Lea & Perrins

Lea & Perrins is a United Kingdom based food division of the H. J. Heinz Company, originating in Worcester, England. Lea & Perrins was previously part of HP Foods, a company that was bought by Heinz from previous owner Danone in 2005.

It is best known as the maker of Lea & Perrins brand of Worcestershire sauce,^[1] which was first sold in 1838 by John Wheeley Lea and William Henry Perrins,^[2] dispensing chemists from Broad Street, Worcester. It is currently produced in the Midland Road factory in Worcester that Lea and Perrins built. A subsidiary in New Jersey, US, manufactures a US version of the recipe (which they say is based on authentic Indian recipes).^{[citation needed]}

Worcestershire sauce

Worcestershire Sauce is currently produced at the Midland Road factory in Worcester that Lea and Perrins built. Midland Road was named after the Midland Railway, the factory originally having rail sidings to provide raw materials and distribution.

Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce UK and US recipes differ slightly in that the UK recipe uses malt vinegar while the US version uses distilled white vinegar. Also, the US version used high fructose corn syrup until 2011 when they reverted to sugar due to health concerns. The UK version has always used sugar. The UK version is sold in Canada.^[3] Lea & Perrins uses a distinctive paper wrapper for the version sold in the United States. In the UK, the bottle is well known to consumers for both its shape and the orange and black label.

The precise recipe has been a secret, but an original 19th-century list of ingredients was found in a skip at the factory in 2009 and includes vinegar, molasses, sugar, salt, anchovies, tamarind extract, onions and garlic as well as some other key ingredients which may include cloves, soy sauce, lemons, pickles and peppers.^[4]^[5]