July 26, 2024 • 42 mins
This brand of fruit-based products was the first to successfully NOT ferment grape juice in the 1800s. Anney and Lauren dip into the twisting history of Welch’s.
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Speaker 1 (00:09):
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie and I'm Loan vocal Bomb, and today we
have an episode for you about Welch's brand Juice and Stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Juice and Stuff. Yes, not a sponsor, as always no,
but yes, this was a really interesting one. I believe
I know why it was on your mind, but I
shall ask anyway, Lauren, is there any reason you wanted
to talk about this? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, I believe you had sent me this press release
about Welch's canned cocktails and we started reading, like I
was looking at it and going like, oh, that's real goofy.
And then we still started looking into just very briefly,
(01:02):
like the history of the brand, and I was like, oh,
that's really goofy for historical reasons, which we will get into.
And yeah, and so I was just like, yeah, that's
on the list. That's great, Like let's go, let's figure
out what they're about. Yes, And I think the answer
is making money.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So yeah, generally, probably with these episodes about corporations.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's I mean, as far
as it goes, it's fair anyway. But yeah, no, it's
I always really love these corporate episodes. They're so bonkers
and so fun.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Mm hmmm. I I feel I don't have nostalgic memories
with Welch's. I know I had it when I was
a kid, like the jelly, but I really didn't. Grape
jelly was not my thing. I know they make other
flavors of jelly before you yell at me, but like
that was just like not my thing. And I remember
(02:06):
being in church and we would do communion. I believe
we had Welches and it felt cool as a kid,
but then I just was like, I don't know, I
could be drinking something else.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, it's not a brand that I grew up with
a whole lot of experience of, but I mean I
had it here and there, and for sure the first
time that I had fresh concord grapes, I remember the
first time that I found them in a grocery store
and the smell stopped me in the aisle because I
was like, that is not a scent I have ever
(02:46):
experienced before.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And it was these grapes and I was like, they
smell like grape candy and I had to buy them
and I love them, and yeah, I guess it's because
of like latent welches memories.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, they've got something in your brain and planted.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's probably due to welches. And I mean,
I don't know, like we were a Smucker's household growing up.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah we were too.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Saying controversial things already. But yeah, yeah, I don't know,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, but this is the history is fascinating with this one.
I can't wait to get into it. And it is
related to church. And speaking of you can see past
episodes we've done on wine. We have definitely talked about
welches before. Absolutely, Yeah, yes, in passing.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, yeah, episodes on wine maybe like like frozen Foods,
Graham Crackers, Kellogg's other American brand episodes. I feel like
like Pineapple kind of ties in. Yeah, some of our
cocktail episodes. Possibly maybe our mocktail episodes.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh yes, yes, yes, there's a lot of a lot
of things come into play in this one. And there
was there was a rabbit hole I almost went down
that was about the the battle between orange juice and
grape juice. So another thing to look into, absolutely, But
(04:31):
I guess this brings us to our question welches.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What is it. Well. Welches is an American brand of
fruit based products, almost all of them processed and many
shelf stable, lots of juices and other drinks like gummy
fruit snacks, jams and jellies, et cetera. And I really
do mean et cetera here, Like they license their name
to all kinds of fruit related things. Their main to
(05:00):
fame is grape flavored drinks and foods, and specifically, in
terms of grapes, a couple of varieties of North American
cultivated grape, the Concord, which is like a rich flavored
black grape, and the Niagara, which is a kind of
like sharp white grape. Though yeah, they have all kinds
of flavors these days, but okay. The Welches brand is
(05:21):
long standing and marketed pretty heavily to kids, and has
traditionally been used as a non alcoholic option for American
Christian Communion ceremonies, and so therefore the brand and like
Concord flavor in particular, exist somewhere on this spectrum of
(05:41):
like nostalgic to cloying. I think for a lot of Americans,
Welches is way more American than apple pie, which I
don't mean as a compliment. I mean, I mean that
it is from here. It is Puritan in its bones,
(06:03):
it is industrially exacting, and it has turned into a
highly marketed machine producing product of questionable nutritional value. Welches
is like drinking America.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yes, and again I'm teasing it a lot, but the
way this history plays out that to me, that's yeah,
that's drinking America. There no spoilers.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, all right, you might be able to guess, but
given two pieces of information that you have already received.
But okay, So the Welch's brand is owned by the
National Grape Cooperative Association, which is this organization of the
family farms that grow the produce for most of the products.
So Welch's is like technically a processing and marketing subsidy
(07:00):
of this kind of huge farmers co op that operates
out of growing regions around the Great Lakes in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Michigan and then over in Washington State. They do
not just sell to consumers through grocery stores, but also
to food service industry as well, like schools, care centers
(07:20):
such as hospitals and senior living, and then also service
industry like hotels and restaurants. They do sell internationally, definitely.
They sell grape ingredients for processed foods. I'm not totally
sure that they sell finished consumer products. We've got a
(07:41):
good savor list of a lot of what they're currently
marketing in the US. Y'all are going to have to
let us know if you get different stuff elsewhere or
stuff at all. Yeah, yes, okay, who I love a list?
All right? All right, So they've got a line of
one hundred percent juice drinks. These are all like pasteurized
and shelf stable. Those include flavors like red grape concord,
(08:04):
grape concord, grape with either fiber or calcium, not both,
black cherry concord, grape, white grape, white grape, cherry white grape, peach, apple, orange,
and orange pineapple apple. Yes, they've got a line of
not one hundred percent juice drinks in flavors like orange, pineapple, apple, mango, pineapple, mango,
(08:27):
passion fruit, mango, twist fruit, punch, strawberry, kiwi, passion fruit, cranberry,
and grape generalized grape. They've got a line called grape Aid,
which is made of green grape juice and no added
sugar in flavors like strawberry and mango. They've got a
line of low calorie juices, light varieties of white grape
(08:49):
or concord grape. Those have like less sugar, and then
they've got diet concord grape or cranberry which are sweet
and vestavia. They have non shelf stable juices. What you've
got to buy juice from a refrigerator that's weird in
flavors like concord grape, passion, fruit, berry, pineapple, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, watermelon, lemonade,
and mango. Twist. The twist, by the way, is grape
(09:11):
and apple.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's the twist.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, it's not Aretan Johnson who done it, but it's
pretty close. They've got a line of sparkling juices in
like standards seven hundred and fifty mili liter like like
wine bottles, basically in flavors like strawberry, sangrea, cider, and
rose grape. Plus they've got some cute little like single
(09:36):
serving bottle four packs. Yeah, they have a line of
soda pop grape, strawberry, orange, pineapple, fruit punch, and berry.
No specification on the berry though, also a line of
sugar free powdered drink mixes, you know, like in those
like little individual sticks that you add to a glass
of water or a bottle of water. Yeah, not liquids
(10:00):
or perhaps thicker liquids like fruit spreads, jelly jam or
just spread in concord, grape and strawberry iterations. Varieties of snacks,
fruit snacks, flavored gelatin mixes, a couple types of frozen
pouch smoothies, and those like juice ice bars, you know
(10:20):
in those clear soft plastic tubes. Yeah. Around Easter there's
Welches jelly beans, and around Christmas there's fruity candy canes.
