Camp Coffee
Encyclopedia
Camp Coffee is a Scottish
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

 food product, which began production in 1876 by Paterson & Sons Ltd. in a plant on Charlotte St, Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

. Almost one-hundred years later in 1974 businessman Daniel Jenks merged with Paterson to form Paterson Jenks plc. In 1984, Paterson Jenks plc was bought by McCormick & Company
McCormick & Company
McCormick & Company manufactures spices, herbs, and flavorings for retail, commercial, and industrial markets. The company began in 1889 in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. One hundred years later, McCormick moved from downtown Baltimore to the suburb of Hunt Valley, Maryland. McCormick has...

. Thereafter, McCormick UK Ltd assimilated Paterson Jenks plc into Schwartz
Schwartz (brand)
The Schwartz company was founded in 1841 to sell coffee in Nova Scotia, Canada. In 1984 McCormick & Company took over the brand, thereby becoming the world's largest producer of herbs, spices, and seasonings....

. Interestingly, McCormick claims not to be the manufacturer on their main site, and the product can't be found on the Schwartz site either.

Camp Coffee is a glutinous brown substance which consists of water
Water
Water is a chemical substance with the chemical formula H2O. A water molecule contains one oxygen and two hydrogen atoms connected by covalent bonds. Water is a liquid at ambient conditions, but it often co-exists on Earth with its solid state, ice, and gaseous state . Water also exists in a...

, sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...

, 4% coffee essence, and 26% chicory
Chicory
Common chicory, Cichorium intybus, is a somewhat woody, perennial herbaceous plant usually with bright blue flowers, rarely white or pink. Various varieties are cultivated for salad leaves, chicons , or for roots , which are baked, ground, and used as a coffee substitute and additive. It is also...

 essence. This is generally used as a substitute for coffee, by mixing with warm milk
Milk
Milk is a white liquid produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals before they are able to digest other types of food. Early-lactation milk contains colostrum, which carries the mother's antibodies to the baby and can reduce the risk of many...

 in much the same way as cocoa
Hot chocolate
Hot chocolate is a heated beverage typically consisting of shaved chocolate, melted chocolate or cocoa powder, heated milk or water, and sugar...

 or added to cold milk and ice to make an Iced coffee
Iced coffee
Iced coffee is a cold variant of the beverage coffee.-Preparation:There are several ways of preparing iced coffee. Ordinary hot-brewed coffee can be served cold, although this may result in a bitter-tasting product. Cold brewing relies on time, rather than heat, to transfer the coffee flavor to the...

, but it is commonly found on baking aisles in supermarkets as it is also used as an ingredient in coffee cake
Cake
Cake is a form of bread or bread-like food. In its modern forms, it is typically a sweet and enriched baked dessert. In its oldest forms, cakes were normally fried breads or cheesecakes, and normally had a disk shape...

 and other confections.

The label is rather old-fashioned in tone, consisting of a drawing of a Gordon Highlander soldier (allegedly Major General Sir Hector Macdonald
Hector MacDonald
Major-General Sir Hector Archibald MacDonald, also known as Fighting Mac , was a distinguished Victorian soldier....

) and a Sikh
Sikh
A Sikh is a follower of Sikhism. It primarily originated in the 15th century in the Punjab region of South Asia. The term "Sikh" has its origin in Sanskrit term शिष्य , meaning "disciple, student" or शिक्ष , meaning "instruction"...

 soldier sitting down together outside a tent, from which flies a flag carrying the drink's slogan, "Ready Aye Ready". This slogan uses the form of the Scots "aye" meaning yes so the drink was "Ready Always Ready" to be made. Originally the picture depicted the Sikh as carrying a tray of coffee -- an intermediate version, with the Sikh standing but the tray missing was also used (see the fan site link below for this version of the label) -- it is widely believed that this was changed to avoid the imperialist connotations of the Sikh as a servant, although the company does not confirm or deny this. The original drawing was by William Victor Wrigglesworth.

Legend has it that it was originally developed as a method of brewing coffee quickly for military purposes.

Today Camp is a British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 icon of nostalgia
Nostalgia
The term nostalgia describes a yearning for the past, often in idealized form.The word is a learned formation of a Greek compound, consisting of , meaning "returning home", a Homeric word, and , meaning "pain, ache"...

, as many remember it from their childhoods.

External links

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