HISTORY OF BEVERAGE

Brief History of Carbonated Soft Drink Industry

2009-10-22T01:58:00.000-07:00

Brief History of Carbonated Soft Drink Industry
The history of the carbonated soft drink market is an interesting one that sheds some light on the industry structure and conduct of today.

The first marketed (noncarbonated) soft drinks actually appeared in the seventeenth century (they were made from water and lemon juice sweetened with honey).

In Paris, vendors carried tanks of lemonade on their backs and dispensed cups to customers on the streets.

Carbonated soft drinks date back to the mineral water found in natural springs – scientist discovered that carbon dioxide was behind the bubbles in natural mineral water.

Over time, scientists and entrepreneurs devised various methods for adding carbonation to beverages.

In 1767, the first drinkable man made glass of carbonated water was created by Dr. Joseph Priestly in the United Kingdom.

In 1798, the term soda water was first coined, and in 1810, the first U.S patent was issued for the “means of mass manufacturer of imitation mineral waters” to Simon and Rudnell of Charleston, South Carolina.

However, carbonated beverages did not achieve great popularity in America until the 1830s, when an easily mass manufactured apparatus for making carbonated water was created and offered for sale and soda fountain owners.

By 1920, the US census had reported that over 5,000 bottlers were in operation.

The first ginger ale was created in Ireland in 1851, the first root beer was mass produced for public sale in 1876, the first cola-flavored beverage was introduced in 1881, and the first “no-cal” beverage was introduced in 1952.

By the 1950s, American pharmacies with soda fountains became a popular part of culture and persisted en masses until the late 1960s.

Overtime, customers soon wanted to take their “health” drinks home with them and soft drinks bottling industry grew from consumer demand.

Today, the interplay between the “Big Three ” players (Coca-cola, Pepsi-cola and Cadbury Schweppes) on the manufacturing side, the bottles on the distribution end, the retailers downstream and the end-use consumers is a complex and ever-evolving maze of horizontal and vertical relationship that requires a deep understanding od the players as well as the dynamic interactions across each.
Brief History of Carbonated Soft Drink Industry

Short History of Yoghurt

2009-09-28T16:58:00.000-07:00

Short History of Yoghurt
It is believed that the ancient Turkish people in Asia, where they loved as nomads, first made yoghurt.

The first Turkish name for this product appeared in the eighth century as “yoghurut,” and the name was subsequently changed in the eleventh century to its present spelling.

One legend tells that an angle brought down a pot that contained the first yoghurt, while another source claims that the ancient Turks who were Buddhists, used to offer yoghurt to the angles and stars who protected them.

According to historian, yoghurt originates from Balkans. The inhabitants of Thrace used to make soured milks called “prokish” from sheep’s milk, which later became yoghurt.

In Bibles, it is recorded that when the patriarch Abraham entertained three angels, he put before them soured and sweet milk.

The ancient Greeks and Romans were also acquainted with preparations of soured milk.

The biography of Roman Emperor Elagabalus (204-222 A.D) mentions two recipes for soured milk.

Ancient physicians of the Near an Middle East prescribed yoghurt or related soured milks for curing disorders of the appetite.

Records also exist o the use of soured milks particularly yoghurt for preservation of meat spoilage during the summer.

Earlier writers of the Middle East mentioned the use of soured milks as cosmetics for Persian women.

One of the first industrial productions of yoghurt in Europe was undertaken by Danone in 1922 at Madrid, Spain. After World War II and particularly since 1950, the technology of yoghurt and understanding of its proteins have already advanced rapidly.
Short History of Yoghurt

History of Technology: Soft drink

2009-09-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

History of Technology: Soft drink
Technology certainly played a large part in the growth of soft drinks in the second half of the twentieth century.

The development of cans, plastic bottles high speed packaging lines and improvement to distribution systems have been largely responsible for the increase in availability, the decrease in real term cost and the resultant increase in consumption.

The advent of of railways and large steam ships in the 1800s made transportation feasible and indeed drinks were exported from the UK to the USA as early as 1800.

The export trade continued to expand and by the mid-1800s significant trade was being done with far corners of the Empire.

This must have involved considerable cost and on a domestic basic the trade was on a much more local scale.

The industry evolved as a multitude of local businesses operating in a small geographical area, though some larger companies operated several production plants in different parts of the country.

The UK Bottlers; Year Book 1933 listed more than 2000 soft drink manufacturing companies but by 1983 the list had shrink to less than 400, and the number is now down to less than 100.

Likewise the number of bottling plants in the USA grew to reach a peak of 7920 in 1929, remaining fairly constant until around 1950 and then halved to 3727 by 1965 as improved productivity and distribution started to have a significant effect.

This having of the number of bottling plant took place over a period in which per capita consumption rose by over 60%.

The growth of cans and PET bottles at the expense of returnable glass has played a significant part in this continuing productivity improvement, which has been truly amazing.

As recently as 20 years ago a typical returnable glass bottle line producing, 300 bottles/min, required about 25 operating personnel.

Highly automated PET bottle blowing and filling operations have also improved production efficiencies significantly.

Other factors contributing to improved operational/ distribution efficiencies (both in time and cost) include:

Use of shrink wrap in place of crates or boxes
Micro-processor controlled equipment, for example, for palletisation
Automated syrup room operations
Centralized computer-controlled warehousing systems
Automated bar-coding and traceability systems

History of Technology: Soft drink

History of Tea: Tea For Everyone

2009-08-25T05:54:00.000-07:00

History of Tea: Tea For Everyone
In 1878, Samuel Phillips Day wrote in his book Tea: Its mystery and History, of the working class family: “What was first regarded s a luxury, has now become, of not an absolute necessity, at least one of our accustomed daily wants....Consumed by all classes, serving no simply as an article of diet, but as a refreshing ad invigorating beverage tea cannot be too highly estimated.”

By the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, tea was the drink for the masses in England, Tea’s importance to the lower classes was exemplified by the women in small villages who sometimes banded together to form “tea club”.