There are also Welches branded fresh fruit. They have blueberries
and strawberries, nectarines, peaches and plums, and then perhaps obviously
(10:40):
a bunch of varieties of grapes. Bunch is absolutely an
on purpose pun. You're welcome. Yeah, they have twenty twenty varieties.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. And then yeah, in like a delicious and smores
level case of irony, they have a line of alcoholic
canned cocktails tagline Welch's Craft Cocktails. Kids have their crafts,
you have yours?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
WHOA, I know.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That's uncool.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Dang, I like to craft and have a craft beveridge,
thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Why not both?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Why not? Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
The flavors there are vodka, cranberry, vodka transfusion, which is
like a grape citrus, ginger passion fruit mohido that has
minted lime in it, and then a watermelon mule with
a ginger and lime and all four way in at
five point nine percent abb yep. And I will say that,
(11:56):
like a lot of the not juice or jam products
are actually produced by other companies in collaboration with or
license with the Welches brand. Yeah hmm interesting, Okay, Well
what about the nutrition, Ah, don't don't eat. Don't eat brands.
(12:20):
Definitely don't eat brands. As for the brand's products, ah
look sugar. Sugar is a sometimes food and processed fruit
products like juices and spreads and fruit snacks tend to
contain a lot of sugar without containing the mitigating like
fiber that whole fruit has. So watch your serving sizes,
(12:42):
Drink water, sometimes eat a vegetable that doesn't come from
a pouch if you can.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yes, yeah, yes, indeed, Well we do have some numbers
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We do the National Grape co Op comprises about six
hundred and seventy in visual farms, and together they harvest
about three hundred and twenty thousand tons of concord and
niagara grapes every year. The largest crop in company history
was in two thousand and five when they pulled four
(13:14):
hundred and fourteen thousand tons of grapes.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, yep. Welch's products are sold in about fifty countries
around the world. All right, here's a thing some of
y'all might remember that they had these these jelly jars,
glass jelly jars printed with characters on them from various things.
One woman out of Dover, New Hampshire had a collection
(13:43):
of three hundred and twenty of those jars as of
twenty fifteen. I didn't like follow up with her. I
read it in a news article. She might have more now,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, they've done a couple of world record stunts. In
twenty fourteen, they achieved the record for the most people
stomping grapes. That was one two hundred and thirty two
people who stomped some sixty tons of concord grapes. This
was in honor of a new National Comedy Center being
(14:22):
built in Lucille Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York, because
of that bed on I Love Lucy where she had
that iconic grape stomping scene. Yeah yeah. Bob Newhart headlined
the ensuing Evenings events, So there you go. And then
a couple years earlier, in twenty twelve, for Fenway Parks
(14:44):
one hundredth anniversary in Welch's home state of Massachusetts, they
set the record for the largest toast in one venue,
with thirty two, nine hundred and four attendees raising a
can of sparkling grape juice.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Oh wow, yeah, I thought you meant piece of toast,
and I immediately was like, obviously that is not what
it was.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
No, no, birst, buddy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That would have been so cool.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Lauren.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, if they had had the largest piece of toast
spread with uh, spread with jelly, with grape jelly, that
would have been That would have also been very celebratory.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That's what I thought it was gonna be. I was
already my mind was racing with questions like how that
they toasted. Oh my gosh, but this is pretty cool.
So that's a large toast.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That is a large toast, that's larger than any toast
I've attended because I wasn't there and that's the world record.
So yeah, well, there you go, Yes, there you go.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, after many many teasings of what's to come, we
have arrived at history section.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
But first we've arrived at a quick break for word
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So grapes different, terrifying,
multiple episodes.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Oh many. Yeah, there's a lot of varieties and they're
from all over the place. And yep, I didn't even
let myself really go that far into concord grapes in
this one. So here we are.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes, yes, we have talked about very basic grape history
in our wine episodes, but yeah, that's later us. Today
we'll deal with that one. Today we're talking about Welches, right.
Welches was founded in eighteen sixty nine by a teetotaler dentist,
(16:56):
Thomas Bramwell Welch and his son, Charles Vineland, New Jersey.
I have to say some people give his son different credits,
but we'll put him in the mix. Yeah. Thomas was
born in Glastonbury in eighteen twenty five and immigrated with
his father to the US in eighteen thirty four, he
went on to become a dentist. According to some it
(17:18):
was because of a he had throat issues, so he
decided to go into dentistry. Doctor Welch was also a
Methodist minister, and at the time Methodist didn't really condone
drinking alcohol. Welch didn't approve the fact that wine was
served during communion at all. Allegedly, he believed this so
(17:41):
firmly he refused to touch the vessels that served wine,
which was an issue given his role in the church.
And then also allegedly a man showed up to service
drunk off of wine and Welch was done. He was like,
this is it?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
This is it?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
No more?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yea, And I will say this was an issue for
more than just Welch at the time, you know, to
be fair like like the temperance movement was getting real big.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yes, yes it was. And to address this he decided
to come up with a grape juice that didn't ferment
when bottled. Hence the company.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
YEP and relatively new on the scene at the time,
were Concord grapes. They were developed around eighteen forty nine
by one Ephraim Whale's Bowl in Concord, Massachusetts, based on
this wild North American grape species, and it was just
a really popular new variety of grape in the American
Northeast by about the mid eighteen sixties. It was just
(18:42):
very well suited to the climate, really tasty, and apparently
the Welsh family had a few trellises of it in
their garden.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So Welch got some of these Concord grapes. He filtered
them in his kitchen. He pasteurized them using the new
technique dell developed by Louis Pestor, and started bottling the
result in eighteen sixty nine. And at the time, pre refrigeration,
it was tricky to keep grape juice from fermenting.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh yeah, as we've talked about in wine related episodes,
grape juice just loves fermenting, partially because yeasts that will
ferment it are pretty much always found growing on the
skin of the grapes, so they get into the juice
when you press the grapes without pasteurization and or refrigeration,
that's what it will do.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yes, But okay, so he's got this juice, he presents
it to his church and other churches. He explains it
and why they should use it instead of wine, but
he was generally shrugged off at first, with some even
labeling the whole thing is heresy. Yeah, and this lasted
(19:50):
for a bit. Over the next four years, Doctor Welch's
unfermented wine, as it was called, was unsuccessful and he
put it on the back burner in nineteen seventy three.
But still Welch was very involved in the temperance movement
and the idea was never far from his mind. Yeah, yeah,
and yes, it was on a lot of people's minds.
(20:11):
In eighteen seventy six, members of the Women's Christian Temperance
Union refused to accept the sacrament in church if it
involved wine.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah. Also right, Like Welch just wasn't really interested in
making the product a big thing. He was kind of
going like, yeah for church, right for church.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah. I do have to admit I love the title
unfermented wine. Yep, great because now knowing what happened in
like it's grape juice, I love it. Anyway, things started
to turn around when Welch's son and fellow dentist, Charles,
(20:55):
started marketing this product.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He also really aimed it towards churches at first, giving
away samples for communion. One advertisement for the juice included
the line, if your druggist hasn't the kind that was
used in Galilee, containing not one particle of alcohol, write
us for prices. By the eighteen eighties and it worked.
By the eighteen eighties, Methodists had really taken up this
(21:20):
unfermented wine, this grape juice for communion.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Right, And in eighteen ninety the company changed the name
to Doctor Welch's Grape Juice. Three years later, they debuted
their product at the Chicago World's Fair, and from there
it became a household name for many. Charles also marketed
it as a health tonic outside of church. Yes. When
(21:45):
black rot broke out in Vineland in eighteen ninety five,
hitting their grape crop, Welch relocated his operation to Westfield,
New York, the home of the Concord grape, which became
the primary grape used in Welch's products.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
By eighteen ninety seven, they had built their first plant
there and were processing three hundred tons of grapes a year.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Over the next few decades they really expanded. They were
pumping out a million gallons of juice a year by
nineteen oh nine, and within the next four years their
sales surpassed two million dollars. And yeah, as the Temperance
movement grew in influence, Welch's grape juice became a go
to substitute for wine. It was made from same grapes.
(22:32):
Some people thought so and close enough like in flavor
profile that people were like, yeah, I can do that.
