Most of us view mayonnaise as a humble sandwich spread, but for centuries, it was revered as one of the elite French Mother sauces. This transition from a kitchen creation to a global pantry staple didn’t happen by accident, it required someone who realized the potential of this emulsion. The science of mayonnaise is what enabled this breakthrough, not special commercial processes. While the sauce’s origins date back to 1756, the story of the first commercial mayonnaise brand begins in a Philadelphia delicatessen in 1910.
The Mayonnaise Origin at a Glance
- Culinary Origin: Traditionally credited to the chef of the Duc de Richelieu in 1756 following the capture of Mahón, Minorca.
- First Commercial Brand: Mrs. Schlorer’s (Philadelphia), trademarked in 1911.
- The “Blue Ribbon” Giant: Hellmann’s (New York) followed closely in 1912, eventually becoming the best-selling brand in the U.S.
- The Secret to the Jar: Unlike other sauces, mayonnaise is a permanent emulsion—its tightly packed oil droplets make it naturally stable enough for long-term storage.
Although we now think of it mostly as a sandwich spread, mayonnaise, during the 1800’s was more often used as a sauce or a salad dressing. It is, after all, one of the French Mother sauces. Mayonnaise recipes appearing in early cookbooks were of many varieties and flavors, and were usually intended specifically for use on salads or other food items, including meat, poultry, fish, or vegetables.
The first commercial mayonnaise, which offered a readily available sauce that would not spoil quickly or easily separate, helped to change this. These widely available jarred mayonnaise brands caused mayonnaise to become more of a generic and uniform food in the US, to be used more often, including on sandwiches and burgers.
🔬 The Science of the Jar
All emulsions are not created equal. Mayonnaise, in comparison to most others, is a super-emulsion!
- The Temporary (Vinaigrette): You whisk oil and vinegar vigorously, it stays together for the duration of a salad toss, then retreats back into two layers. This is a purely temporary emulsion. It is meant to facilitate getting the “dressing” on the salad without the water and oil being completely separate from on another.
- The Barely Semi-Permanent Vinaigrette: If you add an emulsifier to a vinaigrette, typically mustard, you have added an emulsfier, but a fairly weak one! This is a semi-permanent emulsion and it will separate fairly quickly.
- The Stronger Semi-Permanent Hollandaise: s than, but since there is little oil and more liquid in a hollandaise sauce, they can break very easily if not handled correctly, and they will, after time, separate naturally.
- The Permanent (Mayonnaise): Mayonnaise is different than most kitchen emulsions in that it contains much more oil than water. With eggs and mustard acting as emulsifiers and mixed vigorously (as in a blender), the oil forms into very tiny droplets and these droplets are surrounded by a molecular “shield” formed by the emulsifiers.
The Molecular Shield: This film or “shield” that surrounds each tiny water droplet has molecules with a helpful Jeckyl-and-Hide nature: they are amphiphilic. One side likes water and the other side likes oil! The oil-loving side clings to the oil droplet and the water-loving side keeps the water surrounding the droplets of oil tightly in a continuous matrix of oil-droplets with a very thin film of water all around them. The water cannot get to the oil droplets because of the shield and the same shield keeps the whole thing together as one stable mixture. This results in a very thick and firm emulsion that does not break.
So, unlike any other French sauce or common kitchen emulsion, mayonnaise lent itself from being jarred and sold commercially. While jarred mayonnaise contains preservatives and perhaps some unnecessary ingredients, like corn syrup, it is the basic science of the emulsion that makes it remain stable for so long while sitting in your refrigerator.
Mrs. Schlorer’s: The First Commercial Mayonnaise Brand.
Perhaps sometime in 1910, a Philadelphia delicatessen owner named Schlorer took his wife’s mayonnaise recipe, added preservatives, and made up large batches in the back room of his store, for sale to the public. He called it Mrs. Schlorer’s, trademarking the name in 1911. Schlorer’s was not only the first commercially prepared and sold mayonnaise, but also the first to be packed into glass jars.
Mrs. Schlorer’s Mayonnaise was so successful that Schlorer began producing other products, such a Olive-Naise and salad dressings. Schlorer also made a relish spread. Since the company made its own pickles for its relish spread, they fell into the pickle business as well. The Schlorer Delicatessen Company was created to produce and market the various products. In the 1920’s, the company also produced cookbooklets with recipes using mayonnaise, as a means of advertising. Today, Mrs. Schorer’s brand is owned by Good Foods, Inc.
The King of Canned Convenience: Mrs. Schlorer wasn’t the only one who saw the potential in bringing “restaurant” flavors into the home pantry. Decades later, another entrepreneur would do for Chinese food what the Schlorers did for mayonnaise.
Learn how Chun King became an empire by putting Chow Mein in a can and convincing America it was “authentic.”
The Rise of the “Blue Ribbon”: Hellmann’s and Best Foods
A very close second was a familiar brand that many readers will probably have on hand, Hellmann’s, which also came from a delicatessen, this one in New York City. Richard Hellman missed marketing the first commercial mayonnaise by a very close margin. He opened his delicatessen there in 1905, and in 1912 he began making mayonnaise, also claimed to be based on his wife’s recipe, to sell commercially. Before this, he had served his mayo on salads to his customers.
At first, Hellman’s Mayonnaise was packaged in wooden boxes or “boats,” but later Hellmann’s switched to glass jars. There were two versions, and Hellmann placed a blue ribbon around one to differentiate it from the other. Soon, Hellmann designed a special Blue Ribbon label, which, according to the company, was trademarked in 1913. Hellmann’s is now the best selling mayonnaise in the United States.
At around the same time that Hellmann’s and Schlorer’s were beginning to thrive, in 1912, a company called Gold Medal Mayonnaise Company started making mayonnaise in California. This company merged with another company to form Best Foods, which sold Best Foods Mayonnaise. In 1932, Best Foods merged with Hellmann’s. Best Foods Mayo was sold east of the Rockies while Hellmann’s was sold in the east. Today, they are both owned by Unilever.
From the Deli Counter to the Supermarket Scanner
The success of brands like Hellmann’s transformed mayonnaise from a fresh, handmade sauce into a standardized grocery staple. This shift paved the way for the modern supermarket experience we know today.
Once products were uniform and jarred, the next step was speeding up the checkout line. Find out where the first automated grocery scanner was ever used (it wasn’t a major city!).
🏛️ More Food History Curated for You
If you enjoyed learning how mayonnaise conquered the condiment aisle, you might like these other “firsts” in food history:
- The First Brand of Frozen Pizza: Before it was a multi-billion dollar industry, frozen pizza was a risky experiment by a family in Minnesota.
- Toaster vs. Sliced Bread: Which Came First?: It’s the ultimate “chicken or the egg” question of the breakfast world.
- Angel’s Food vs. Devil’s Food Cake: Which of these heavenly (or hellish) rivals actually appeared on the American table first?
- The Introduction of Kraft Singles: How a revolutionary “cheese food” became the standard for American burgers.