon
Saxa Salt was the main brand of the Cerebos salt company was founded in 1884 in Newcastle. The “Saxa” brand was launched in 1907.
Outgoing would be empty vinegar barrels and wooden cases of pickle jars. There would also be the occasional coal merchant's wagon bringing the coal for the boilers .
Types of pickles produced in the UK
Probably the most common pickle in the UK is the pickled onion, made from baby onions or the related shallot (both of which are small enough to pass through the neck of the jar). Most onions are harvested in the autumn and they are (I believe) actually pickled in a salt solution without fermentation, although they are packaged in vinegar.
A surprising range of foods can be pickled, perhaps the oddest is pickled eggs (often sold from very large jars in fish and chip shops), which are hard boiled eggs shelled and pickled (sometimes in vinegar but also in lime water (calcium hydroxide) and packaged in vinegar. The only British manufacturer of pickled shellfish (often sold in pubs) is Parsons, based on the banks of the River Taff, who set up just after World War Two.
Mixed pickles are, as the name suggests, a mixture of pickled foods, in the UK the usual mix is small whole onions, gherkins, and cauliflower. Piccalilli can be made using various vegetables but always includes cauliflower and vegetable marrow, with added seasonings of mustard and turmeric (which gives it the distinctive yellow colour).
'Branston Pickle' (owned by Crosse and Blackwell) is actually technically a 'sweet pickle' or 'relish', the name comes from the area of Burton on Trent where Crosse and Blackwell began making it in 1922 (they registered the name in 1929 and production moved to Suffolk in the early 21st century when the brand was bought by Premier Foods).
Indian pickles are slightly different as they include oil and use lemon juice in place of vinegar. Pickles are mostly associated with the North West of the sub continent now called Pakistan (notably the rather good Abdullah's Extra Hot Mango Chutney' and the near lethal 'lime pickle'). Indian pickles were adopted by the British due to their involvement with the area and became part of the standard range of packaged pickles on offer in the UK.
Chutney is an Indian word (meaning 'to crush'), it refers to a ground up mix of sweet and spicy vegetables and technically it is not usually a pickle as it is simply made fresh when required. For commercial production and distribution however it is usual to add vinegar to UK produced chutneys.
Pickled cucumber or pickled gherkin (not the same thing) has always been popular in Germany and hence America (in America a 'pickle' is a pickled gherkin, not a pickled onion).
Most larger pickle manufacturers produced a range of products and often called themselves 'pickle and sauce manufacturers'. The popular Haywards brand at the time of the First World War included 'Military Pickle', 'Military Sauce', 'Old English Pickles' and 'Karjat Chutney'. The modern Haywards range includes Haywards Mixed Pickles (cauliflower, gherkins, onions, red pepper), Haywards Piccalilli, Haywards Traditional Gherkins in Vinegar, Haywards Pickled Beetroot, Haywards Strong Pickled Onions, Haywards Pickled Red Cabbage, and Haywards Silverskin Onions.
Notable Manufacturers of Preserves, Sauces and Pickles
Keller in the 1790s a grocer in Dundee bought a shipload of cheap oranges, she decided to make a marmalade with thick cut peel. The firm went on to produce jams and Dundee Cake.
Robertson's was set up by James Robertson set up his marmalade factory in Paisley in 1864. A sew years later they set up a second factory at Droylsden near Manchester. They built up a significant export industry and started the 'golly' collectable badges which became one of the most successfu 'collectables' of all time. Now owned by Premier Foods who (in the early 21st Century) have decided to do away with the brand.
Baxter's set up a factory in Morayshire in 1868. They began selling pickles and preserves in the early 20th century, they opened a factory in 1916 and pioneered the UK canned food industry in the period between the two world wars. Today Baxters is best known for canned soups, made to unique recipes, such as Royal Game. In recent years they have bought up other food companies, including Garner’s Foods Ltd and CCL Foods plc. The company's main manufacturing site is located at Fochabers, Moray, Scotland, where it produces canned soups, jars of beetroot, jams and preserves. There is also a factory in Colchester.
Cooper's set up in Oxford in the 1870s, using a slightly different technique which produced a dark marmalade with thick cut peel, now known as 'Oxford Marmalade'.
Chivers based at Histon in Cambridgeshire, established in the 1880s. Now owned by Premier Foods who (in the early 21st Century) have decided to do away with the brand.