US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan served Welch's grape
juice for the visiting British ambassador at a dinner in
nineteen thirteen. I've heard there was some drama rum. Yes, yes,
(22:56):
Welch's grape juice replaced wine on Navy ships after alcohol
was banned that same year.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, the company was running marketing materials, but the slogan
borrowed from the temperance movement. By nineteen fourteen, the lips
that touch Welches are all that touch mine, Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
In nineteen eighteen, Welch has developed a grape jam called
grape aal aid grape blaid. Yeah, I want to say
grape alaid.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
But I think it's grapeal aid to rhyme with marmalade.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, yeah, I think so that they sent over to
US soldiers serving in World War.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
One YEP, and by World War Two it was being
served alongside peanut butter and sliced bread in rations. So
although recipes for peanut butter and jelly do go back
to nineteen oh one, this is supposedly where the PBNJ
really took off from.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I do have memories of like the little the small
little pockets, you know. Yeah. Welch's debuted their concord grape
jelly in nineteen twenty three. Welch's was acquired by American
National Company out of Nashville, Tennessee in nineteen twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
In nineteen forty nine, amidst the new success of Minute
Mads frozen orange juice concentrate, Welch's released frozen grape juice concentrate.
So they were not the first, but pretty soon following after,
pretty quick on the uptake. Meanwhile, one Jack Kaplan had
started what would become the aforementioned National Grape Cooperative Association
(24:35):
in nineteen thirty three. It started as a corporation, but
he sold it to the growers working with him to
be run as a co op. The co op bought
out Welch's in nineteen fifty two, and this was the
first time that a Grower's Association had purchased what was
at that point a billion dollar food company. Around this time,
(24:56):
they started working on some really serious marketing campaign, like
they sponsored the Howdy Duty Show in nineteen fifty one,
which was a really big deal, And by nineteen fifty
four they had started printing those collectible glass jelly jars
with images of characters starting with the Howdy Duty Show.
A couple dozen different promotional tie in properties have been
(25:18):
featured on glass jars over the intervening decades, including Davy Crockett,
The Flintstones, Archie, Looney Tunes, Peanuts. I think there's been
some sports tie ins.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, yes, And speaking of Welsh's appeared on The Mickey
Mouse Club in nineteen fifty five, the same year that
they opened a stand in Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Okay, so this was in fantasy Land, and the stand
was themed with this mural and kind of kind of
vibe of the Centaur scene from Fantasia, Like remember like
the centaurs all get together with Bacchus and party, Yeah,
you know, the god of Bacchus. Apparently in the nineteen
(26:05):
seventies they served grape juice and like plastic cups shaped
like bunches of grapes. People have very fond memories of
this place, and the stand would stay open until fantasy
Land got a remodel in the early nineteen eighties. Wow,
Love It, Love It. The brand introduced a line of
freezer Isle jelly donuts in the nineteen seventies in flavors
(26:29):
like uh grape and apple raspberry. In nineteen eighty one,
they debuted these gnome like cartoon cartoon mascots called the Welchkins.
And these were like these little gnome guys that like that,
like used child labor to cheerfully produce one hundred percent
grape juice. One of the ads, one of the ads
(26:52):
is like is like wake up, it's time to harvest.
And the kids are like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It's the middle of the.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Night, and he's like it it's the best pick in time.
Get to work.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Children like look what, Oh my gosh, how many children
did they traumatize? This is a question that one scared me.
The welch Kiins waking me up in the night like
it's time gids for what.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, there's like there's like merch. There were dolls and
shirts and like sandwich tupperware things. Yeah, there was a
children's picture book about Welch published in two thousand and
five called Doctor Welch and the Great Grape Story.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
It's a good title, good time.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
In twenty fifteen, they were hit with a false advertising
lawsuit over their fruit snacks, claiming that the average consumer
would be tricked into thinking that these fruit snacks aren't
basically candy, which the suit says that they basically are.
As of December twenty twenty three, the suit was still ongoing.
(28:04):
I couldn't find an update after that, so I assume
it's still still in the works. Another class action lawsuit
filed in twenty twenty took issue with the specific labeling
language on some of their juices helps support or helps
promote a healthy heart due to you know, the effects
(28:26):
of sugar on cardiovascular health and diabetes risk. Welches denied
the claims are false, but wound up settling for one
point five million, which is a payout of one dollar
per product bought per person.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
WHOA.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, if you feel like you were harmed in the suit,
I'm sorry it's already over. Your window has closed. And
then yeah, just in time for summer of twenty twenty four,
Welch's released those cantails they partnered with co Op Beverage Works.
(29:06):
It might be Coop. I think it's co Op Beverage Works,
which apparently also makes canned boozy drinks for the Sonic brand,
not like Sonic the Hedgehog, but Sonic the like drive in. Yeah,
oh no, you just went to seven different places now
which are good.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Now I'm on edge. All of those things are dangerous, Laura,
Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And yeah, in another corp Real corporate note, Their corporate
headquarters are in the process right now as of summer
of twenty twenty four, in the process of moving from
Concord to Waltham, Massachusetts. I didn't look up the pronunciation
of that second one, and I'm really sorry if I
got it wrong. I'm gonna roll with it, though.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
The pr about it is that like it's moving to
a smaller space but a little bit more centrally located,
and they're pitching it as a move for like increased
growth to attract more Boston area talent.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
So don't know, hmm, we know people don't always react
well to that though. Yeah, well to me. When I
first sent this story to Larone, it was because I
knew the history of Welch's okay yeah, was based in
temperance and not drinking alcohol but apparently not even touching
(30:30):
a vessel in there. And so when I got the
like report that now they're making canned cocktails, which hilariously
are like, it's not wine.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Oh no, it's not a total reversal, but.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
But it's almost kind of worse.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
I think the context in which I got this report
was people were worried that kids would see.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
It sure and be like, oh welches, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Welch's grape juice. So it's just the same thing happened
with Graham. It does feel very American in terms of
it started as this, but we could make money doing
the opposite thing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Though, Yeah that's the American way.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah where's yeah, where's the money. But it did give
me a good laugh when I got the yea, the update.
Wait wait, well this is making cocktails. Yeah, so here
we are.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I I don't, I don't. I Graham was such a
very specific personality, and I feel I feel a lot
more shoden Freud about the reversal on Graham's product than
I do about the reversal on Welch's product. I mean, yeah, yeah,
but I didn't, to be very also didn't read a
whole lot about Welch's personal beliefs or what he was
(32:04):
preaching about other other than temperance.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So yes, oh for sure, for sure. And and like
I am getting a little bit.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Of a laugh out of this, but it's funny.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Like I'm mad about it. I'm just it's just kind
of yeah, it's just kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
I'm sorry for Welch if he's like rolling in his
grave somewhere, but.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It is little.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
It is human. Pretty yeah, humans, What are we? What
are we getting up to? All kinds of things?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah, canned cocktails, well I haven't tried them, but you know, listeners,
if you have any nostalgic memories, if you have tried these, yeah,
these beverages.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
If you have a jelly jar collection, yes, yes, please
let us know. I think I might have found one
with bugs bunny. While I was cleaning out the kitchen
of the house that I bought because like a lot
of they left, like a lot of it was from
an estate sale, and the cupboards were still full of
a lot of things, and I think I found one
(33:13):
in there. I'll have to check.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Could be worse, somebody, I know.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Definitely no.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Well nostalgia then yes, yes, yes, we'll report back. Well,
we're back, but I believe that is what we have
to say about Welch's for now.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yes it is. We do already have some listener mail
for you, though, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from one more
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
We're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and we're
back with Justo mode are. Most of my memories with
Welches is that it was too sweet for me? But yeah,
I'm sure I think I only had a berry specific
type of Welches juice. So I will not cast dispersions
(34:18):
on things I have not tried. Yeah, well all right,
wrote I'm always on the lookout to try and find
Nato around here. It is one of those things I
really want to try. I'm always game to try something
funky at least once. Funky foods can be all over
the spectrum. Potato salad, yes, it is one of those staples,
(34:41):
but also one of those dishes that just seems to
be really difficult to elevate. They are usually good, but
nothing really stands out. My wife makes the recipe her
mom made, which is the vinegar one, and that is
definitely one of my favorites. A tank from the vinegar
really picks it up. I like it when it is
warm shortly after making, or after it has had a
(35:03):
chance to sit for a day. Then that tang really
hits well on the listener mail front. Michael nailed it
on the head with the laughter. It is wonderful to
just hear you enjoying things and having fun. Don't ever
change that. Kelsey mentioning the ramen salad, that version sounds interesting.