The purpose of these clubs was to get together in the afternoon and share tea, gossip, advice and the like.

When the money was scarce they shared responsibilities as well, one woman bringing the tea, another the biscuits or small breads, another bringing the teapot and so forth.

Tea was served in the finest manor houses as well as the humblest cottage. Tea was served after lawn tennis, on picnics after cycling – just about anywhere and everywhere that people gathered.

Afternoon tea during the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century included many of the items that we traditionally associated with modern tea gatherings – scones or biscuits, éclairs, small cakes or muffins, small sandwiches, shortbreads, an larger cakes flavored with almond, ginger, or madeira.

How one drink tea soon became as important as when and with what.

Ladies of high fashion thought that a teacup should be held with three fingers, with the pinky extended.

This tradition went back to medieval times, when the gentry ate with three fingers, and commoners ate with five.

An extended pinky finger became a mark of elitism and is still parodied as such today.

One custom that was not adopted by the British was the Chinese was of loudly slurping tea.

The Chinese drank tea very hot, and it was perfectly acceptable (and even encouraged) to make loud slurping noises while drinking.

The Temperance movement in England during the mid-nineteenth century provided a added incentive for drinking.

At meetings throughout the country, tea was served as a replacement for gin or beer and was thought to be much healthier because it did not contain alcohol.
History of Tea: Tea for Everyone

A brief History of Soft Drinks

2009-08-23T03:40:00.000-07:00

A brief History of Soft Drinks
It could perhaps be argued that Hippocrates planted the first seeds of the soft drinks industry when he wrote that mineral waters might bring health benefits.

However, he and other ancient Greeks and Romans used them, instead for relaxation and bathing.

Indeed, it was centuries later that the term “soda water” was coined in 1798.

The first patent for imitation mineral waters was issued in 1810, and they came to be considered the “health drinks” of the 19th century.

By the 1930s, pharmacists were experimenting with adding such ingredients as barks and flowers to enhance these perceived benefits, and the result was the first series of flavored sodas, including root beet, lemon and ginger ale.

Root beer was first produced for wide public sale, primarily in soda fountains, in 1876 and cola in 1881.

In 1885, Charles Aderton introduced Dr. Pepper; in 1886, John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola and in 1898, Caleb Bradham formulated Pepsi-Cola.

By early 1920s, soft drinks were sold in six packs for home consumption and in automatic vending machines.

From 1970 to 1997, production of regular, sweetened soft drinks in the United States increased from 22.2 to 41.4 gallons per person per year and the production of diet soft drinks increased from 2.1 to 11.6 gallons per person per year.

These amounts mean that the annual per capita supply of 12 ounce soft drinks in the United States is equivalent to 442 and 124 diet drinks; a cumulative total of 566 cans of soft drinks per person each year.
A brief History of Soft Drinks

Brief History of Alcohol

2009-08-13T07:57:00.000-07:00

Brief History of Alcohol
People have had a love affair with alcohol for a long time. Clay tables with cuneiform writing dating back to 2000 BC tell stories of beer and wine being used for sacramental purposes as well as pleasure.

The most readily available local material – dates, almonds, grapes, palms, pineapples, corn, rye, barley, roses, pears and apples – were fermented to produce these early drinks.

Fruit juices became wines, grains turned into beers and fermented honey into mead. Later, both fruits and grains became distilled spirits, liquor and liqueurs.

Finally, herbs were often added and this enticing liquid was used as medicine.

During the Middle Ages, European monks perfected these herbal libations, keeping their recipes a secrete for centuries.

In most parts of the world, early fermented beverages were more nutritional and safer than drinking the local waters. Liquor survived long sea journey in barrels.

The first immigrants to America carried this mistrust of water with them.

Drinking alcohol was commonplace and the familiar English pub was transformed into the American tavern.

Not only did taverns serve as a way station for travelers, but local meeting places as well, including holding religious services.

The honey atmosphere of the tavern was the source of all of the local news and gossip.

In fact, taverns were required by law in most of the Colonies.

Land grants and tax exemptions were granted to tavern owners, and the local tavern owner usually received the only newspaper in Colonial towns.

Taverns were as bars are today, centers of cultural and intellectual discoveries.

Many famous Americans owned drinking establishments: Ethan Allen, John Adams, William Penn, Andrew Jackson, even Lincoln has a license for a tavern.

At any time during our history bars and saloons have played a part.

In the 1950s, people gathered at bars to watch a new invention called television.

In the 1970s, they came to see large screen TVs, and in the 1980s, TV programs from around the world, obtained direct from satellites.

Today, taverns and local neighborhood bars have continued in popularity for individuals in all walks of life.

As our society has become more complex and diversified so has the concept of the local tavern and neighborhood pub. Although they continued to be places for people to exchange ideas, larger drinking establishments offering a variety of atmospheres and clientele have evolved.

Bars also provide us with the entertainment for listening or dancing.

To attract and keep a certain clientele, some bar owners offer total entertainment centers featuring the latest technological advances in audio and visual sensations. Obviously, this type of bar, costs millions of dollars a year to operate.

Alcohol has been a part of man’s diet for several thousand years. The earliest written records date back to almost 2000 BC. Today’s bars are sophisticated entertainment centers offering hundreds of choices of alcoholic beverages, afar cry from the fermented grapes stored in goats’ stomachs and unfired clay vessels of yesteryear.
Brief History of Alcohol

The Origin of Milking

2009-07-18T04:09:00.000-07:00

The Origin of Milking
For million of years, breast milk has been the first beverage. Replacement with animal milk carried tremendous implications and potential nutritional advantages.

The first irrefutable evidence for milking domesticated livestock and, by implication, human use of milk and the manufacture of dairy products, dates to approx 4000 BCE and is based on Stone Age rock art produced in the central Sahara region of Africa.

By 1500 BCE, milk use was widely distributed, and in India, many of milk’s qualities and already been described in the Charaka-Samhita.