Duerr’s Established in 1881 at Heywood, north Manchester and still a family firm. They moved to Old Traffod in Manchester in the 1890s then relocated to Wythenshaw in the early 21st Century, they are currently manufacturers of Branded & Private Label Jams, Marmalades, Peanut Butters, Honey, Condiments and Mincemeat
Wilkin & Sons set up at Tiptree in Essex in 1885 initially trading as the Britannia Fruit Preserving Company. He stipulated that the jam should be free of glucose, colouring and preservatives. The first jam was of such high quality and impressed one Australian merchant so much that he arranged to buy every last pot. This was the company that introduced the term 'conserve' for home rown produce as opposed to 'preserve' made from imported fruits.
Heartley's was a grocers founded by Sir William Pickles Hartley near Pendle, Lancashire. In 1871 a supplier failed to deliver a consignment of jam, so William made his own and packaged it in his own design earthenware pots. It sold well and in 1874 the business moved to Bootle, Liverpool and marmalade and jelly was also produced. In 1884 the business was incorporated as William Hartley & Sons Limited and in 1886 it moved to Aintree, where a new factory was built. The brans is now owned by Premier Foods, the big factory and its associated workers village in Liverpool is now to become a food heritage museum.
Crosse & Blackwell started life in the 1700s as Jackson's then West and Wyatt, the company was purchased in 1830 by Edmund Crosse and Thomas Blackwell. Over the years, the brand has been applied to various varieties of canned, dried and bottled grocery products. The company was bought by Nestle in 2002, then sold off, the American arm becoming part of Crosse & Blackwell operations in 2002. Today ownership of the Crosse & Blackwell brand is divided between the J.M. Smucker Company and the European operation part of Premier Foods.
Haywards Pickles Based in Bury St Edmunds, this firm became part of the Brooke Bond company but was then bought by Premier Foods in 1989.
Crosbie's Pure Foods - This firm was operating in the 1940s and 50s, they sold a range of jams and 'Nell Gwyn' marmalade, but I have not yet traced any further information. The name suggests a Scottish connection.
Premier Foods started as Hillsdown Holdings in 1975. In 1981 it acquired Lockwood Foods, a canned foods business. In 1986, it bought various food businesses from Beechams and in 1990 it acquired Premier Brands which included Typhoo and Cadbury's drinks. The entire company was then bought by the private equity company Hicks, Muse, Tate and Furst in 1999. In 1991 the name changed to HL Foods Ltd. In 2002, it bought Nestlé's ambient foods business and in 2003 they purchased Ambrosia and Brown & Polson from Unilever Bestfoods UK Ltd. Premier Foods went public in 2004 when it was listed on the London Stock Exchange. In 2005 they bought out the desserts business of Kraft Foods (including Bird's custard and Angel Delight). In 2005 they bought out the two main meat-alternative companies, , Marlow Foods the makers of Quorn, and Cauldron. In 2005 they sold off Typhoo Tea to India's Apeejay Surrendra Group and launched their own brand of baked beans (using the Branston brand). In 2006, Premier Foods acquired the UK and Ireland businesses of Campbell's, which by this time owned Oxo, Batchelors, Homepride and Fray Bentos. They didn't buy the Campbels brand name and rebranded the soup range as Batchelors Condensed Soup and the meatballs as Fray Bentos (although they then closed down the Fray Bentos pie works in King's Lynn). In 2007 they took over their main rival, Rank Hovis McDougal and announced it was to close the RHM sites in Bristol, Droylsden (makers of Robertson's Golden Shred since 1890 and Sharwood's brands), Middlewich (makers of Bisto and Salts), Wythenshawe (makers of Sharwood's Pappadoms and Paxo), Ledbury (makers of specialist jams) and Reading (Foodservices). This was part of their broad strategy of relocating all their business in the South of the country.
Premier foods brands now include Frank Cooper's jams, Robertson's Jams, Heartley's jams, Rose's marmalades (under licence), Haywards pickles, Rowat's pickles, Sharwood's Asian sauces, Branston pickles, beans and savoury foods, Crosse and Blackwell savoury foods, Sarson's vinegar, Saxa salt, Cerebos salt, and Supreme salt. They also own most bread and cake brands in the UK.
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