The only one I've had is like the one Annie's
mom made chopped cabbage, drag noodles and a few other items.
(35:26):
Shows that ramen is versatile. Oh it is thank you
to everybody who's sent in because I lamented I'd been
eating so much ramen, and people sent in a bunch
of recipes for me.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Oh yay.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And then after that I researched this recipe my mom made,
and listeners you can write in and confirm. But it
seems like it's a pretty big Midwestern like pot look thing. Okay, yeah,
so I'm kind of curious how she got the recipe,
but she she wasn't too. It was we talked about
(36:01):
in our cookbook episodes. She she was always perusing like
magazines and yeah, recipes, So I just thought it was
interesting when I was when she first made it, I
was like, what is this. I've never heard of this,
I've never seen this, but apparently, yeah, it's a pretty
big thing. I can't uh yeah. Also fighting words, I
(36:23):
hope people who love potato salad are yeah, get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
And I'm I'm sure that someone I mean, oh gosh,
I'm sure there's someone out there who's made like lobster
truffle potato.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Salad oh with gold leaf. I am absolutely sure.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. For me, it's usually just like
if you get one of the good vinegary ones, it
has some good bacon grease in it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I'm just like, yeah, yeah, you know, I feel like
it can it can be the standout, but a lot
of times it's like the best support frint. It's like
the one that's like, I'm gonna make this whole thing better.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Just by Yeah, I'm gonna bring the whole plate together. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Salad.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I still haven't gotten any okay, all right, anyway, Christine wrote,
this is another long one, suckers. I was extremely excited
to see the title of the bone marrow episode pop
up in my notifications because I love beef bone marrow.
It is my favorite part of the cow and I
love cows. Sheet marrow is quite fine as well. My
(37:31):
favorite recipe is also buco paired with a risotto a
la milanaise. Why interfere with the classics? However, I also
have a recipe for a fruit and custard tart from
fifteenth century England that features bone marrow. You line a
tartshell with roughly chopped dates and prunes, then put chunks
of bone marrow on top of the fruit. This is
baked until the marrow melts. Then an egg and cream
(37:52):
custard is carefully poured into the tart. Sugar is sprinkled
on top, and the tart is baked until the custard
has set. The end product is not too sweet and
a beautiful savory richness. If doing a medieval feast, it's
a good dish to serve in the first course to
follow the medieval trend of serving sweet and savory dishes together.
Bone marrow could be added to the filling of pies
(38:12):
and pastries to add extra flavor and moisture, particularly if
the filling uses a lean meat. I found this at
a number of fifteenth and sixteenth century German recipes, and
I'll have to look for other places using this technique.
An Australian having to research pie recipes. Oh, the torture.
I found another sixteenth century German fig pie recipe consisting
of dried figs, bone marrow, spices and wine. I think
(38:36):
I shall have to try this and flatten flatbreads sure
covered with a mix of beef mints, bone marrow, cheese,
eggs and spices before baking. Oh you might wonder why
the concentration on German recipes. It was your mention of
German breaded bone marrow balls. This got me excited because
(38:57):
breaded fried bone marrow fritters might just be better than
fried chicken. I have actually tried a Heston Blumenthal recipe
for something similar, but it was extremely complicated. No really,
I googled for German bone marrow recipes and found a
bone marrow dumpling soup delicious, but not what I was
looking for. Still, your description of breaded bone marrow balls
(39:17):
called to mind a class of recipes from sixteenth century
Germany called bachan balls or fritters. One much loved recipe
gives you a historical equivalent of chicken nuggets. Or you
could try cheese baccan, and you can eat either hot
or cold. Sadly, I haven't turned up any recipes for
bone marrow bacan, and I only have a limited collection
(39:38):
of translated German cooking texts, but I know people who
do and who can read and translate them, and if
nothing else, I suppose I can always adapt the Thermo
mix bone marrow fritters recipe.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Oh oh, my good gosh, all of this sounds so good.
All of this, Yes, yes, I love this. I love
the history. Once again, thank you. Yeah, these dishes I
hadn't heard of. I did try to find. I've tried
to find bel Meron. Then I tried to find Osabuko.
(40:14):
I have found some places that have it. So i'm
i'm I'm You're on your way, Okay, I'm all my way,
I'm all my way. I do feel you in terms
of having to research uh oh yeah, oh no, right, yeah, yeah,
I did have a friend of mine who listens to
(40:36):
the show. She she texted me the other day and
was like, why do you always give me these cravings?
And I was like, how do you think? Are FO
a little astramatic than that?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
But yeah, yeah, no, that's I mean, we do it
to ourselves basically every episode, so that.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, yes, But all of this, Oh sounds so good
because I really think I've only had it in kind
of you eat it out at the bone, put it
on toast. I don't think I've ever really ventured out.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I don't believe, aside from I've had a go before.
But yeah, I think that's basically it. I'm also quite
intrigued about Sheet Marrow, and because I hadn't, I kind
of glossed over animals other than beef in the episode,
and now I'm curious about whether, like Sheep and Goat,
(41:27):
Marrow taste a little bit like sheep and Goat, which
I can only assume that they would that kind of
Barney game me sort of sort of taste. Yeah, so
so curious.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, right in let us know. Yeah, Well, thanks to
both the Beast listeners for writing in if you would
like to write to us, you can our emails Hello
at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope
to hear from you. Savor is production of by Heart Radio.
For more podcasts by Heart Radio so you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
(42:11):
your way.
Hello, and welcome to Saber Protection of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
I'm Annie and I'm Loan vocal Bomb, and today we
have an episode for you about Welch's brand Juice and Stuff.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Juice and Stuff. Yes, not a sponsor, as always no,
but yes, this was a really interesting one. I believe
I know why it was on your mind, but I
shall ask anyway, Lauren, is there any reason you wanted
to talk about this? Uh?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Well, I believe you had sent me this press release
about Welch's canned cocktails and we started reading, like I
was looking at it and going like, oh, that's real goofy.
And then we still started looking into just very briefly,
(01:02):
like the history of the brand, and I was like, oh,
that's really goofy for historical reasons, which we will get into.
And yeah, and so I was just like, yeah, that's
on the list. That's great, Like let's go, let's figure
out what they're about. Yes, And I think the answer
is making money.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
So yeah, generally, probably with these episodes about corporations.
Speaker 2 (01:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair. That's I mean, as far
as it goes, it's fair anyway. But yeah, no, it's
I always really love these corporate episodes. They're so bonkers
and so fun.
Speaker 1 (01:44):
Mm hmmm. I I feel I don't have nostalgic memories
with Welch's. I know I had it when I was
a kid, like the jelly, but I really didn't. Grape
jelly was not my thing. I know they make other
flavors of jelly before you yell at me, but like
that was just like not my thing. And I remember
(02:06):
being in church and we would do communion. I believe
we had Welches and it felt cool as a kid,
but then I just was like, I don't know, I
could be drinking something else.
Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, it's not a brand that I grew up with
a whole lot of experience of, but I mean I
had it here and there, and for sure the first
time that I had fresh concord grapes, I remember the
first time that I found them in a grocery store
and the smell stopped me in the aisle because I
was like, that is not a scent I have ever
(02:46):
experienced before.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
What is that?
Speaker 2 (02:48):
And it was these grapes and I was like, they
smell like grape candy and I had to buy them
and I love them, and yeah, I guess it's because
of like latent welches memories.
Speaker 1 (03:04):
Yeah, they've got something in your brain and planted.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's probably due to welches. And I mean,
I don't know, like we were a Smucker's household growing up.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Yeah we were too.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Saying controversial things already. But yeah, yeah, I don't know,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
Yeah, but this is the history is fascinating with this one.
I can't wait to get into it. And it is
related to church. And speaking of you can see past
episodes we've done on wine. We have definitely talked about
welches before. Absolutely, Yeah, yes, in passing.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Yeah, yeah, episodes on wine maybe like like frozen Foods,
Graham Crackers, Kellogg's other American brand episodes. I feel like
like Pineapple kind of ties in. Yeah, some of our
cocktail episodes. Possibly maybe our mocktail episodes.
Speaker 1 (04:10):
Oh yes, yes, yes, there's a lot of a lot
of things come into play in this one. And there
was there was a rabbit hole I almost went down
that was about the the battle between orange juice and
grape juice. So another thing to look into, absolutely, But
(04:31):
I guess this brings us to our question welches.
Speaker 2 (04:37):
What is it. Well. Welches is an American brand of
fruit based products, almost all of them processed and many
shelf stable, lots of juices and other drinks like gummy
fruit snacks, jams and jellies, et cetera. And I really
do mean et cetera here, Like they license their name
to all kinds of fruit related things. Their main to
(05:00):
fame is grape flavored drinks and foods, and specifically, in
terms of grapes, a couple of varieties of North American
cultivated grape, the Concord, which is like a rich flavored
black grape, and the Niagara, which is a kind of
like sharp white grape. Though yeah, they have all kinds
of flavors these days, but okay. The Welches brand is
(05:21):
long standing and marketed pretty heavily to kids, and has
traditionally been used as a non alcoholic option for American
Christian Communion ceremonies, and so therefore the brand and like
Concord flavor in particular, exist somewhere on this spectrum of
(05:41):
like nostalgic to cloying. I think for a lot of Americans,
Welches is way more American than apple pie, which I
don't mean as a compliment. I mean, I mean that
it is from here. It is Puritan in its bones,
(06:03):
it is industrially exacting, and it has turned into a
highly marketed machine producing product of questionable nutritional value. Welches
is like drinking America.
Speaker 1 (06:21):
Yes, and again I'm teasing it a lot, but the
way this history plays out that to me, that's yeah,
that's drinking America. There no spoilers.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
Okay, all right, you might be able to guess, but
given two pieces of information that you have already received.
But okay, So the Welch's brand is owned by the
National Grape Cooperative Association, which is this organization of the
family farms that grow the produce for most of the products.
So Welch's is like technically a processing and marketing subsidy
(07:00):
of this kind of huge farmers co op that operates
out of growing regions around the Great Lakes in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio,
and Michigan and then over in Washington State. They do
not just sell to consumers through grocery stores, but also
to food service industry as well, like schools, care centers
(07:20):
such as hospitals and senior living, and then also service
industry like hotels and restaurants. They do sell internationally, definitely.
They sell grape ingredients for processed foods. I'm not totally
sure that they sell finished consumer products. We've got a
(07:41):
good savor list of a lot of what they're currently
marketing in the US. Y'all are going to have to
let us know if you get different stuff elsewhere or
stuff at all. Yeah, yes, okay, who I love a list?
All right? All right, So they've got a line of
one hundred percent juice drinks. These are all like pasteurized
and shelf stable. Those include flavors like red grape concord,
(08:04):
grape concord, grape with either fiber or calcium, not both,
black cherry concord, grape, white grape, white grape, cherry white grape, peach, apple, orange,
and orange pineapple apple. Yes, they've got a line of
not one hundred percent juice drinks in flavors like orange, pineapple, apple, mango, pineapple, mango,
(08:27):
passion fruit, mango, twist fruit, punch, strawberry, kiwi, passion fruit, cranberry,
and grape generalized grape. They've got a line called grape Aid,
which is made of green grape juice and no added
sugar in flavors like strawberry and mango. They've got a
line of low calorie juices, light varieties of white grape
(08:49):
or concord grape. Those have like less sugar, and then
they've got diet concord grape or cranberry which are sweet
and vestavia. They have non shelf stable juices. What you've
got to buy juice from a refrigerator that's weird in
flavors like concord grape, passion, fruit, berry, pineapple, passion fruit, guava, pineapple, watermelon, lemonade,
and mango. Twist. The twist, by the way, is grape
(09:11):
and apple.
Speaker 1 (09:12):
That's the twist.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, it's not Aretan Johnson who done it, but it's
pretty close. They've got a line of sparkling juices in
like standards seven hundred and fifty mili liter like like
wine bottles, basically in flavors like strawberry, sangrea, cider, and
rose grape. Plus they've got some cute little like single
(09:36):
serving bottle four packs. Yeah, they have a line of
soda pop grape, strawberry, orange, pineapple, fruit punch, and berry.
No specification on the berry though, also a line of
sugar free powdered drink mixes, you know, like in those
like little individual sticks that you add to a glass
of water or a bottle of water. Yeah, not liquids
(10:00):
or perhaps thicker liquids like fruit spreads, jelly jam or
just spread in concord, grape and strawberry iterations. Varieties of snacks,
fruit snacks, flavored gelatin mixes, a couple types of frozen
pouch smoothies, and those like juice ice bars, you know
(10:20):
in those clear soft plastic tubes. Yeah. Around Easter there's
Welches jelly beans, and around Christmas there's fruity candy canes.
There are also Welches branded fresh fruit. They have blueberries
and strawberries, nectarines, peaches and plums, and then perhaps obviously
(10:40):
a bunch of varieties of grapes. Bunch is absolutely an
on purpose pun. You're welcome. Yeah, they have twenty twenty varieties.
Speaker 1 (10:52):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (10:53):
Yeah. And then yeah, in like a delicious and smores
level case of irony, they have a line of alcoholic
canned cocktails tagline Welch's Craft Cocktails. Kids have their crafts,
you have yours?
Speaker 1 (11:12):
WHOA, I know.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
That's uncool.
Speaker 1 (11:21):
Dang, I like to craft and have a craft beveridge,
thank you very much.
Speaker 2 (11:29):
Why not both?
Speaker 1 (11:31):
Why not? Oh?
Speaker 2 (11:35):
The flavors there are vodka, cranberry, vodka transfusion, which is
like a grape citrus, ginger passion fruit mohido that has
minted lime in it, and then a watermelon mule with
a ginger and lime and all four way in at
five point nine percent abb yep. And I will say that,
(11:56):
like a lot of the not juice or jam products
are actually produced by other companies in collaboration with or
license with the Welches brand. Yeah hmm interesting, Okay, Well
what about the nutrition, Ah, don't don't eat. Don't eat brands.
