Keen's facts for kids
Keen's is a well-known brand of spices and seasonings. It's made by McCormick Foods Australia in Australia and by McCormick Canada in Canada. The Keen's brand has a very long history. It's still a common item in many kitchens, especially in Australia. You might recognize its special yellow and orange tins.
Keen's Mustard Powder is made from finely crushed mustard seeds. It comes in 50g or 100g tins.
Keen's Traditional Curry Powder is a mix of different spices. These include turmeric, coriander, salt, fenugreek, black pepper, chilli powder, rice flour, allspice, and celery. Keen's Curry is sold in 60g or 120g tins. It's very popular with the Aboriginal community in Australia. They use it a lot in their cooking, from curried sausages to kangaroo stew.
Keen's Mustard Powder
Keen's Mustard has a history that goes back to the 1700s! The first mustard factory in London was opened by a company called Messrs Keen & Sons in 1742. In the 1890s, you could hear the chimes of the Royal Exchange from the Keen's factory.
Thomas Keen, who was part of the family, was born in 1801. His family later moved to Croydon, Surrey. In 1862, Thomas Keen passed away. That same year, Keen & Sons joined with another company, Robinson & Belville. They became Keen Robinson & Company.
In 1903, a big mustard company called J & J Colman bought Keen Robinson & Company. Later, Colman's joined with Reckitt & Sons in 1938. This new company was called Reckitt & Colman.
In the 1930s, the Keen's Mustard Club was created. Members got a special badge shaped like a mustard pot. They also received a booklet with "Inner Secrets of the Mustard Club."
In the 1940s, Keen's promoted how useful mustard could be. They even put a recipe for a mustard footbath on the back of their tins! It said: "one of mustard, two of flour, leave it on for half an hour."
In 1995, Unilever bought the food part of Reckitt & Colman. Outside of the UK, in places like Canada and Australia, Colman's still sells its mustard under the Keen's name.
In 1998, McCormick Foods Australia bought Keen's Mustard. Keen's asked Australians to look for old Keen's items in their homes. They found old advertisements and even a mustard tin from 1904! In 2000, Keen's Mustard took these old items on a tour around Australia.
Keen's Curry Powder
In 1841, a 22-year-old carpenter named Joseph Keen sailed to Australia. He was the son of Thomas Keen. Joseph settled in Tasmania, where he opened a bakery and a general store. Here, he started making his own sauces and spices, including his special blend of curry powder.
Joseph's curry powder became very popular in the area. He even won awards for his spice mix! He received a medal at an exhibition in Melbourne in 1866. He also got an honorable mention in Sydney in 1879.
In 1915, Joseph's daughter, Louisa, and her husband, Horace Watson, took over the curry-powder business. Horace was a very interesting person. He did something daring: he used large white stones to spell out 'Keen's Curry' on the side of Mount Wellington! The letters were 15 meters high. Many people were upset, but Horace won the right to keep his giant sign.
Students sometimes played pranks on the sign. In 1926, it briefly read 'Hell's Curse'. In 1962, students changed it again to promote a play. In 1994, it read 'No Cable Car' to protest a new building plan. But the sign has always been fixed after every change.
Keen's Curry Powder was well known in Tasmania. It became famous across Australia in 1954. That's when the recipe and rights were sold to Reckitt & Colman Australia Ltd. This was more than a century after Joseph first came to Australia.
Reckitt & Colman Australia was already making Keen's Mustard.
In 1998, McCormick Foods Australia Pty Ltd bought both the Keen's Mustard and Keen's Curry brands.
See also
