Branston (brand)

Branston
A jar of Branston Pickle when it was sold under the Crosse and Blackwell brand
Product typePickle, sauces
OwnerMizkan
CountryEngland
Introduced1922
Previous ownersCrosse and Blackwell
Nestlé
Premier Foods
TaglineBring out the Branston
Websitebringoutthebranston.co.uk

Branston is an English food brand best known for the original Branston Pickle. This is a condiment consisting of diced vegetables pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple, and spices. It has a sweet, spicy consistency like a chutney, and is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch in British pubs.

The pickle was based on the Indian pickles and chutneys that Anglo-Indians had liked during the British Raj. It was first made in the Crosse & Blackwell factory at Branston, Staffordshire in 1922. The brand was extended with other products such as mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, salad cream, baked beans, piccalilli, and brown sauce.

The Crosse & Blackwell pickle business was bought by Premier Foods in 2004, and production was moved to Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk. In 2012, the Branston brand was sold to Mizkan, which continues to manufacture the products in Bury St Edmunds.

Background

See also: South Asian pickle

During the British Raj in India, Anglo-Indians discovered Indian pickles and chutneys, and cooked many kinds.[1] Sailors found that the preserve-like varieties were useful accompaniments to their maritime diet of salt meat and dry ship's biscuit. Quantities were brought home to Britain, soon to be copied by cooks and further modified from the Indian originals.[2]

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.[3] Branston Pickle is sweet and spicy with a "chutney-like" consistency, containing chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce.[3] It is commonly served as part of a ploughman's lunch, a popular menu item in British pubs.[4] It is frequently combined with cheese in sandwiches, and many sandwich shops in the UK offer cheese and pickle as an option.[4] It is available in the standard 'chunky' version, a 'small chunk' variety, and a 'smooth' pureed variety, which makes it easier to spread onto bread; convenient squeeze-bottle packs are amongst the range.[5] The Indian Express comments that the product is "much like Bengal's date and tomato chutney and Rajasthan's meetha-nimbu chutney", being "more sweet-savoury than spicy".[6] It suggests that the pickle could be "one of India’s most long-lasting gifts to the British."[6]

Brand history

Branston Pickle was first made in 1922 in the village of Branston near Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, by Crosse & Blackwell.[7][8][9] The Branston factory proved to be uneconomical, and production was moved to the 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.[10][11]

Additional Branston products have included mayonnaise, tomato ketchup, salad cream,[12] baked beans,[13] piccalilli,[14] and "rich and fruity" brown sauce.[15][16] From around 2003, Walkers produced a variety of crisps called "Cheese and Branston Pickle".[17] They had been discontinued by 2023.[18]

In 1960, Nestlé bought the Crosse & Blackwell Group.[19][20] In 2004, Nestlé sold the pickle business to Premier Foods and production was moved to Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk.[21][22] In late 2012, Premier Foods sold 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.[7] The Bury St Edmunds plant continues to manufacture Branston products.[23][24] in Europe, the Crosse & Blackwell brand was sold separately to Princes Group. Over 17 million jars a year are sold in the UK.[3]

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.[25] Also in 2005, Premier Foods 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.[26]

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.[5] In 2017, Branston launched its tomato ketchup, mayonnaise and brown sauce lines in single-serving sachet packaging.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ Brown 1998, pp. 347–361.
  2. ^ Collingham 2006, pp. 147–148.
  3. ^ a b c Martin, K. (2017). Famous Brand Names and Their Origins. Pen and Sword Books. pp. 8–9. ISBN 978-1-78159-015-7. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  4. ^ a b Kazmier, Penny (26 January 2016). "In the U.K., the Branston Pickle adds crunchy, savory kick to sandwiches". Daily Herald. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  5. ^ a b "Branston launches new flavoured pickle and table sauces". FoodBev Media. 4 November 2015. Archived from the original on 18 November 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  6. ^ a b Das, Priyanjana Roy (4 October 2018). "Keeping the British in a pickle". The Indian Express. Retrieved 15 November 2025.
  7. ^ a b Ruddick, Graham (30 October 2012). "Branston Pickle sold to Japan's Mizkan in £92.5m deal". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  8. ^ Ayto, J. (2012). The Diner's Dictionary: Word Origins of Food and Drink. Oxford Quick reference collection. Oxford University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-19-964024-9. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  9. ^ van Wyk, B.E. (2014). Culinary Herbs and Spices of the World. University of Chicago Press. p. 36. ISBN 978-0-226-09183-9. Retrieved 26 October 2017.
  10. ^ Bourke, Joanna (6 December 2016). "London Square buys former Branston pickle Bermondsey site for flats". Evening Standard. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  11. ^ "Crosse and Blackwell / E Lazenby & Sons". Exploring Southwark. Archived from the original on 12 September 2017. Retrieved 12 September 2017.
  12. ^ Evans, Graeme (30 October 2012). "The £90m pickle: Branston sold to Japan firm". The Independent. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  13. ^ a b c d Pringle, H. (2008). Brand Immortality: How Brands Can Live Long and Prosper. Gale virtual reference library. Kogan Page. p. 232. ISBN 978-0-7494-5572-9. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  14. ^ "Piccalilli". Bring out the Branston. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  15. ^ "Piccalilli". Bring out the Branston. Retrieved 1 February 2026. A rich and fruity twist on a classic brown sauce.
  16. ^ a b Panthaki, Fabian (27 October 2017). "Mizkan Expands Foodservice Offers From Branston, Sarson's". KamCity. Archived from the original on 27 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  17. ^ "Walkers Cheese and Branston Pickle Flavour Crisps". Taquitos.net. Archived from the original on 26 April 2003. Retrieved 1 February 2026.
  18. ^ Purves, Robbie; Morris, Aaron (7 October 2023). "All of the Walkers crisp flavours you can no longer get after Worcestershire sauce axe". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 1 February 2026. Many Walkers fans were recently left fuming after hearing the news that the nation's favourite crisp firm were culling their Worcestershire sauce flavour - and they join a long list of other flavours which have come and gone in recent years.
  19. ^ Heer, Jean (1966). Nestlé (1991) – 125 Years 1866–1991. Vevey: Nestlé SA.
  20. ^ Laverick, Stuart (1 July 1998). "Case study ‐ the leveraging of brand equities to create a category champion: Nestlé's management of Crosse & Blackwell". Marketing Intelligence & Planning. 16 (4): 241–248. doi:10.1108/02634509810224428. ISSN 0263-4503.
  21. ^ Owen, R.; Dynes, M. (1992). Tuttle guide to the single European market: a comprehensive handbook. C. E. Tuttle Co. p. 163. ISBN 978-0-8048-1815-5. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  22. ^ "Pickle 'demand rises' after fire". BBC News. 2 November 2004. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  23. ^ "Branston sold by Premier Foods to Japan's Mizkan". BBC News. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  24. ^ "Branston sold by Premier Foods". BBC News. 30 October 2012. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
  25. ^ Gill, Joe (21 February 2006). "Heinz to change baked beans recipe as it faces Branston challenge". Brandrepublic.com. Retrieved 18 March 2013.
  26. ^ Marketing. Haymarket Press. 2005. p. 10. Retrieved 27 October 2017.

Sources

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