(12:20):
Definitely don't eat brands. As for the brand's products, ah
look sugar. Sugar is a sometimes food and processed fruit
products like juices and spreads and fruit snacks tend to
contain a lot of sugar without containing the mitigating like
fiber that whole fruit has. So watch your serving sizes,
(12:42):
Drink water, sometimes eat a vegetable that doesn't come from
a pouch if you can.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
Yes, yeah, yes, indeed, Well we do have some numbers
for you.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
We do the National Grape co Op comprises about six
hundred and seventy in visual farms, and together they harvest
about three hundred and twenty thousand tons of concord and
niagara grapes every year. The largest crop in company history
was in two thousand and five when they pulled four
(13:14):
hundred and fourteen thousand tons of grapes.
Speaker 1 (13:18):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
Yeah, yep. Welch's products are sold in about fifty countries
around the world. All right, here's a thing some of
y'all might remember that they had these these jelly jars,
glass jelly jars printed with characters on them from various things.
One woman out of Dover, New Hampshire had a collection
(13:43):
of three hundred and twenty of those jars as of
twenty fifteen. I didn't like follow up with her. I
read it in a news article. She might have more now,
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (13:56):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (13:57):
Yeah, they've done a couple of world record stunts. In
twenty fourteen, they achieved the record for the most people
stomping grapes. That was one two hundred and thirty two
people who stomped some sixty tons of concord grapes. This
was in honor of a new National Comedy Center being
(14:22):
built in Lucille Ball's hometown of Jamestown, New York, because
of that bed on I Love Lucy where she had
that iconic grape stomping scene. Yeah yeah. Bob Newhart headlined
the ensuing Evenings events, So there you go. And then
a couple years earlier, in twenty twelve, for Fenway Parks
(14:44):
one hundredth anniversary in Welch's home state of Massachusetts, they
set the record for the largest toast in one venue,
with thirty two, nine hundred and four attendees raising a
can of sparkling grape juice.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Oh wow, yeah, I thought you meant piece of toast,
and I immediately was like, obviously that is not what
it was.
Speaker 2 (15:09):
No, no, birst, buddy.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
That would have been so cool.
Speaker 3 (15:15):
Lauren.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
Yeah, if they had had the largest piece of toast
spread with uh, spread with jelly, with grape jelly, that
would have been That would have also been very celebratory.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
That's what I thought it was gonna be. I was
already my mind was racing with questions like how that
they toasted. Oh my gosh, but this is pretty cool.
So that's a large toast.
Speaker 2 (15:39):
That is a large toast, that's larger than any toast
I've attended because I wasn't there and that's the world record.
So yeah, well, there you go, Yes, there you go.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Well, after many many teasings of what's to come, we
have arrived at history section.
Speaker 2 (16:00):
But first we've arrived at a quick break for word
from our sponsors, and we're back.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you. So grapes different, terrifying,
multiple episodes.
Speaker 2 (16:19):
Oh many. Yeah, there's a lot of varieties and they're
from all over the place. And yep, I didn't even
let myself really go that far into concord grapes in
this one. So here we are.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yes, yes, we have talked about very basic grape history
in our wine episodes, but yeah, that's later us. Today
we'll deal with that one. Today we're talking about Welches, right.
Welches was founded in eighteen sixty nine by a teetotaler dentist,
(16:56):
Thomas Bramwell Welch and his son, Charles Vineland, New Jersey.
I have to say some people give his son different credits,
but we'll put him in the mix. Yeah. Thomas was
born in Glastonbury in eighteen twenty five and immigrated with
his father to the US in eighteen thirty four, he
went on to become a dentist. According to some it
(17:18):
was because of a he had throat issues, so he
decided to go into dentistry. Doctor Welch was also a
Methodist minister, and at the time Methodist didn't really condone
drinking alcohol. Welch didn't approve the fact that wine was
served during communion at all. Allegedly, he believed this so
(17:41):
firmly he refused to touch the vessels that served wine,
which was an issue given his role in the church.
And then also allegedly a man showed up to service
drunk off of wine and Welch was done. He was like,
this is it?
Speaker 2 (17:58):
This is it?
Speaker 1 (17:58):
No more?
Speaker 2 (17:59):
Yea, And I will say this was an issue for
more than just Welch at the time, you know, to
be fair like like the temperance movement was getting real big.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
Yes, yes it was. And to address this he decided
to come up with a grape juice that didn't ferment
when bottled. Hence the company.
Speaker 2 (18:20):
YEP and relatively new on the scene at the time,
were Concord grapes. They were developed around eighteen forty nine
by one Ephraim Whale's Bowl in Concord, Massachusetts, based on
this wild North American grape species, and it was just
a really popular new variety of grape in the American
Northeast by about the mid eighteen sixties. It was just
(18:42):
very well suited to the climate, really tasty, and apparently
the Welsh family had a few trellises of it in
their garden.
Speaker 1 (18:49):
So Welch got some of these Concord grapes. He filtered
them in his kitchen. He pasteurized them using the new
technique dell developed by Louis Pestor, and started bottling the
result in eighteen sixty nine. And at the time, pre refrigeration,
it was tricky to keep grape juice from fermenting.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
Oh yeah, as we've talked about in wine related episodes,
grape juice just loves fermenting, partially because yeasts that will
ferment it are pretty much always found growing on the
skin of the grapes, so they get into the juice
when you press the grapes without pasteurization and or refrigeration,
that's what it will do.
Speaker 1 (19:29):
Yes, But okay, so he's got this juice, he presents
it to his church and other churches. He explains it
and why they should use it instead of wine, but
he was generally shrugged off at first, with some even
labeling the whole thing is heresy. Yeah, and this lasted
(19:50):
for a bit. Over the next four years, Doctor Welch's
unfermented wine, as it was called, was unsuccessful and he
put it on the back burner in nineteen seventy three.
But still Welch was very involved in the temperance movement
and the idea was never far from his mind. Yeah, yeah,
and yes, it was on a lot of people's minds.
(20:11):
In eighteen seventy six, members of the Women's Christian Temperance
Union refused to accept the sacrament in church if it
involved wine.
Speaker 2 (20:21):
Yeah. Also right, Like Welch just wasn't really interested in
making the product a big thing. He was kind of
going like, yeah for church, right for church.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yeah. I do have to admit I love the title
unfermented wine. Yep, great because now knowing what happened in
like it's grape juice, I love it. Anyway, things started
to turn around when Welch's son and fellow dentist, Charles,
(20:55):
started marketing this product.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
He also really aimed it towards churches at first, giving
away samples for communion. One advertisement for the juice included
the line, if your druggist hasn't the kind that was
used in Galilee, containing not one particle of alcohol, write
us for prices. By the eighteen eighties and it worked.
By the eighteen eighties, Methodists had really taken up this
(21:20):
unfermented wine, this grape juice for communion.
Speaker 1 (21:24):
Right, And in eighteen ninety the company changed the name
to Doctor Welch's Grape Juice. Three years later, they debuted
their product at the Chicago World's Fair, and from there
it became a household name for many. Charles also marketed
it as a health tonic outside of church. Yes. When
(21:45):
black rot broke out in Vineland in eighteen ninety five,
hitting their grape crop, Welch relocated his operation to Westfield,
New York, the home of the Concord grape, which became
the primary grape used in Welch's products.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
By eighteen ninety seven, they had built their first plant
there and were processing three hundred tons of grapes a year.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Over the next few decades they really expanded. They were
pumping out a million gallons of juice a year by
nineteen oh nine, and within the next four years their
sales surpassed two million dollars. And yeah, as the Temperance
movement grew in influence, Welch's grape juice became a go
to substitute for wine. It was made from same grapes.
(22:32):
Some people thought so and close enough like in flavor
profile that people were like, yeah, I can do that.