“Cow milk has ten properties: sweet, cold, soft, fatty, viscous, smooth, slimy, heavy, dull and clear. Buffalo milk is heavier and colder than that from cow; useful to cure sleeplessness and excessive digestive power. Camel milk is rough, hot, slightly saline, light and prescribed for hardness in the bowels, works against worms... Milk from one-hooved animals (donkey; horse) is hot slightly, sour, saline, rough, light, promotes strength, stability, alleviates vata in extremities, Goat milk is astringent...”

Anthropologists, geographers and physicians have written on the physiologic and dietary implications of human using animal milk and use or nonuse o flavored particular societies.

With our ability to feed grass to livestock and the use of milk in its raw form or as fermented cheese, humans expanded into new areas of habitation and increased population density.

The majority of other human populations, following the standard mammalian pattern – lose the ability to maintain lactase production and therefore, cannot digest animal milks easily, a pattern evidenced by most Asians, West Africans, Southern European Mediterraneans and most Central and Southern American.

However, some human populations now maintain lactase production throughout their lives, a physiologic characteristic that links peoples and cultures as diverse as east African cattle pastoralist (the Masai, Suk, and Turkana) with northern European Scandinavians (e.g., Danes, Norwegian and Swedes).

Different cultures have widely diverging regarding the suitability of animal milks as human foods or beverages.

For some, it is question of identification: because animal milks are for the young of specific animal, it is wrong to mix these foods because the consumer may take on characteristics or the animal.
The Origin of Milking

The Story of Martini

2009-07-04T21:43:00.000-07:00

The Story of Martini
As modern mixed drinks go, the martini is pretty old. It probably originated as the Martinez, which was invented in San Francisco during the wild Gold Rush years by a celebrated local bartender named Jerry Thomas.

Purists who advocate a dry martini take note: Thomas’s recipe was anything but dry. It consisted of four parts vermouth to one part Old Tom (sweet gin) – practically a mirror opposite of today’s drink and it also sported a dash of bitters and two dashes of maraschino liqueur in addition to the vermouth.

By the 1920s, the Martinez had become the martini, but even a “standard” martini, 1920s-style, went pretty heavy on the vermouth: four parts gin to one part vermouth.

And if the opinion of literary scholar Bernard DeVoto is given credence, the standard had not changed much by 1949.

In that year, DeVoto published a classic essay on the martini in Harper’s, decreeing the perfect ratio as 3.7 parts gin to 1 part vermouth.

Even in the 1940s – and one suspects, earlier as well – there were champions of the truly dry martini.

Gin to vermouth rations of 12 to 1 and 20 to 1 were proposed. Sir Winston Churchill, who had strong opinions about everything from how best to deal with Herr Hitler to the proper placement of prepositions, believed that a dry martini should be prepared by merely casting a glance toward an unopened bottle of vermouth while pouring the gin into the mixing glass.

And speaking of mixing, there is the controversy over whether the drink should be stirred or shaken. Agent 007, of course has always insisted on having his martini “shaken, not stirred.”
The Story of Martini

The Earliest Wine

2009-06-24T23:41:00.000-07:00

The Earliest Wine
Perhaps 8,000 to 10,000 years ago was discovered that when fruit (or grain, milk or rice) was fermented, the results tasted good, made one happy – or both.

The bible mentions wine consumption in both the Old and the New Testaments.

With all alcohol’s benefits and hazards, it was a universal feature of early civilizations.

At least one legend claims that wine was discovered accidently, by a neglected member of a Persian king’s harem. She attempted to end her loneliness by ending her life drinking from a jar marked “Poison.”

It contained grapes that had fermented. She left so much better drinking the liquid that she gave a cup of it to the king, who named it “the delightful poison” and welcomed her back into active harem life.

Early people all over the world fermented anything that would ferment: honey, grapes, grain, dates, rice, sugarcane, milk, palms, peppers, berries, sesame deeds pomegranates.

Almost all of the world’s wines (the ones made from grapes, that is) can be traced to a single Eurasia grape species, Vitus vinifera.

Gapes were being cultivated as early as 6,000 B.C in the Middles East and Asia.

The Egyptians, Phoenicians and Chinese were all tending their vines at about the same time.

It is believed that the ancient Greeks got their viticulture knowledge from Egyptians, and began to make wine about 2,000 B.C.

Historians continue to debates the exact date origin of the term wine, but there is wide agreement that the Hittite characters that spell wee-on are probably the first recorded word for win, which derived from the Latin vinum and is further traced to the ancient Greek oinos.

Indeed, the Greek term oinos logo (“wine logic”) is the origin of the modern word for the study of wine: enology (the US spelling) or oenology (the British spelling).
The Earliest Wine

Early Investment in Lager Beer Production

2009-05-17T17:22:00.000-07:00

Early Investment in Lager Beer Production
The production of lager beer was begun in 1847 by the Copenhagen brewer J.C Jacobsen (who inherited one of the traditional breweries) as the new Carlsberg brewery situated on the outskirts of the city.

Despite earlier experiments elsewhere, Jacobsen was the first to achieve commercial success. Others soon followed his lead.

New lager beer were established in the 1850s – in some cases after the staff had been trained at Carlsberg – and often Jacobson supplied the yeast for the first brewing.

From the beginning, lager beer production was highly profitable.

Even in the late 1870s, when the Danish economy experienced a general recession demand was such that some brewers were forced to ration sales.

The buoyant market, coupled with falling sales of hvidtol, stimulated a significant investment boom in lager beer production during 1878 – 83.

Most of the investment was in Copenhagen which accounted for approximately 75 percent of lager beer output and a slightly smaller share of consumption.

Until 1878 there were only five lager beer breweries in the city, but during the period 1878 – 83 five of the larger old established hvidtol breweries joined then in producing lager beer.

At the same tome Carlsberg invested heavily in additional plant and three further new lager beer breweries were established.

