Grape Stained Memories

Anything with the Welch's label on it is the stuff of childhood memories. How often did we eat a PB and J sandwich using only Welch's jam. How many lunches, dinners pool parties and birthday get togethers were accompanied by eh company's famous juice? Its a part of every American's life?

Maybe not surprisingly Welch's opened anew door in American and even in world food history. Thomas Bramwell Welch,a modest dentist from Vineland , New Jersey. In 1865 he try to come up with an unfermented wine to for his churhc to serve in dry, southern New Jersey. He and his son Charles successfully managed to create this and the first processed juice was born in the US. Welch used Louis Pasteur's process of pasteurization to achieve this and it successfully worked. It was used exclusively in churches at Communion but quickly moved to tables all across the US. By the turn of the Twentieth Century most families now had Welch's grape juiced added to their diets.

The operation moved from Vineland to Bedford , New York in the 1890's and was taken over eventually by Welch's son Charles and grandson Edgar.It's famous grape jelly was introduced in 1923.It was only during the post WW Two years that Welch's was teamed up with peanut butter. This was due to American GIs who had lived on rations of the two along with bread who brought it home to their families.

It's amazing how our best memories always come back to Welch's Concord Grape juice and jelly. They were such a big part of our live sand our first real introduction to fruit and it's health benefits.