US Secretary of State William Jennings Bryan served Welch's grape
juice for the visiting British ambassador at a dinner in
nineteen thirteen. I've heard there was some drama rum. Yes, yes,
(22:56):
Welch's grape juice replaced wine on Navy ships after alcohol
was banned that same year.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
Yeah, the company was running marketing materials, but the slogan
borrowed from the temperance movement. By nineteen fourteen, the lips
that touch Welches are all that touch mine, Okay.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
In nineteen eighteen, Welch has developed a grape jam called
grape aal aid grape blaid. Yeah, I want to say
grape alaid.
Speaker 2 (23:25):
But I think it's grapeal aid to rhyme with marmalade.
Speaker 1 (23:27):
Yeah, yeah, I think so that they sent over to
US soldiers serving in World War.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
One YEP, and by World War Two it was being
served alongside peanut butter and sliced bread in rations. So
although recipes for peanut butter and jelly do go back
to nineteen oh one, this is supposedly where the PBNJ
really took off from.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
I do have memories of like the little the small
little pockets, you know. Yeah. Welch's debuted their concord grape
jelly in nineteen twenty three. Welch's was acquired by American
National Company out of Nashville, Tennessee in nineteen twenty eight.
Speaker 2 (24:11):
In nineteen forty nine, amidst the new success of Minute
Mads frozen orange juice concentrate, Welch's released frozen grape juice concentrate.
So they were not the first, but pretty soon following after,
pretty quick on the uptake. Meanwhile, one Jack Kaplan had
started what would become the aforementioned National Grape Cooperative Association
(24:35):
in nineteen thirty three. It started as a corporation, but
he sold it to the growers working with him to
be run as a co op. The co op bought
out Welch's in nineteen fifty two, and this was the
first time that a Grower's Association had purchased what was
at that point a billion dollar food company. Around this time,
(24:56):
they started working on some really serious marketing campaign, like
they sponsored the Howdy Duty Show in nineteen fifty one,
which was a really big deal, And by nineteen fifty
four they had started printing those collectible glass jelly jars
with images of characters starting with the Howdy Duty Show.
A couple dozen different promotional tie in properties have been
(25:18):
featured on glass jars over the intervening decades, including Davy Crockett,
The Flintstones, Archie, Looney Tunes, Peanuts. I think there's been
some sports tie ins.
Speaker 1 (25:29):
Yeah, yes, And speaking of Welsh's appeared on The Mickey
Mouse Club in nineteen fifty five, the same year that
they opened a stand in Disneyland.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Okay, so this was in fantasy Land, and the stand
was themed with this mural and kind of kind of
vibe of the Centaur scene from Fantasia, Like remember like
the centaurs all get together with Bacchus and party, Yeah,
you know, the god of Bacchus. Apparently in the nineteen
(26:05):
seventies they served grape juice and like plastic cups shaped
like bunches of grapes. People have very fond memories of
this place, and the stand would stay open until fantasy
Land got a remodel in the early nineteen eighties. Wow,
Love It, Love It. The brand introduced a line of
freezer Isle jelly donuts in the nineteen seventies in flavors
(26:29):
like uh grape and apple raspberry. In nineteen eighty one,
they debuted these gnome like cartoon cartoon mascots called the Welchkins.
And these were like these little gnome guys that like that,
like used child labor to cheerfully produce one hundred percent
grape juice. One of the ads, one of the ads
(26:52):
is like is like wake up, it's time to harvest.
And the kids are like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
It's the middle of the.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Night, and he's like it it's the best pick in time.
Get to work.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Children like look what, Oh my gosh, how many children
did they traumatize? This is a question that one scared me.
The welch Kiins waking me up in the night like
it's time gids for what.
Speaker 2 (27:22):
Yeah, there's like there's like merch. There were dolls and
shirts and like sandwich tupperware things. Yeah, there was a
children's picture book about Welch published in two thousand and
five called Doctor Welch and the Great Grape Story.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
It's a good title, good time.
Speaker 2 (27:42):
In twenty fifteen, they were hit with a false advertising
lawsuit over their fruit snacks, claiming that the average consumer
would be tricked into thinking that these fruit snacks aren't
basically candy, which the suit says that they basically are.
As of December twenty twenty three, the suit was still ongoing.
(28:04):
I couldn't find an update after that, so I assume
it's still still in the works. Another class action lawsuit
filed in twenty twenty took issue with the specific labeling
language on some of their juices helps support or helps
promote a healthy heart due to you know, the effects
(28:26):
of sugar on cardiovascular health and diabetes risk. Welches denied
the claims are false, but wound up settling for one
point five million, which is a payout of one dollar
per product bought per person.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
WHOA.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
Yeah, if you feel like you were harmed in the suit,
I'm sorry it's already over. Your window has closed. And
then yeah, just in time for summer of twenty twenty four,
Welch's released those cantails they partnered with co Op Beverage Works.
(29:06):
It might be Coop. I think it's co Op Beverage Works,
which apparently also makes canned boozy drinks for the Sonic brand,
not like Sonic the Hedgehog, but Sonic the like drive in. Yeah,
oh no, you just went to seven different places now
which are good.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Now I'm on edge. All of those things are dangerous, Laura,
Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (29:37):
And yeah, in another corp Real corporate note, Their corporate
headquarters are in the process right now as of summer
of twenty twenty four, in the process of moving from
Concord to Waltham, Massachusetts. I didn't look up the pronunciation
of that second one, and I'm really sorry if I
got it wrong. I'm gonna roll with it, though.
Speaker 1 (29:55):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
The pr about it is that like it's moving to
a smaller space but a little bit more centrally located,
and they're pitching it as a move for like increased
growth to attract more Boston area talent.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
So don't know, hmm, we know people don't always react
well to that though. Yeah, well to me. When I
first sent this story to Larone, it was because I
knew the history of Welch's okay yeah, was based in
temperance and not drinking alcohol but apparently not even touching
(30:30):
a vessel in there. And so when I got the
like report that now they're making canned cocktails, which hilariously
are like, it's not wine.
Speaker 2 (30:39):
Oh no, it's not a total reversal, but.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
But it's almost kind of worse.
Speaker 3 (30:50):
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (30:51):
I think the context in which I got this report
was people were worried that kids would see.
Speaker 2 (30:58):
It sure and be like, oh welches, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:01):
Welch's grape juice. So it's just the same thing happened
with Graham. It does feel very American in terms of
it started as this, but we could make money doing
the opposite thing.
Speaker 2 (31:17):
Though, Yeah that's the American way.
Speaker 1 (31:24):
Yeah where's yeah, where's the money. But it did give
me a good laugh when I got the yea, the update.
Wait wait, well this is making cocktails. Yeah, so here
we are.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I I don't, I don't. I Graham was such a
very specific personality, and I feel I feel a lot
more shoden Freud about the reversal on Graham's product than
I do about the reversal on Welch's product. I mean, yeah, yeah,
but I didn't, to be very also didn't read a
whole lot about Welch's personal beliefs or what he was
(32:04):
preaching about other other than temperance.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
So yes, oh for sure, for sure. And and like
I am getting a little bit.
Speaker 2 (32:14):
Of a laugh out of this, but it's funny.
Speaker 1 (32:16):
Like I'm mad about it. I'm just it's just kind
of yeah, it's just kind of funny.
Speaker 3 (32:23):
I'm sorry for Welch if he's like rolling in his
grave somewhere, but.
Speaker 1 (32:28):
It is little.
Speaker 2 (32:29):
It is human. Pretty yeah, humans, What are we? What
are we getting up to? All kinds of things?
Speaker 1 (32:35):
Yeah, canned cocktails, well I haven't tried them, but you know, listeners,
if you have any nostalgic memories, if you have tried these, yeah,
these beverages.
Speaker 2 (32:50):
If you have a jelly jar collection, yes, yes, please
let us know. I think I might have found one
with bugs bunny. While I was cleaning out the kitchen
of the house that I bought because like a lot
of they left, like a lot of it was from
an estate sale, and the cupboards were still full of
a lot of things, and I think I found one
(33:13):
in there. I'll have to check.