The change in production, even at established breweries, demanded substantial investment, especially in the provision of extensive cool cellars for fermentation and maturing at the correct low temperatures.

By the early 1880s, Carlsberg controlled no less than 46 – 48 per cent of the total Danish lager beer market.

Tuborg, established on 1873 in an attempt to emulate Norwegian successes in exporting bottled strong beer overseas, saw its market share increase from 7 to 9 percent between 1881 ad 1887.

The company’s founder had expected Carlsberg to dominate the domestic market, but rapidly rising demand persuaded the management to specialize in selling barrels of lager beer ready for bottling.

In comparison, Albani, the largest provincial brewery, and together with Carlsberg, the only one to rely exclusively on lager beer production, held 3 – 5 percent of the market.

Most investment around 1880 was into well established lager brewing technologies; more and bigger cellars for fermentation and maturing, more steam boilers and engines.

Carlsberg, however, introduced mechanical cooling in place of natural ice, using steam driven machines made by Carl v. Linde of Augsburg.
At the same times, malting capacity at Carlsberg was increased by the erection of a pneumatic box malting of the type patented in 1878 by Jacobson’s partner, E. Kogsbolle.

The new malting created the need for more barley-drying capacity and in 1878-79 Carlsberg became the first Danish brewery to erect a Noback & Fritze tower drying-kiln.
Early Investment in Lager Beer Production

History of Chocolate as a Drink

2009-04-27T19:08:00.000-07:00

History of Chocolate as a Drink
The first known cocoa plantations were established by the Maya in the lowlands of south Yucatan about 600 AD.

Cocoa trees were being grown by Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru when the Europeans discovered central America.

The bean were highly prized and used as money as well as to produce a drink known as chocolatl.

The beans were roasted in earthenware pots and crushed between stones, sometimes using decorated heated tables ad mill stones.

They could then be kneaded into cakes, which could be mixed with cold water to make a drink.

Vanilla, spices or honey were often added and the drink whipped to make it frothy. The Aztec Emperor Montezeuma was said to have drink 50 jars of this beverage per day.

Christopher Columbus bought back some coca beans to Europe as a curiosity, but it was only after the Spaniard conquered Mexico that Don Cortez introduced the drink to Spain in the 1520s.

Here sugar was added to overcome some of the bitter, astringent flavors, but the drinks remained virtually unknown in the rest of Europe for almost a hundred years, coming to Italy in 1606 and France in 1627.

It was very expensive and being a drink for the aristocracy, its spread was often connected to connections between powerful families.

For example the Spanish princess, Anna of Austria, introduced it to her husband King Louis XIII of France and the French court in about 1615. Here Cardinal Richelieu enjoyed it both as a drink to aid his digestion.

Its flavors was not liked by every one and one pope in fact declared that it could be drunk during fast, because it taste was so bad.

The first chocolate drinking houses were established in London in 1657 and it was mentioned in Pepys’s Diary of 1664 where he wrote that ‘jocolatte’ was ‘very good’.

In 1727 milk was added to the drink. This invention is generally attributed to Nicholas Sanders.

During the 18th century White’s Chocolate House became the fashionable place for young Londoners, while politicians of the day went to the Cocoa Tree Chocolate House.

One problem with the chocolate drink was that it was very fatty. Over half of the cocoa bean is made up of cocoa butter. This was melt in hot water making the cocoa particles hard to disperse as well as looking unpleasant because of fat coming to the surface.

The Dutch, however, found a way of improving the drink by removing part of this fat. In 1828 Van Houten developed the cocoa press.

This was quite remarkable, as his entire factory was manually operated at the time. The cocoa bean cotyledons (known as cocoa nibs) were pressed to produce a hard ‘cake’ with about half the fat removed.

This was milled into a powder, which could be used to produce a much less fatty drink. In order to make this powder disperse better in the hot water or milk, the Dutch treated the cocoa beans during the roasting process with an alkali liquid.

This has subsequently become known as the Dutching process. By changing the type of alkalizing agent, it also became possible to adjust the color of the cocoa powder.
History of Chocolate as a Drink

High and Low Tea

2009-04-20T10:24:00.000-07:00

High and Low Tea
With the growth in popularity of serving tea to friends and family, inevitably, a new set of rules also came into being. “Tea etiquette” became the rage, and new conventions and a new vocabulary quickly evolved.

There were many different kinds of meals and occasions that were called “tea”. Today the terms “low tea” and “high tea” are often used incorrectly in the United States.

A formal affair, “low tea” was called this because the tea and food were served on low tables next to armchairs on which the guests were seated.

“High tea,” on the other hand, indicated and still does a less formal, family affair served at 5.30 or 6.00, when workers returned from the field and children were home from school.

High tea, also sometimes called “meat tea.” Was much more substantial meal served on a kitchen or dining table, and included savory meats, soups, puddings and sweets and lots of robust tea.

High tea, the referred not to “high society” but to the height of the table.

“At home tea” and “tea receptions” were huge social events that often included as many as two hundred guests.

People customarily dropped by anytime between four and seven in the evening to enjoy bountiful displays of food and tea.
High and Low Tea

History of Softdrinks Packaging

2009-04-13T19:29:00.000-07:00

History of Softdrinks Packaging
Waters from natural springs were recognized as being safe (even healthy) to drink from earliest times and were transported by wherever means that were available.

Naturally carbonated waters were collected into earthenware containers which were tightly sealed with cork and wax, usually not very successfully.

The used of earthenware bottles proved to be unsatisfactory for the more highly carbonated aerated mineral waters and they were soon replaced by glass bottles.

Many of the early glass bottles had round bottoms ensuring that they were stored on their side, thereby keeping the corks moist and so preventing leakage from corks drying out.

The manufacture of glass bottles was a skilled job as they were hand blown.

Although some semi-automation had been introduced earlier, the first patent for an automatic glass bottle blowing machine was granted to Michael J. Owens in the USA in 1904.

