{"id":375600,"date":"2026-04-12T07:19:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375600\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:19:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:19:11","slug":"family-of-victorian-grocer-who-created-gentlemans-relish-fear-recipe-will-be-lost-forever-as-it-is-axed-by-makers-after-177-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/375600\/","title":{"rendered":"Family of Victorian grocer who created Gentleman’s Relish fear recipe will be lost forever as it is axed by makers after 177 years"},"content":{"rendered":"

The family of the Victorian grocer who created Gentleman’s Relish fear the recipe will be lost forever after it was axed by the makers after 177 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The British anchovy paste \u2013 which is also known as Patum Peperium \u2013 has outlasted six monarchs and two world wars.<\/p>\n

But due to dwindling sales, the condiment has been discontinued after nearly 180 years, with its manufacturer saying its production was not ‘commercially viable’.\u00a0<\/p>\n

However, the great-great-great-grandchildren of its creator, John Osborn, have called for AB World Foods to make the secret recipe public.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It comes as the discontinuation of the paste, created by the grocer in 1828, has sparked outcry, with both top chefs and politicians calling for its preservation.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The spread was created by Osborn, an expat in Paris, and included a mixture of anchovy fillets, rusk, butter and a secret selection of herbs and spices.<\/p>\n

But now his descendants no longer have the recipe after his great-grandchildren sold his business in 1971.\u00a0<\/p>\n

His granddaughter, Georgina Hamilton-Fletcher, attempted to buy a pot, but it was already sold out and placed for auction on sites such as eBay for \u00a350.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Gentleman's <\/p>\n

Gentleman’s Relish has ceased production after 177 years, owing to struggling sales (stock image)<\/p>\n

\"The <\/p>\n

The paste, first conceived of deep into the Victorian era, is made mainly of anchovies, along with spices and butter (stock image)<\/p>\n

‘I hope the recipe is saved and sold or given to somebody who thinks they can make a go of it on a small scale,’ she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘It would be a shame for it to die. I would hope the brand name can be taken up by someone else, but if not, it should be shared.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘I’ve seen people online are swapping recipes and trying to re-create it.’<\/p>\n

The recipe for the paste was passed down with each half of the instructions shared between Osborn’s two sons, Newton and Harold, Ms Hamilton-Fletcher explained to the Telegraph.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The duo manufactured the product by hand, with just one other worker, in a bid to keep the product exclusive.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But eventually her grandfather retired at the age of 75 in 1971, opting to sell the business, and in the process, the secret recipe was lost, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A pot could sometimes last up to six months, which was not good for business, Ms Hamilton-Fletcher explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite disappointment at being unable to buy the past for the final time, the family has managed to collect special-edition pots of the Gentleman’s relish, as well as souvenirs from Elizabeth II’s 1953 coronation.<\/p>\n

The family’s collection also includes a note from Admiral Sir Sidney Smith asking for three pots of the relish in his Paris hotel, as well as advertisement clippings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

It also includes price lists from C Osborn and Co Ltd branding it as ‘the greatest of all table delicacies since The Reign of William IV’\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2001, the relish was purchased by G.Costa which was later bought by AB World Foods.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite creating the product in 1828, Osborn did not\u00a0market it until 1849, eventually launching it at the Paris Food Show.<\/p>\n

To make it seem distinguished, he called it Patum Peperium, a sort of mock Latin for pepper pate.<\/p>\n

AB Foods, which acquired the manufacturing rights to Gentleman’s Relish two decades ago, said: ‘While this Victorian relish has a niche and loyal following, it sadly does not have wider commercial appeal and, despite our best efforts, retailer distribution has dwindled.<\/p>\n

‘With Gentleman’s Relish no longer commercially viable and unable to secure a buyer for the brand, we regrettably stopped production earlier this year.’<\/p>\n

James Bond author Ian Fleming was a fan, and would order the paste when dining at Scott’s, the historic London restaurant, served on toast with scrambled egg \u2013 a dish known as Scotch woodcock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The family of the Victorian grocer who created Gentleman’s Relish fear the recipe will be lost forever after…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375601,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[138,557,156353,111,43,139,69,6943],"class_list":{"0":"post-375600","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-ebay","11":"tag-new-zealand","12":"tag-news","13":"tag-newzealand","14":"tag-nz","15":"tag-paris"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375600","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=375600"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375600\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375600"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375600"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375600"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}