There's pickle in the jar

Friend of the cheese sandwich and bastion of the ploughman's lunch, Branston Pickle has graced our cupboards for a century

- Alec Marsh

A CHEESE sandwich without it is but half as good. A ploughman's without it is unthinkable. In the 100 years since a Mrs Caroline Graham first dipped her spoon into a fragrant, lumpy concoction that would become known as Branston Pickle, the world has changed beyond recognition. Yet, as far as we know, her classic condiment hasn't.

Not much is known about Graham, who, with her daughters Evelyn and Ermentrude, is credited with developing the original recipe —except that she was among some 600 workers at the Crosse & Blackwell factory in the Staffordshire village of Branston. She and her family lived in the lodge by the railway lines set aside for single women workers, which is where Branston Pickle was apparently invented. It was, evidently, an immediate hit and Crosse & Blackwell went into production in 1922. Within three years, the factory was relocated to London—Bermondsey Pickle', anyone? It was a close call.

Branston arrived when foodstuffs in tins or jars were becoming the housewife's staple: the 1920s saw Baxter's go into canned fruits and start making soups; and American giants Heinz and Kellogg's were opening factories in Britain to meet the demand. In 1929, Crosse & Blackwell trademarked the Branston name, a sign of the potential of this mighty pickle.