LONDON: Archeologists have discovered a stash of over 13,000 well-preserved 19th and 20th-century pickle pots, glass bottles and jam jars, a finding that provides fascinating new insight into the origins of the British obsession with condiments.
The jars were found at a former site of Crosse & Blackwell's factory at Tottenham Court Road in London. "The discovery offers a peek into the past and the development of products which still sit within kitchen
cupboards around the world today," researchers said. The findings include glass bottles for Mushroom Catsup, ceramic bung jars for mustard and Piccalilli and delicately painted white jars for Preserved Ginger.
Researchers from the Museum of London Archaeology in the UK also found white earthenware jars for Pure Orange Marmalade, Household Raspberry Jam and Plum Jam, some of which still bear their original labels. They illustrate the ambitions of one of Victorian Britain's most prolific and enduring enterprises and evidence the development of British tastes.
"Excavations on Crosse & Blackwell's Soho factory produced a large and diverse collection of pottery and glass related to their products, with one cistern alone containing nearly three tonnes of Newcastle made marmalade jars with stoneware bottles and jars," said Nigel Jeffries, a Medieval and Later Pottery Specialist at MOLA.
"We think this is the biggest collection of pottery ever discovered in a single feature from an archaeological site in London," said Jeffries.
Crosse & Blackwell, a British food production company which has been in existence since 1706, manufactured, bottled and packaged their products on this site until 1921. The area was known for being a hive of industrial activity, and Crosse & Blackwell's facilities appealed to other companies, who outsourced aspects of their business to their factory, researchers said.