Branston is an English food brand best known for the original Branston Pickle, a sweet pickle first made in 1922 in the village of Branston near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire by Crosse & Blackwell.[1][2][3] The Branston factory proved to be uneconomical, and production was moved to Crosse & Blackwell subsidiary, E Lazenby & Sons in Bermondsey, London, where it invested in new buildings in 1924 and 1926, which remained in use until 1969.[4][5]
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 A jar of Branston Pickle when it was sold under the Crosse and Blackwell brand | |
| Product type | Pickle, sauces |
|---|---|
| Owner | Mizkan |
| Country | England |
| Introduced | 1922 |
| Previous owners | Crosse and Blackwell Nestlé Premier Foods |
| Tagline | Bring out the Branston |
| Website | bringoutthebranston |
In 2004, the pickle business was sold by Nestlé to Premier Foods and production was moved to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.[6][7] Premier Foods sold the brand to Mizkan in 2013,[8] at which time it ceased to be labelled as Crosse and Blackwell because in Europe this name was sold separately to Princes Group. Over 17 million jars a year are sold in the UK.[9]
Original pickle
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Branston Pickle is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede, carrots, onions and cauliflower pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and spices.[9]While not a chutney, Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a "chutney-like" consistency, containing chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce.[9] It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a popular menu item in British pubs.[10] It is also frequently combined with cheese in sandwiches, and many sandwich shops in the UK offer cheese and pickle as an option.[10] It is available in the standard 'chunky' version, a 'small chunk' variety, and a 'smooth' variety that is pureed, which makes it easier to spread onto bread; convenient squeeze-bottle packs are amongst the range. Branston also has flavoured pickles including Sweet Chilli and Beetroot flavoured pickle.[11]
Brand extension
editAdditional Branston products include mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, piccalilli, brown sauce, salad cream, and baked beans.[12]
In October 2005, Premier Foods launched Branston Baked Beans. The marketing and promotion of this product were aimed at challenging Heinz's dominance of the UK baked bean market.[13] This marketing included an advert, featuring a Branston Bean Tin explaining how Branston Beans are very "saucy".[13] Promotional activities included a 'Great British Bean Poll' where members of the public across the country were invited to blind taste both 'the brand leader' (assumed to be Heinz) and Branston.[13] In the poll, 76% of participants picked Branston over Heinz. Heinz elected to change their recipe in the face of this aggressive activity.[14]
Premier Foods also attempted to leverage the traditional Branston Pickle brand name by producing Branston Relishes in four different flavours: Hot Chilli & Jalapeño, Gherkin, Sweet Onion and Tomato & Red Pepper.[15]
Around November 2015, a sweet chili-flavoured pickle was launched, and the brand's rich and fruity sauce was re-launched, along with two new sauce flavours, rich and spicy and rich and smoky.[11] In 2017, Branston launched its tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and brown sauce lines in single-serving sachet packaging.[16]
Walkers once produced a variety of crisps called "Cheese and Branston Pickle".[17]
Sale to Mizkan
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In late 2012, it was announced that as part of an aggressive debt reduction strategy, Premier Foods would be selling the Branston brand to Japanese food manufacturer Mizkan Group for £92.5 million, joining Sarson's vinegar and Hayward's pickled onions as recent Premier Foods to Mizkan brand acquisitions.[1] The Bury St Edmunds plant continues to manufacture Branston products.[18]
Availability outside the UK
editBranston Pickle is sold in Ireland,[19] the United States,[20] Canada,[21] Australia, New Zealand, Norway, France,[22] Denmark, Malta, Singapore (Cold Storage and Market Place), Germany (REWE and Globus Warenhaus), Turkey (Kipa), the Netherlands,[23] the Czech Republic,[24] Slovakia (Tesco), Belgium (Carrefour Market Etterbeek), Hong Kong (Taste), Indonesia (Kemchicks), South Africa, Southern Spain (Supersol and Carrefour), Thailand (Chiang Mai, Rimping), Vietnam,[25] Angola[26] and Namibia. Despite the purchase of the brand by Mizkan Group Corporation, it is not sold in Japan.[27]
See also
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References
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