Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce®
Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce® is exported to more than 65 countries worldwide, making it a truly international sauce. It is the original and genuine Worcestershire sauce, still manufactured in the place of its origin, Worcester, Worcestershire.
Worcestershire is not an easy word to pronounce, regardless of whether your first language is English or not. Most people can’t pronounce it and many people are unsure about how to use it. There are a lot of questions about Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce. Here are some of the answers…
Lea & Perrins, How it’s made? Our step by step process
The exact process and ingredients have remained a secret for over 100 years. We’re not about to give it all away here but we are going to give you an insight into the creation of Worcestershire Sauce. It all takes time and is done with great care and attention to detail, which shows in the final product.
The Secret Sauce
From just a handful of ingredients including, one secret one, the Lea & Perrins of today has hardly changed from the original blend, which first matured in 1837.
The full recipe has been kept hidden for over 160 years. Historically only 3 or 4 people at a time have known it. Developed by chemists Mr. Lea and Mr. Perrins, they passed the knowledge to their two sons. They in turn passed it on to a select few.
Following the Second World War, it was decided that no one person should be aware of the whole secret so it was broken up. They even gave the ingredients code names to secure the secret further!
To this day, the entire recipe is still closely guarded.
Time to Mature
The first step in the original maturation process was to prepare the casks for the sauce to mature in. These were then lifted out of the vault and taken into the press room. Here, each barrel was hoisted by pulley (two chains and two hooks) and placed bung- down onto a large wooden tub.
These tubs contained a mesh, which filtered the liquid. Once the sauce had filtered through, the remaining solids held in the mesh were removed and pressed.
For many years this press was worked by hand (hydraulics are now used instead). The liquid was then pumped into a vat through a vibrating sieve. The sauce continued to be filtered, until it reached the bottling and crating plant. Today it’s pasteurized before it’s bottled.
Although the general process has changed significantly in recent years, the taste of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce still remains the same.