A New Look And New Insights
This past week I finally got around to updating the site theme. The new theme is a modified version of John Wrana’s excellent Relaxation 2.0 theme. The new theme is wider and sports some muted colour tones which I believe are more consistent with the overall look that I originally had in mind. In short, I hope you like it!
With the look of the site updated, it’s time once again to turn my attention back to the actual meat of the site. I often get emails requesting where people can buy the HP Mild & Fruity variety. Sometime in 2004 - 2005 (someone please correct me on the date), HP Foods re-branded HP Mild & Fruity as Chicken & Rib. The ingredients and the order in which they’re listed on the label however are identical between the two varieties, and I can say with some confidence that they are in fact the same sauce. I’ve updated HP - The Sauces with this information and I hope that helps to alleviate some of the confusion on the matter.
New Insights…
Those who have read through The HP Sauce Story will now be familiar with the basic outline of how HP Sauce came to be manufactured by the Midland Vinegar Company back in 1899. This story is well documented and appears in the books “The Road from Aston Cross” and “The True Story of H.P. Sauce”. Googling “HP Sauce” will also no doubt produce reference to either account, however there is another side of the long published, official story as told by HP Foods.
I have been contacted by a descendant of the Nottingham grocer F. G. Garton, creator of Garton’s H.P. Sauce. According to this individual, there remains some controversy over how the Moore’s actually acquired the rights to produce H.P. Sauce in 1899. If his account of events bears out, this does indeed indicate a need for some rather rigorous revisions to the story as told on this site. I’ll update as I learn more information.
What is immediately evident however is that even in 1899, HP Sauce was already a hotly contested item, having changed ownership very shortly after it was first created. Change of ownership of HP Sauce (most recently to Heinz) is not a new thing, not by a 100 years.
Random Thoughts…
I had a couple of rather odd experiences this past weekend. Not genuinely odd in a real sense perhaps, but odd enough to sit up and take notice. The first happened when I saw the movie “The Prestige” this past weekend. The movie which takes place at the turn of the century, has numerous scenes of old buildings in Victorian London. In one such scene, we follow the characters as they talk near a fireplace. On the mantle was a clock and if one looked closely, one could just make out the time. I must’ve been bored with the dialogue, as I for whatever reason had to make out what the time on the clock was! “Hmm, 19 minutes past 8″. I look down at my watch. “19 minutes past 8!” - too weird!
The second event was on Saturday - Remembrance Day here in Canada. I was walking with my family on the sidewalk on our way to a Remembrance Day ceremony which was to be held at a local school. Suddenly, a full grown white tailed deer ran oun from a driveway 2 houses in front of us - in full gallop! We didn’t have any time to react as it ran towards us. Fortunately, rather than bowling us over, it ran around us (within arms length!) before turning and galloping down the adjacent street; it’s eyes wild with panic.
I should point out that the presence of the deer itself wasn’t really odd. I do live in a suburb of the city (or as the Pet Shop Boys would say “Suburbia: Where the suburbs meet utopia”) and as it is close to rural areas, deer are known for wandering inside the city limits. Still, I’ve never encountered anything like that before!
