In the early 1800s America had her own native spices and herbs, and merchants from Salem, Massachusetts still traded for exotic spices from the Far East as they had in the China Trades of 1600s-1700s. Yet typically in the 1800s, the spice trade routes shifted to British-controlled India rather than directly from the spice-producing regions like Indonesia and China. Then, the British traders brought much of the spices from India to America.
Mid-1800s refrigeration in ships lessened the status and prices of the spice trade, but demand for spices was still keen.
1850-1867: Hummel, Bohler & Co. started in Philadelphia as in 1850 and organized as a stock company under the name Weikel & Smith Spice Co. in 1867. We didn’t find much information about them, so they could have been a smaller company. Above is one of their colorful trade cards.
1851: Durkee & Company was founded by Eugene R. Durkee, yet any product related to spice –their award-winning salad dressing–appeared closer to 1857. From 1858 to 1900 Durkee had three partners, sequentially, expanding three times into larger factories. In 1893 Durkee’s Gauntlet brand was an award-winner at the 1893 Columbia Expo. Eugene R. Durkee passed the company to his son, Eugene W. Durkee, who wrote the 1906 Pure Food Act’s standards for spice purity. Later they had to change their own labels on ground pepper and flavoring extracts to abide with the law. Durkee & Company had been willed to Eugene W. McCormick’s two daughters upon his death in 1926.
1869: a spice mill was added to Hulman & Company‘s [Clabber Girl] grocery store wholesale business.
1873: Tone Brothers, Inc. founded and located in Des Moines, Iowa, today is perhaps second in volume to McCormick. They also distribute Durkee Spices and other products. Tone is also the leading supplier of spices to national warehouse club chains.
1881: Schilling & Company founded in San Francisco, California by August Schilling and George F. Volkmann; selling to groceries. In 1947 McCormick purchased the company.
1894: William Gebhardt of Texas produced the first successful commercial chili powder, Eagle Brand Chili Powder. [Reddit link to 1926 Gebhardt Chili Powder booklet with recipes and looks inside their factory.]
1896: McCormick of Baltimore, founded in 1889, selling “Bee Brand” products including Uncle Sam’s Nerve and Bone Liniment. When they bought F.G. Emmett Spice Company of Philadelphia in 1896, they entered the spice business.
“Make the Best – Someone Will Buy It.”
Late-1900s: Pre-seasoned processed foods and fewer home cooks drastically decreased the volume of the spice market, yet farm-to-table awareness helped increase the understanding and use of spices again.
