History of Welch’s Grape Juice

Welch’s Food is the manufacturing and marketing unit of the National Grape Cooperative Association. Welch’s is especially famous for its grape juice, though it offers other products as well.

Dr. Thomas Bramwell Welch, a dentist and the inventor of grape juice had learned of the experiments of Pasture in the control of fermentation.

He successfully pasteurized the juice of the Concord grape to create an ‘unfermented sacramental wine’ that he marketed to churches.

Welch took advantage of the Colombian Exposition of 1893 to set up a stand and distribute samples of grape juice to the crowds gathered in Chicago, as he did later at the St. Louis World’s Fair and at other expositions.

Soon after, Dr. Welch’s Grape Juice became simply Welch’s Grape Juice. In 1903, the Welch company was re-chartered and three years later it built a second factory in Westfield because its original plant could not meet the demand even though it was producing 350,000 gallons per year.

In 1911, the company expanded again, buying a large manufacturing facility in North Eats, Pennsylvania. 

Welch’s received a free publicity boost in 1913 when Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan served Welch’s Grape Juice instead of wine at a diplomatic gathering honoring retiring British ambassador James Bryce.

The success of Welch’s Grape Juice was truly remarkable, with fifty thousand gallons sold in 1897 and one million a decade later.

In 1956, the company was purchased by the National Grape Co-operative Association, a coalition of grape growers and was renamed Welch Foods.

In 1981, the Dr Pepper Company purchased the rights to Welch’s Sparkling Grape Soda and it other soft drinks.
History of Welch’s Grape Juice

Early History of Peet’s Coffee and Tea

Alfred Peet had grown up working in his family’s coffee business in the Netherlands. On April 1, 1966, he opened his now legendary store on the corner of Vine and Walnut in north Berkeley.

His shop was selling coffee beans and loose tea, and unknowingly started the gourmet coffee movement in America.

It was not an espresso bar or a café, but simply a place whose irresistible aroma beckoned everyone in the neighborhood.

Peet decided he would roast the coffee beans in his Berkeley, California. Peet bought premium coffee beans and roasted them the same way they did in the old country, and thus the gourmet coffee movement in the United States was quietly born.

Customers would come into the shop, and Peet would offer them a cup of coffee while they waited for their beans to be roasted.

Customers enjoying and talking about the coffee created a relaxed community atmosphere that soon proved contagious.

Peet’s also sells coffee and tea though home delivery which over time has become a significant part of it business. In 1979, Alfred sold Peet’s and in 1984 the new owner sold Peet’s to Starbucks.
Early History of Peet’s Coffee and Tea

The history of fermentation beverage boza

Boza is a traditional drink, dating back to even before the Ottoman Empire. It’s a drink of ancient Egypt and Babylon.

This beverage origin goes back to Mesopotamia and it came to Macedonia with the Ottoman Empire.

Aside from coffee, boza enjoyed its golden age during the Ottoman Empire, as the beverage was spread to all the occupied lands. It was most probably brought by the Turks from Central Asia.

In English, the bosa was adopted form Turkic boza. There is not any source for the Old Turkic version of this word, however the known Middle Turkic sauces give: boza or buza.

Boza production was an important component of the Ottoman urban economy.

Boza had a thick consistency and low alcohol content with an acidic sweet flavor. The Ottoman army unit consumed boza because it was rich in carbohydras and vitamins. It was said that Sultan Babur (1483-1530) the founder of the Indian Mughals, the direct descendants of the Timurids, carried on the traditions on consuming boza.

During the reign of Salim II (1566-1574), boza consumption ran into government restriction when a new brand of the drink, laced with opium, was introduced to the market.

The Ottoman government once again imposed restriction on alcoholic beverages, including boza, during the reign Mohammed IV (164-1687), but consumption of the drink continued.

In 1680, the Grand Vizier, Cara Mustapha, permitted boza to be publicly sold and drink in the street of Constantinople.
The history of fermentation beverage boza

History of buttermilk

Throughout history, buttermilk has been held to be a sovereign cure for a wide range of maladies.

Some of the historical records depict the development of a dairy system in ancient India. It is well known in ancient Indian history that buttermilk and ghee were widely consumed milk products during Lord Krishna’s time, about 3000 BC.

The Irish drink large amounts of fresh milk, sour milk, clotted milk and buttermilk and they used milk to make cream, curds, cheese, butter and buttermilk.

In traditional Irish cooking, buttermilk was never far away. It leavened the daily soda bread and served as the ‘whet’ who a plate of plain potatoes and salt.

When Irish migrated to North America, the continued to keep cows and enjoy buttermilk.

With the advent of centrifugal cream separators in the 19th century, butter making produced ‘sweet’ unfermented buttermilk.

For more than 100 years, cooks of south United States have been using buttermilk to make custard-like or cheese-style pies.

In Southern Food, John Egerton notes that Farm and Home Magazine published a buttermilk pie recipe in 1882.

Today, buttermilk is a cultured milk product which means that it is made by combining bacteria and milk to grow a culture. It is made by adding a special bacterial culture to low-fat or non-fat milk so that it thickens and develops a tangy taste.

Buttermilk is still important ingredients in traditional cooking, a vital agent for flavoring, baking, and marinating.
History of buttermilk