High pressure generated inside bottles by the carbonation caused frequent leakage and although improved by wiring-in-place, corks were generally unsatisfactorily. Many alternative forms of seals were patented over the years and these fell broadly into three main categories:

Wire and rubber sealing devices were especially popular in the USA until the early 1900s. The wire could be either an internal spring form, which held a seal in place on the inside of the neck, or of the external ‘swing’ type, in which an external wire frame was used to hold a ceramic plug in place against a rubber seal. First patented by Charles de Quillfeldt in 1874, this latter type is still currently in use for some specialty.

Variations on the theme of using an internal ball made from rubber, ebonite or glass were developed and used with varying degrees of success. The ball was held in place by the internal pressure. The most successful of these was patented by Hiram Codd of London. His bottle was widely used in the UK from 1870s until the 1930s. A similar bottle, but with a floating rubber ball acting as seal, was patented in the USA by S. Twitchell in 1883.

The third popular alternative was the internal screw top bottle. Unlike today’s bottle, the thread was on the inside of the bottle neck and an ebonite or wooden stopper screwed on to the neck, with a rubber washer being used to improve the seal. These types of stoppers were in common usage well into the 1950s in the UK. Ebonite, an early type of plastic resin material soon replaced wood, which has a tendency to absorb moisture, causing it to swell and crack the bottle neck.

A major step forward in sealing development was made by William Painter, who in 1895 patented the ‘Crown Cork’, founding the Crown Cork and Seal Company in 1 April 1892. Although initially slow to gain acceptance for two reasons:

The existing large capital investment in returnable bottles and bottling plant, and

The need for a tool to remove the crown, the crown cork eventually became popular, especially for small single serve and beer bottles. Screw stopper retained their popularity for the larger bottles where re-sealability was important.

Except for specialty earthenware ginger beer containers, glass bottles were the only form of packaging for carbonates for over hundred years until the introduction of cans in the 1960s. Then, just as the second half of the nineteenth century had been ‘boom-time’ for product development, the second half of the twentieth century became ‘boom time’ for packaging and distribution of development.
History of Softdrinks Packaging

Grape Juice and Wine

2009-04-06T03:51:00.000-07:00

Grape Juice and Wine
Ancient Egyptian inscription indicate that the grape was grown there in 2375 B.C. Murals to Egyptian tombs carry depictions of grape vines, grape harvesting, and trampling to obtain the juice.

By way of classical Greece and later Rome, the grape vine expanded into all the lands of Europe and North Africa where it will grow.

The Greeks cultivated the grape vine wherever they went; Italy, north Africa, southern France and southern Spain, including the best known wine regions of the world, Bordeaux and Burgundy. The Greeks called Italy the Land of Vines.

Romans grew different varieties and appreciated their diversity. Grapes were grown on trees and trellises, preferentially on terraced hills and banks surrounding river valleys. Romans aged wine in barrels, which they invented. Before then it had been kept in earthenware amphorae.

Grape juice changes naturally into wine when sugar fermenting yeast is present. When grapes are crushed with the skins, yeast comes in contact with the juice. It grows in the juice, using the sugar as its source of energy, and in process transforms the sugar into alcohol and carbon dioxide.

Alcohol in high concentrations is toxic, and when it reaches a certain level (between 12 and 14 percent), most strains of yeasts cannot grow any more. The wine is now ready. It is young wine and tastes very much likes grape juice alcohol. When the first fermentation is completed (sometimes even before), and especially if the wine is in a warm palace and exposed to the air, special bacteria start growing on the alcohol and transforming it into acetic acid. The wine spoils and turns to vinegar.

Since remotest antiquity, the principal problem was not to make wine but to keep it from spoiling. In classical Greece wines were drunk young and most were probably vinegary. To counter the acid taste a variety of methods were employed. Greeks learned that air speeds up the spoiling process. Amphorae had narrow necks to reduce the contact of wine with air, and they were kept tightly stoppered.

Because air could penetrate earthenware surfaces, the Greeks line their amphorae with resin. This preserved wine for use in commerce. The Romans took a step forward when they invented wooden barrels. They could be stoppered better than amphorae, and the oak imparted flavor from the wine. Some Roman wines apparently kept very well. There are reports of vintages that lasted to a hundred years.
Grape Juice and Wine

History of 7-Up Name Origin

2009-02-28T21:13:00.001-08:00

History of 7-Up Name Origin
In the village of Price’s Branch, Missouri, a Mr C.L. Griggs invented popular orange drink in 1920 called Howdy.

Aiming to improve on it, Griggs marketed another drinks as Bib-label Lithiated lemon-Lime Soda.

The drink was tasty but the sales were bad (with that name, hardly surprising), so he tried to think of a better name.

The story goes that after sox tries he came up with ‘7-Up’, and this was the name that made the drink the bestseller it is today.

No doubt the association with the card game seven-up helps in the game the trump card is a turned-up card and there is a fixed total of seven points to win.
History of 7-Up Name Origin

History of Tea and Its Health Benefits

2009-02-02T09:36:00.000-08:00

History of Tea and Its Health Benefits
The tea plant Camellia sinensis has been grown in Southeast Asia for thousands of years. According to Chinese mythology, it was the emperor Shen Nung who discovered tea in 2737 BC. In ancient China, tea was considered as a medicinal remedy for headache, body aches and pains, depression, immune enhancement, digestion and detoxification; as an energizer and to prolong life.

The Japanese population learned the habit of drinking tea from the Chinese in approximately 800 AD. Tea consumption has now been adapted and assimilated by many cultures around the world. In Kamakura era (1191 – 1333), the monk Eisai stressed that beneficial effect of tea in his book, ‘Maintaining Health by Drinking Tea’ in 1211 in which he emphasized: “Tea is miraculous medicine for the maintenance of health.”

Of all the beverages consumed today, tea is undoubtedly one of the oldest, most widely known, and most widely consumed. Its consumption was introduced throughout the world by traders and travelers. One thing that makes tea attractive is that it is inexpensive and comes in numerous flavors. Tea drinking is a pleasurable experience that is enjoyed either alone or shared at social gatherings. The Japanese tea ceremony and the English 4 o’clock tea are examples of how important tea has become in the tradition of some cultures.

