HP Sauce facts for kids
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HP Sauce on a bacon sandwich
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| Owner | Kraft Heinz (2005–pres.) |
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| Introduced | 1895 |
| Markets | Europe, Canada |
| Previous owners |
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HP Sauce is a famous British brown sauce. Its main ingredients are tomatoes and tamarind extract. The sauce got its name from London's famous Houses of Parliament.
HP Sauce first appeared on British dinner tables in the late 1800s. It quickly became a symbol of British culture. In 2005, it was the best-selling brown sauce in the UK. It held a huge 73.8% of the market!
The sauce was first made in the United Kingdom. But now, Heinz makes it in the Netherlands. HP Sauce has a tomato base. It is mixed with malt vinegar, spirit vinegar, and different sugars. It also contains dates, cornflour, rye flour, salt, spices, and tamarind.
People use HP Sauce as a condiment. This means they add it to hot and cold savoury foods. It is also an ingredient in soups and stews. The picture on the front of the bottle shows famous London buildings. These include Elizabeth Tower, the Palace of Westminster, and Westminster Bridge.
Contents
The Story of HP Sauce
Frederick Gibson Garton owned a shop in Nottingham, England. He sold groceries and other supplies. One day, a supplier gave him a special recipe for a brown sauce. This recipe had come from India.
Garton used this recipe in his factory. It was behind his home in New Basford. The sauce had ingredients like vinegar, tomato puree, garlic, and tamarind. It also included spices like mace, cloves, and ginger.
In 1895, Garton officially registered the name "H.P. Sauce." He chose this name because he heard a rumor. A restaurant in the Houses of Parliament was supposedly serving his sauce. The sauce bottles even had a picture of the Houses of Parliament on them.
Garton made many other sauces too. These included Nottingham Sauce and Daddies Favourite Sauce.
A New Owner for the Recipe
In 1899, Garton owed money to his vinegar suppliers. They were called the Midland Vinegar Company. Edwin Samson Moore from the company visited Garton. To settle the debt, Garton gave him the HP Sauce name and recipe. He also agreed to stop making sauces and pickles himself.
Even though Garton no longer owned it, his name stayed on the bottles for many years. But the Midland Vinegar Company made all the profit from the sauce's huge sales. Today, HP Sauce and Daddies Sauce are two very popular brown sauces. Both of them started in that small factory in Nottingham.
For many years, the bottles have shown a picture of the Houses of Parliament.
In the 1960s and 1970s, people in the UK sometimes called HP Sauce "Wilson's gravy." This was because of Mary Wilson. She was the wife of Prime Minister Harold Wilson. She once said in an interview that Harold would "drown everything with HP Sauce."
When Heinz Took Over
Over the years, the HP Sauce brand was owned by different companies. Eventually, a French company called Groupe Danone SA owned it.
In 2005, the big food company Heinz bought HP Foods from Danone. This was a very large purchase. The UK government's Competition Commission looked into the deal. They approved the purchase in 2006.
In May 2006, Heinz announced a big change. They planned to move HP Sauce production. It would move from Aston in Birmingham, UK, to Elst in the Netherlands. This news came just weeks after HP Sauce had started a campaign. The campaign was called "Save the Proper British Cafe."
This move meant about 125 jobs would be lost at the Aston factory. Many politicians and trade unions were upset. They thought it was wrong, especially since the bottles still showed the British Parliament.
A local politician, Khalid Mahmood, even held up a bottle of HP Sauce in Parliament. He was protesting the move. He also mentioned how much former Prime Minister Harold Wilson liked the sauce.
The plans to move production were confirmed in August 2006. The Aston factory stopped making sauce on March 16, 2007. A week later, a special gathering was held at the factory site. It was like a "wake" to say goodbye.
The factory building was taken down in the summer of 2007. The land where the factory stood was later sold. Now, a large warehouse for a food company is there.
Different Kinds of HP Sauce
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HP Sauce comes in different bottle shapes and sizes. This includes the classic glass bottle and plastic squeeze bottles.
- HP Fruity is a milder version of the original brown sauce. It uses fruits like oranges and mango to give it a softer, tangier taste. In Canada and the US, this version is sometimes called "HP Chicken & Rib."
- HP Bold is a spicier version available in Canada.
- HP BBQ Sauce is a range of barbecue sauces. It is the most popular barbecue sauce in the UK.
- Since 2011, the original HP Sauce has been made with less salt.
See also
In Spanish: Salsa HP para niños
