“Pass the Mustard, please”.
I like most real mustards which are not sweet, but the only ones which come close to my favourite, Colman’s, is a hot Chinese mustard and a Japanese wasabi-mustard. I don’t consider Heinz mustard or all the others used at McDonalds or hot dog stands to be real mustards. I cannot imagine having my full English breakfast (which happens quite rarely these days) without my Colman’s. Adding some Colman’s mustard powder can also do wonders for a salad dressing and of course it is essential to bring some life to cheese-on-toast or to a cheese sauce. I find that a judicious amount of Colman’s can even add a little oblique bite to an already spicy onion chutney or Indian curry.
It is now two hundred years since a flour miller Jeremiah Colman started selling his mustard powder for people to mix into a paste. Colman’s is now a Unilever brand.
In 1814, Jeremiah Colman first advertised his mustard in the Norwich Chronicle. He made his mustard at a water mill just south of Norwich, and in keeping with the day, the business was family-run. Still produced in Norwich today, the town in steeped in Colman’s history and, in particular, the family’s pioneering achievements in social welfare: in 1857 a school was opened for the employees’ children, while in 1864 the company employed a nurse to help sick members of staff – a social revolution at the time.
The familiar bull’s head logo has been part of much of the brand’s long-standing history, first appearing on the company’s English Mustard in 1855.
In celebration an archive of advertisements and photographs has been assembled. A gallery is here at the Daily Mail.
Advert celebrating Colman’s use on the 1901-04 Antartic expedition. It gained even more popularity when in 1911 the factory donated a ton-and-a-half of Colman’s Mustard and nine tons of flour to Captain Scott’s ill-fated Terra Nova Expedition to the South Pole.
Capt Scott wrote a letter at the time thanking the company for the mustard they had donated.
Captain Scott’s letter to Colman (Unilever)
1905 – Colman’s (Unilever)
Rules of The Mustard Club
The k2p blog 