As the people age, a major health issue becomes remaining disease free. Thus, understanding what to eat and drink and what to avoid is important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Evidence is accumulating that tea has the potential to help reduce the incidence of major diseases, especially when combined with a healthy lifestyle. Such a lifestyle includes plenty of exercise and minimizing mental stress. It also includes consuming a diet that possesses health promoting effects. Nutrition has, therefore, been an area of intense investigation during the past few decades. Some foods and beverages have a beneficial and protective effect. Daily intake of tea, fruit juice, and soy milk is part of a health promoting dietary tradition. This undertaking is based on differences in disease incidence as a function of locally prevailing nutritional habits.
History of Tea and Its Health Benefits

Tea: From China to Europe

2009-01-26T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tea: From China to Europe
Tea continued to gain popularity in China after Tang dynasty. Teahouses first appeared in Song dynasty (960 – 1279 A.D) and quickly spread throughout the country. Teahouses were known as places where one could relax and have a good time.

Black tea which the Chinese called “red tea” was manufactured and consumed in Ming dynasty (1368 – 1644 A.D.). Most of the manufactured black teas were exported and the majority of Chinese remained consuming green tea.

Drinking of tea was considered beneficial to health. In the book ‘Tea Manual’ (Cha Pu) written in Ming Dynasty, the author concluded that “Drinking genuine tea helps quench the thirst, aids digestion, checks phlegm, wards off drowsiness, dispels boredom and dissolves greasy foods.”

In Japan the first tea was brought from China in the early 9th century. China started supplying Russia with small quantities of tea toward the end of the 17th century, and the trade was first carried overland by caravans.

The first tea to reach Europe went by the way of the Dutch who brought the first consignment to Holland in the early part of 17th century. The early supplies of tea entering England were brought over from Holland. In London the first tea was served to the public in 1657. By the mid 1750s tea houses and tea gardens were appearing in and around London.

Tea was soon to become the national drink in the British Isles. An author in the late 18th century described the difference in the way of tea drinking between Chinese and the European. He mentioned that Chinese drank tea without sugar; however, almost everyone in Europe added sugar to tea. Since then, great changes have taken palaces and the difference, at least in some region, seems to be less prominent in the represent time.
Tea: From China to Europe

History of Gin

2009-01-19T22:57:00.000-08:00

History of Gin
Gin is basically a distilled grain spirit flavored with extract form different plants, mainly the juniper berry. The Dutch were the first to make gin and have been doing so since the late 1500s.

Gin was invented b Franciscus de la Boe, also known as Dr. Sylvius. Dr. Sylvius was a Professor of medicine and physician at Holland’s University of Leyden. He used a juniper berry elixir known as genievere – French for juniper.

Dr. Sylvius also had medicinal benefits in mind, but his concoction was so potable that is swept the country as liquor, under the name Geneva or Genever.

He thought that juniper berries could be assist in the treatment of kidney and bladder ailments.

British soldiers sampled his elixir when returning from the wars in the Netherlands and nicknamed it “Dutch courage.” When they brought the recipe back to England, they changed the name to gen and later to gin, which soon became the national drink of England.

At one time, London alone had more than 7,000 gin places.

Cheap gin was soon being made in London from almost anything – “Make it in the morning and drink it at night” – and sold in hole-the-wall dramshop all over London.

King of England, William of Orange at the time, was from Holland had his own gin consumption became somewhat legendary; the royal banquet hall was nicknamed The Gin Palace.

The pattern repeated itself in the United States during Prohibition, when so called bathtub gin was made at home, from alcohol, juniper and glycerin. Bathtub gin too, was a poor and sometimes lethal product, and the custom arose of mixing it with something else to kill the state, thus popularizing the cocktail.

It took gin some years to outlive its tacky, but today it is a highly respected favorite.
History of Gin

The First Cocktail

2009-01-07T17:03:00.000-08:00

The First Cocktail
The true answer is lost to history, but many stories around. Most people agree that it’s an American invention.

The earliest printed use of the term that can be verified was found in the Hudson, New York newspaper, The Balance and Columbia Repository on May 6, 1806.

The editor received many questions about the new term, present in a concession speech from a losing political candidate, and here was his response:

“Cock tail, then is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water and butters – it is vulgarly called a bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold at the same time that it fuddles the head.”

Here are some of the more colorful stories surrounding the creation of this now ubiquitous beverage:

Rumor has it that early in American history, bartenders used to pour remnants of drinks and almost empty barrels into single container, selling swigs from this mixture to patrons at a reduced price. ‘Cock’ was another name for spigot and ‘tailing’ is the last bit of alcohol, so his drink was called ‘cock tailing,’ quickly shortened to ‘cocktail’.

A similar story recollects a bartender who poured his dregs into container shaped like a rooster (or cock) and the tap was set at the cock’s tail, hence cocktail.

Some believe that an apothecary in New Orleans served his guests a mix of brandy, sugar, water and bitters in an eggcup or ‘cocquetier’ in French, which was quickly shortened to ‘cocktay’ and then ‘cocktail.’

Alcohol was often used as a medical treatment, rumored to be applied from the tip of a feather from a cock’s tail; then, when people started to drink or gargle the medicine outright, the name ‘cock’s tail’ was still used.

Betsy Ranagan ran an inn in Yorktown that was frequented by American and French soldiers after the American Revolutionary War. To impress her patrons one evening, she stole chickens from her neighbors and served mixed drinks with the chicken feathers sticking out as garnishes. As her guests became drunken and rowdy, they continue to call for more ‘cock tails’.
The First Cocktail

History of Wine

2008-12-18T03:44:00.001-08:00

History of Wine
People acquired a preference for grapes as the basic ingredient for wine very early on, although on some African societies dates, bananas and the sap of palm tree were sometimes used, and indeed they sometimes still are. But wherever grapes could be grown they supplanted all other fruit as the basis for wine, just as barley did in the case of beer.