Speaker 1 (33:15):
Could be worse, somebody, I know.
Speaker 2 (33:17):
It's not.
Speaker 1 (33:19):
There.
Speaker 2 (33:19):
Definitely no.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Well nostalgia then yes, yes, yes, we'll report back. Well,
we're back, but I believe that is what we have
to say about Welch's for now.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
Yes it is. We do already have some listener mail
for you, though, and we are going to get into
that as soon as we get back from one more
quick break for a word from our sponsors.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
We're back. Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and we're
back with Justo mode are. Most of my memories with
Welches is that it was too sweet for me? But yeah,
I'm sure I think I only had a berry specific
type of Welches juice. So I will not cast dispersions
(34:18):
on things I have not tried. Yeah, well all right,
wrote I'm always on the lookout to try and find
Nato around here. It is one of those things I
really want to try. I'm always game to try something
funky at least once. Funky foods can be all over
the spectrum. Potato salad, yes, it is one of those staples,
(34:41):
but also one of those dishes that just seems to
be really difficult to elevate. They are usually good, but
nothing really stands out. My wife makes the recipe her
mom made, which is the vinegar one, and that is
definitely one of my favorites. A tank from the vinegar
really picks it up. I like it when it is
warm shortly after making, or after it has had a
(35:03):
chance to sit for a day. Then that tang really
hits well on the listener mail front. Michael nailed it
on the head with the laughter. It is wonderful to
just hear you enjoying things and having fun. Don't ever
change that. Kelsey mentioning the ramen salad, that version sounds interesting.
The only one I've had is like the one Annie's
mom made chopped cabbage, drag noodles and a few other items.
(35:26):
Shows that ramen is versatile. Oh it is thank you
to everybody who's sent in because I lamented I'd been
eating so much ramen, and people sent in a bunch
of recipes for me.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
Oh yay.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
And then after that I researched this recipe my mom made,
and listeners you can write in and confirm. But it
seems like it's a pretty big Midwestern like pot look thing. Okay, yeah,
so I'm kind of curious how she got the recipe,
but she she wasn't too. It was we talked about
(36:01):
in our cookbook episodes. She she was always perusing like
magazines and yeah, recipes, So I just thought it was
interesting when I was when she first made it, I
was like, what is this. I've never heard of this,
I've never seen this, but apparently, yeah, it's a pretty
big thing. I can't uh yeah. Also fighting words, I
(36:23):
hope people who love potato salad are yeah, get in trouble.
Speaker 2 (36:27):
And I'm I'm sure that someone I mean, oh gosh,
I'm sure there's someone out there who's made like lobster
truffle potato.
Speaker 1 (36:34):
Salad oh with gold leaf. I am absolutely sure.
Speaker 2 (36:40):
Yeah, yes, yeah, yeah. For me, it's usually just like
if you get one of the good vinegary ones, it
has some good bacon grease in it.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
I'm just like, yeah, yeah, you know, I feel like
it can it can be the standout, but a lot
of times it's like the best support frint. It's like
the one that's like, I'm gonna make this whole thing better.
Speaker 2 (37:04):
Just by Yeah, I'm gonna bring the whole plate together. Yeah, totally.
Speaker 1 (37:10):
Salad.
Speaker 2 (37:10):
I still haven't gotten any okay, all right, anyway, Christine wrote,
this is another long one, suckers. I was extremely excited
to see the title of the bone marrow episode pop
up in my notifications because I love beef bone marrow.
It is my favorite part of the cow and I
love cows. Sheet marrow is quite fine as well. My
(37:31):
favorite recipe is also buco paired with a risotto a
la milanaise. Why interfere with the classics? However, I also
have a recipe for a fruit and custard tart from
fifteenth century England that features bone marrow. You line a
tartshell with roughly chopped dates and prunes, then put chunks
of bone marrow on top of the fruit. This is
baked until the marrow melts. Then an egg and cream
(37:52):
custard is carefully poured into the tart. Sugar is sprinkled
on top, and the tart is baked until the custard
has set. The end product is not too sweet and
a beautiful savory richness. If doing a medieval feast, it's
a good dish to serve in the first course to
follow the medieval trend of serving sweet and savory dishes together.
Bone marrow could be added to the filling of pies
(38:12):
and pastries to add extra flavor and moisture, particularly if
the filling uses a lean meat. I found this at
a number of fifteenth and sixteenth century German recipes, and
I'll have to look for other places using this technique.
An Australian having to research pie recipes. Oh, the torture.
I found another sixteenth century German fig pie recipe consisting
of dried figs, bone marrow, spices and wine. I think
(38:36):
I shall have to try this and flatten flatbreads sure
covered with a mix of beef mints, bone marrow, cheese,
eggs and spices before baking. Oh you might wonder why
the concentration on German recipes. It was your mention of
German breaded bone marrow balls. This got me excited because
(38:57):
breaded fried bone marrow fritters might just be better than
fried chicken. I have actually tried a Heston Blumenthal recipe
for something similar, but it was extremely complicated. No really,
I googled for German bone marrow recipes and found a
bone marrow dumpling soup delicious, but not what I was
looking for. Still, your description of breaded bone marrow balls
(39:17):
called to mind a class of recipes from sixteenth century
Germany called bachan balls or fritters. One much loved recipe
gives you a historical equivalent of chicken nuggets. Or you
could try cheese baccan, and you can eat either hot
or cold. Sadly, I haven't turned up any recipes for
bone marrow bacan, and I only have a limited collection
(39:38):
of translated German cooking texts, but I know people who
do and who can read and translate them, and if
nothing else, I suppose I can always adapt the Thermo
mix bone marrow fritters recipe.
Speaker 1 (39:52):
Oh oh, my good gosh, all of this sounds so good.
All of this, Yes, yes, I love this. I love
the history. Once again, thank you. Yeah, these dishes I
hadn't heard of. I did try to find. I've tried
to find bel Meron. Then I tried to find Osabuko.
(40:14):
I have found some places that have it. So i'm
i'm I'm You're on your way, Okay, I'm all my way,
I'm all my way. I do feel you in terms
of having to research uh oh yeah, oh no, right, yeah, yeah,
I did have a friend of mine who listens to
(40:36):
the show. She she texted me the other day and
was like, why do you always give me these cravings?
And I was like, how do you think? Are FO
a little astramatic than that?
Speaker 2 (40:47):
But yeah, yeah, no, that's I mean, we do it
to ourselves basically every episode, so that.
Speaker 1 (40:53):
Yeah, yes, But all of this, Oh sounds so good
because I really think I've only had it in kind
of you eat it out at the bone, put it
on toast. I don't think I've ever really ventured out.
Speaker 2 (41:06):
Yeah, I don't believe, aside from I've had a go before.
But yeah, I think that's basically it. I'm also quite
intrigued about Sheet Marrow, and because I hadn't, I kind
of glossed over animals other than beef in the episode,
and now I'm curious about whether, like Sheep and Goat,
(41:27):
Marrow taste a little bit like sheep and Goat, which
I can only assume that they would that kind of
Barney game me sort of sort of taste. Yeah, so
so curious.
Speaker 1 (41:39):
Yeah, right in let us know. Yeah, Well, thanks to
both the Beast listeners for writing in if you would
like to write to us, you can our emails Hello
at savorpod dot com.
Speaker 2 (41:50):
We're also on social media. You can find us on Twitter,
Facebook and Instagram at saver pod and we do hope
to hear from you. Savor is production of by Heart Radio.
For more podcasts by Heart Radio so you can visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our super producers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots more good things are coming
(42:11):
your way.
Savor News
Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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