California Syrup & Extract Mfg. Co.
California Syrup & Extract Company, Inc. was founded in 1910 by Charles D. Mooney, his first wife Anna, and others, under the name California Syrup and Pickle Company. It was the successor to Gordon Syrup Company of Berkeley. Mooney was born in New York State but migrated to the St. Helena area for health reasons. About 1910, he moved to South Berkeley, where he started the business. The company later moved to 55th Street in Emeryville. Eventually the firm’s name was changed to California Syrup & Extract Company, and it was incorporated under this name in 1924.
Selling was done by different salesmen, including “Grandpa” Charles Mooney, who made trips in his Graham Touring Car as far North as Klamath Falls, as far East as the Sierras, and South through Kings Canyon and the Visalia area.
Relish for Casper’s
The pickle stock was bought from others, including the Heinz Company in Isleton. The cucumbers were delivered in sacks and dumped into tanks, where they were salted down and stored prior to processing. Cabbage and cauliflower were also stored in this manner. The pickles were then processed by leaching out all the salt, treating them with alum and packing them into barrels with dill weed or with vinegar to make sour pickles.
To make sweet pickles, the juice/vinegar would be dumped out from this mixture and sweet liquor added. (Sweet liquor consisted of sugar, vinegar, and spices such as mustard, celery and cloves). Sweet relishes were made by taking the oversized pickles, chopped ends and various size pieces and running them through a “buffalo grinder.” A small amount of cauliflower was introduced as an extender, and celery seed and dried bell pepper flakes were added. This relish was-put into large Chinese baskets and the juice squeezed out. It was then mixed with sweet liquor one or two times to make a finely chopped sweet relish used exclusively by the Casper’s Hot Dog chain.
Syrup and Vinegar
The various syrup products manufactured by California Syrup & Extract included maple syrup, imitation maple syrup, can and refiners’ syrup, corn refiners’ syrup, and molasses. Though the company originally produced only pickles and syrup, the product line soon grew to include apple cider, boiled cider, vinegar, mustard, mayonnaise, honey, salad oil, bluing, ammonia, spices, extract. Worcestershire sauce, and various other products.
Among the most successful of these products was Vinegar. During the twenties, vinegar prices escalated due to short supply. In order to capitalize on this trend, the company built a cider plant to crush apples brought in from Walnut Creek and Santa Cruz. The apples were pressed hydraulically, and the juice extracted to make apple cider and apple cider vinegar.
The company also went into the processing of Zucca melon, which is used as an imitation glace fruit. The project ended in disaster because of unanticipated shrinkage problems. This plant was later rented out during the depression period to R. E. Ohelman Company and was converted into a distilled vinegar plant. After Mr. Ohelman’s suspicious accidental death in 1957, it was again operated by California Syrup & Extract Company.
Bottles, Jars & Cans
Product packaging included a large variety of glass container sizes ranging from one ounce through one gallon. as well as some larger sizes, including 5-gallon jars. The original can sizes were half gallon, 1 gallon, and 5-gallon cans, though later packaging was done in #2.5 and #10 cans. Barrel and keg sizes ranged from 5 gallons through half barrels and full barrels.
Originally, bottles and jars were re-used catsup bottles. mayonnaise bottles, vinegar bottles, and even gin bottles. Some new glass containers were also used, often featuring the company’s name embossed in the side. The bottles were packed in cases and barrels with sawdust around them. A barrel could contain two or three dozen bottles of Vinegar or syrup.
Recycled cardboard cases were later used, with paper and cardboard being cut up for partitions. Everything was hand filled and hand labeled.
Another plant was eventually established on Mary Street in Fresno, as well. Companies like California Syrup & Extract were usually of a local nature, since transportation was slow and perishables could not easily be shipped long distances. A great number of small food companies once existed for this reason, dotting various agricultural communities of California. Today, most have been swallowed up by huge food conglomerates, and independent, locally owned companies are rare.
This story originally published in 1996 for the Emeryville Centennial Celebration and compiled into the ‘Early Emeryville Remembered’ historical essays book.
