In 1883, the Crescent Manufacturing Company, a Seattle-based spice and seasoning firm, is founded as a small supplier of vanilla extract.
The company expanded rapidly after the discovery of gold along Canada's Klondike River in 1897, by selling a spice-and-preservation packet popular with the gold rushers. In 1905, Crescent struck gold itself when a company chemist and salesman concocted an imitation maple flavoring dubbed Mapleine. Mapleine won a worldwide market and dramatically expanded Crescent's scope.
The company promoted Mapleine and other products by publishing small cookbooks, with titles such as "Mapleine Dainties: How to Make Them," "A Guide to Spices: How to Buy Them, Store Them, Use Them," and "Pickles and Relishes. Mapleine was particularly popular during the Depression of the 1930s, when cash-strapped housewives used it as a substitute for maple syrup. It was also widely used as a flavoring agent in commercial cigarette manufacturing.
McCormick & Company, based in Baltimore, Maryland, bought Crescent in 1989. McCormick continued manufacturing Mapleine, but on a limited basis.
Sources:
"A Century of Business," Puget Sound Business Journal, September 17, 1999; Junior Achievement of Greater Puget Sound Hall of Fame Series; "McCormick History," McCormick & Company Website, accessed September 13, 2004 (http://www2.mccormick.com/mccormickhome.nsf/McCormick+History?OpenView).
Licensing: This essay is licensed under a Creative Commons license that
encourages reproduction with attribution. Credit should be given to both
HistoryLink.org and to the author, and sources must be included with any
reproduction. Click the icon for more info. Please note that this
Creative Commons license applies to text only, and not to images. For
more information regarding individual photos or images, please contact
the source noted in the image credit.
Major Support for HistoryLink.org Provided
By:
The State of Washington | Patsy Bullitt Collins
| Paul G. Allen Family Foundation | Museum Of History & Industry
| 4Culture (King County Lodging Tax Revenue) | City of Seattle
| City of Bellevue | City of Tacoma | King County | The Peach
Foundation | Microsoft Corporation, Other Public and Private
Sponsors and Visitors Like You