Viticulture is estimated to have originated in the 6th or 7th century B.C in the region to the south of the Black Sea. From there the crop spread to the four corners of the earth. Because of their higher alcohol content, wines could be kept longer than beer, and proved a suitable trading product over relatively long distances.

As a result, in ancient Egypt, whether beer was the drink of the ordinary people imported wine was a luxury item for the higher classes who used it – among other things – in religious ceremonies and for its medicinal properties. Later on, the Egyptians become wine growers themselves; we have hieroglyphics representing an Egyptian winepress dating as early as 3200 B.C.

In the Hellenic civilizations, and later in the Roman Empire, wine made from grapes was the dominant popular drink. Whenever the climate favored grapes, they were always the preferred basis for wine and viticulture predominated over the production of beer.

The high yield obtained from cultivating grapes together with the simplicity of the fermentation process and wine’s relatively high alcohol content – making it more intoxicating than beer and easier to keep – underlay the supremacy of wine.

Alongside the qualitative differences between wine and beer there are also social and political differences between growing grapes for wine and growing grain for beer. Cereals are annuals. The crop is harvested only a few months after the seeds are sown. This means that even nomad agriculturalists could grow crop to supply themselves with beer; the social and political conditions to be fulfilled are minimal.

The cultivation of grape vines, on the other hand, is a long term investment, with the vines standing vulnerable on the land for a few years before they yield fruit. Lasting peace and a stable allocation of land within society are hence pre-requisites for commercial wine growing. Thus a certain degree of state formation – political stability and peace – is an absolute pre-requisite for a profitable wine growing business.
History of Wine

Water

2008-12-09T07:52:00.000-08:00

Water
Water is one of the oldest known beverages and one of the first to be medicinally characterized with respect to effect on health.

The Chakara-Samhita document is the oldest known Asian medical text (1500 BCE). The text presents a classification of common beverages for physician and addresses their presumed medical properties and attributes:

“Water by nature has six qualities: cold, pure, wholesome, palatability, clean, light. When water falls to earth it depends for its properties on the containing soil. Water in white soil is astringent. Water in pale soil is bitter. Water in brown soil is alkaline. Water in hilly areas is pungent. Water in black soil is sweet. Water derived from rain, hailstone, and snow has unmanifested ‘rasa’ (taste); Fresh rain water of the rainy season is heavy blocks body channels and is sweet; ….Rivers with water polluted with soil, feces, insects, snakes, and rats and carrying rain water aggravates all ‘dosas’.”

The Nei Ching dates to Han dynasty times (207 BCE – 220 CE) in ancient China and demonstrated the wide range in beverage choices that had rapidly become available and how they were closely associated with medicine and the healing process.

The ancient Chinese medical system defined five organs (heart, liver, lung, kidney and spleen) and integrated factors of hot cold, wet dry, male-female, set within a complex integration of Yang, Neutrality and Yin. Alcoholic beverages (except beer) and coffee are classified as Yang or hot/heating, whereas fruit juices, milk, tea and unboiled water are classified as Yin or cold/cooling.

Furthermore, Chinese Buddhist monks followed strict dietary codes that limited their eating time to morning hours, and the foods/beverages forbidden to them included: fermented items, milk, cream, fish and meat.
Water

Caffé Mocha

2008-11-15T18:34:00.000-08:00

Caffé Mocha
The term “mocha’ originally referred to coffee that was grown on the Arabian Peninsula and shipped from the Yemeni port of Mocha. The history of this word’s use is fairly muddled. It is likely most Europeans tasted coffee before chocolate.

Therefore, when chocolate first appeared from the Western Hemisphere, there found it reminiscent of, or confused it with, the wild and fruity flavors of Yemeni coffee. Since then, the word “mocha” has come to mean many things, including the flavor combination of coffee and chocolate, while it is still used to describe coffee from Yemen (or even coffee from Ethiopia that tastes like coffee from Yemen).

As sixteenth century sailing ships carried goods from the Arabian Peninsular across the Mediterranean, the Italian port of Venice became coffee’s gateway to European markets.

Merchants in Venice and Turin opened the earliest coffee houses and when Spanish drinking chocolate was first introduced to Turin, it was mixed with coffee and cream into stimulating novelty called bavareisa.

Caffé Mocha is made by mixing chocolate (either sweetened, ground chocolate or chocolate syrup) with espresso. Steamed milk is then added to the mixture.

Most recipe specifically suggest that the espresso and chocolate be mixed before the steamed milk is added, in order to preserve the proper consistency and texture of the milk and to ensure that the mocha has a frothy, rich texture.
Caffé Mocha

Cappuccino

2008-11-03T03:34:00.000-08:00

Cappuccino
Coffee connoisseurs often enjoy a frothy cup of cappuccino, a thick, creamy concoction of coffee topped with a cap of velvety foam. Interestingly, the first use of the word “cappuccino” is traced to the Italians in the 16th century, referring to the long, pointed cowl or cappuccino (derived from cappuccino meaning “hood) that was worn as part of the habit of the Capuchin order of friars founded by Saint Francis of Assisi.

The restoration of Catholicism in Reformation Europe is attributed to the Capuchin monks whose order was established after 1525. In more modern usage in the mid to late 1940s, the word cappuccino was introduced to describe espresso coffee mixed or topped with streamed milk or cream, so called because the color of the coffee resembled the color of the habit of a Capuchin monk.

Cappuccino lovers would argue that the foam cap on the drink is the element to a great cappuccino. Steam frothing of milk to prepare a cappuccino coffee involves injecting air and steam into milk to create the foam and to heat the milk to near boiling.

The traditional Italian cappuccino is generally much stronger than the Americanized version, with proportion of espresso to cappuccino foam much greater.

