OK Sauce is a brand of

brown sauce Brown sauce is a condiment commonly served with food in the United Kingdom and Ireland, normally dark brown in colour. The taste is either tart or sweet with a peppery taste similar to that of Worcestershire sauce. Brown sauce is typically eate ...

manufactured in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

, first by George Mason & Company and later by Colmans.

Early history

OK Sauce was first made in a factory called the Chelsea Works (formerly a swimming pool) in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In 1928, production was transferred to a purpose-built factory to the designs of Percy Sharp, at 265 Merton Road, Southfields, in the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in southwest London; it forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main named areas are Battersea, Balham, Putney, Tooting and Wandsworth, Wandsworth ...

. The company's official title was George Mason & Co Ltd. However, George Mason left the firm before World War I and the company was run by the Cooper family, initially by Percy Cooper, then by his son Rex Cooper as Chairman and MD.

Colmans

Rex's son, Brian, together with Rex's sister Betty Urwin, oversaw the changeover to

Colmans Colman's is an English manufacturer of mustard and other sauces, formerly based and produced for 160 years at Carrow, in Norwich, Norfolk. Owned by Unilever since 1995, Colman's is one of the oldest existing food brands, famous for a limited ran ...

. In addition to OK sauce, other sauces and

chutneys A chutney is a spread in the cuisines of the Indian subcontinent. Chutneys are made in a wide variety of forms, such as a tomato relish, a ground peanut garnish, yogurt or curd, cucumber, spicy coconut, spicy onion or mint dipping sauce. A ...

were made. They also had a satellite factory (called Watersend Condiments) in a converted farm building beside a manor house at Temple Ewell, Dover. This concentrated on

horseradish sauce Horseradish (''Armoracia rusticana'', syn. ''Cochlearia armoracia'') is a perennial plant of the family Brassicaceae (which also includes mustard, wasabi, broccoli, cabbage, and radish). It is a root vegetable, cultivated and used worldwide ...

, mint sauce and

mint jelly Mint sauce is a green sauce originating in the United Kingdom, made from finely chopped spearmint (Mentha spicata) leaves soaked in vinegar, and a small amount of sugar. Lime juice is sometimes added. The sauce has a watery consistency and is f ...

. The factories continued to make sauces until 1969 when the owners of the company sold it off to Reckitt and Colman at Norwich. The products had a Royal Warrant which ceased around the takeover. All production was transferred to

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

and both factories closed. However, the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

facade of the

Southfields Southfields is a district of inner London located within the London Borough of Wandsworth, England, 5.6 miles (9 km) south-west of Charing Cross. Southfields is mainly residential, historically a part of Wandsworth itself, and is divided b ...

building, visible from Merton Road still exists and has been awarded Grade 2 listing status in August 2002. Colmans continues to make OK Sauce and other condiments. OK Sauce's main market is today in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

and UK domestic Chinese communities. It is a vital ingredient in the Chinese/Canton takeaway OK sauce.

External links

Colman's

References

{{Brown sauces British condiments Brown sauces

Early history

Colmans

See also

External links

References