Worcester Salt Cook Book

The Worcester Salt Cook Book (not dated, 27 pages) has the slogan "It takes the Best to make the Best" on the front of the booklet and at the top of each page. Worcester was also the maker of Ivory Salt, which featured an elephant as its trademark. The slogan is also seen on some of the Ivory Salt advertising.

The Worcester Salt Company had factories in Silver Springs, New York and Ecorse, Michigan, with offices in New York City. At the time of this printing, the the NYC location was 71-73 Murray Street. A postcard view is shown below of the Silver Springs plant.

I believe this recipe booklet was published sometime between 1929 and 1933. Inside there is a reference to a medical periodical published in November 1928 and there was another recipe booklet (same title, different cover and content) published in 1933.

This booklet is made up of recipes (for soups, fish, meats, vegetables, salads, baking, desserts and a few miscellaneous items such as Pepper Relish and Applesauce) and also several pages which explain other uses for Worcester Salt--in the kitchen, for one's health, and around the house.

A recipe from the Vegetables Section:

BAKE POTATOES WITHOUT USING OVEN

Bake potatoes without using the oven. Save gas expense and avoid an overheated kitchen and get the same delicious baked potato flavor by boiling potatoes in their jackets in a very strong salt solution. Add a half a cup of Worcester Salt to each quart of water and boil 45 minutes, for medium sized potatoes. Do not puncture jackets and they will become firm and crusty when removed from the water. The potato can then be easily removed from the skin at the table. Just try potatoes this way once, and you will be simply delighted with the results.

Whew...that is a LOT of salt.

The manufacturer also attempts to educate the consumer and allay any misgivings about the sanitary conditions of processed food. In this instance, in the rear of the booklet, they describe how their product is processed. This was a common practice during this era as more and more foods were being processed in large factories using new technologies.

"Water is piped into the earth, where Mother Nature has placed salt deposits. The water dissolves the salt and then the salt brine is pumped up, purified, and filtered. It is then passed into vacuum evaporators where it forms into crystals. As the crystals are formed they drop to the bottom of the evaporator.

The salt crystals are then placed in continuous centrifugals where most of the moisture is removed. The salt is then transferred to rotary driers where it is thoroughly dried.

The screening process follows, which grades the salt crystals according to their size. After being uniformly graded the salt is packed in sanitary paper lined barrels, bags, and moisture proof cartons.

From the time the salt brine is pumped from the wells until the salt is packed in sanitary containers, Worcester Salt is not touched by hands.

Each process is absolutely sanitary and every precaution is taken to maintain the utmost degree of purity."

Fairs and exhibitions were used to expose consumers to new advances in agriculture, science and technolgy. The last page shows that Worcester Salt recieved "Highest Awards" at the Worlds Fair in Chicago; the American Institute in New York; the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo; the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in St. Louis and the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco.


A United Profit Sharing Coupon came with every package of the Worcester Salt products. United Profit Sharing Coupons was a coupon redemption system much like trading stamps. These coupons were given away with a variety of different products. There were catalogs (shown to the left and above) published showing the premium gifts that could be had by saving and redeeming the coupons.