Traditionally, cappuccinos are served only in the morning and not drunk throughout the day or after dinner, as has become the norm in American today. In cappuccinos, the espresso is always served at the bottom of the cup, with foam placed over the top.

Cappuccino cups are wide and round, usually with a six to eight ounce capacity: Both single and double cappuccinos are served in these cups. The wide shape of the cup allows the foam to cover more of the surface area of the espresso than a narrow cup would; so when you sip a cappuccino, the espresso slides underneath the cappuccino foam and get an equal taste of both.
Cappuccino

History of Scotch Whisky

2008-10-22T20:56:00.000-07:00

History of Scotch Whisky
Scotch is short for Scottish whisky – although Americans are just about the only people who use the shorted term for whisky made in Scotland. There are a number of categories of Scottish or Scotch whisky:

Single malt Scotch Whisky
Single Grain Scotch Whisky
Blended Scotch Whisky
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky
Blended Grain Scotch Whisky

Malt whisky was born well before the fifteenth century, which is the first time Scottish records mention it. An old Scottish says that it was created to reward the Scots for having to endure the cold, wet climate of their homeland.

The earliest evidence of Scottish whiskey is from 1494 – 1495, when Scottish Exchequer Roll included an entry of malt delivered to Friar John Car to make aqua vitae, In 1497, a barber brought a gift of whiskey to King James IV at Dundee. In 1505, the Guild of Surgeon Barbers in Edinburgh was given the monopoly of distilling and selling aqua vitae within the city boundaries. Generally, whisky was used for medicinal purposes. By 1550, however, increasing prosecutions for infringements of the barbers’ privilege suggest that whisky was becoming more popular generally as a beverage.

The 1600s and 1700s were marked by continuous disagreements between distillers and the government over taxation of spirits, and laws were enacted with the intents of putting the smaller home producers out of business. This only ensured a lively smuggling market for their product. Finally in 1823 Scotland’s Parliament enacted more lenient laws.

About 130 years ago a Scotsman named Andrew Usher is credited with being the first to blend malt whisky and grain whisky to reduce its pungency. The grain whiskies are made chiefly from corn (or corn and wheat) and are distilled in column stills at around 180 proof, which is somewhat below neutral spirits but very light in flavor. Malt and grain whiskies are aged separately for several years and then blended, with as many as 30 or 40 (or more) different malt and grain whiskies in a given brand.

Scotch becomes popular in the United Sates during the Prohibition years, when it was smuggled into the country from Canada, the Caribbean and ships at sea. The earliest brands were dark, peaty, and strong. After the repeal of Prohibition, Scotland’s distillers began tailoring their products to the lighter American palate. Scotch got under another boosts in popularity when American soldiers return from the World War having acquired a taste for it. A light bodied Scotch is not necessarily light colored since all Scotches have caramel added to ensure color uniformity, nor does light body mean low alcohol content. All scotches are bottled at a minimum of 80 proof; most are 86 proof.
History of Scotch Whisky

Milk Trends in Western Europe

2008-10-13T22:58:00.000-07:00

Milk Trends in Western Europe
The rise of milk as a milk in North-West Europe started in the nineteenth century, and is closely associated with industrial revolution. The diffusion of milk as a drink should be considered as part of a wider process of developing safe and healthy beverages for mass consumption, the spas or mineral waters, fruit juices and later the soft drinks.

Western Europe can be rightly classified as a region of lactophiles. There was a clear distinction had to be made between milk and non-milk using regions of the world, because of differences in the role of cattle in the food systems. The traditional non-milk using populations are to be found in humid tropical Africa, South East Asia but also in the Far East. In Western Europe the highest milk consumption is to be found in the Scandinavian countries and Ireland.

The Dutch consider themselves as typical drinkers. As a nation with traditions their level of milk consumption is not strikingly high compared with other countries. Italy is the only country of Western Europe where milk consumption is limited. In Italian food culture, milk is regarded mainly as a food and not as a drink. Its use strictly associated with breakfast and especially for infants. The appreciation of milk is very diffuse. Even in populations with a deficiency of the enzyme lactase to make digestion of the milk sugar lactose possible, people generally can drink modest quantities of milk.

In the Low Countries, with their relatively extensive livestock of cattle, pure milk in the unpreserved form was not a popular ingredient in the medieval kitchen of the gentry. Basically three kinds of milk were used: milk as such, skim milk (from which most of the fat has been removed) and buttermilk slight fermented low-fat content milk), which is a byproduct of butter making. Milk and buttermilk were used as ingredient for cereal porridges. In the rural areas of the Netherland, in the period 1900-1925, byproducts such as buttermilk and skim milk were still important ingredients in porridges.

Buttermilk was, however also appreciated as a drink in the eighteenth century in the countryside. Whey a liquid by product of cheesemaking was sometimes used as a drink. Small farmers and rural laborers kept some goats for milk supply. The goat was often called the cow of the poor. In the middle of the nineteenth century, before the industrial revolution in the Netherlands, milk was rarely taste by the working class households in the cities, a phenomenon which could be found in other cities of Western Europe.

In the nineteenth century the supply of fresh milk to the expanding town and large urban settlements posed many difficulties, Milk of good qualities was expensive and out of reach of the working classes.

In England, at that home the main industrialized nation of Europe not only fresh milk but likewise condensed milk was importance for urban consumer. As a relatively cheap milk product its consumption rapidly increased. It was, to a large extent used for feeding infants and young children. In Netherlands milk supplied to the cities was fresh milk and condensed milk played hardly any role. As in other European countries fresh milk was supplied directly from the dairy farm to the consumer in the cities, either by the farmer or by milk traders. The milk with her yoke bucket, selling milk at the doorstep was a common sight in many Dutch towns until of the nineteenth century.

This system was, however, inadequate: milk was often polluted or diluted with water. From the 1870s onward three factors have played crucial role in the diffusion of the concepts of milk as a diet, namely medical advice from hygienists, home economics trainings for girls, and group of progressive entrepreneurs within the dairy industry.
Milk Trends in Western Europe