Bovril Meat Extract

Bovril is a thick salty extract that is sold in a bulbous jar with a big red label that is familiar everywhere. It was invented by John Lawson Johnson in the 1870s. It is made in a small town called Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire and owned and it is currently owned and distributed by Unilever UK.

Bovril can be made onto a hot drink if you dilute it with milk or hot water. You can also use it to flavour stews, porridge or soups and it can also be spread on bread or toast.

The product’s brand name comes from the Latin word bos that means “ox “ or “cow.”  The “vril” part comes from a book called The Coming Race that was written in 1870 by Bulwer-Lytton .  In this book a superior race of people consume an electromagnetic substance named “Vril” so they can have superior powers.

Interestingly the product was actually supplied by beef that was grown in Canada.  The beef extract as supplied by a cattle farmer called John Lawson Johnston (a Scottish immigrant) who lived in Canada. It was actually created for the French army that was fighting the Prussians in 1870. It was meant to be a cheap source of food.  After the war ended in 1888 over 3000 British grocers, public houses and drug stores (called chemists were selling Bovril.

Throughout all of the wars Bovril was a favourite “war food.”  It was often served as a way of nourishing the injured in hospitals and is still a mainstay of hospital food today.

It was also a source of nutrition on her majesty’s sailing fleets.  The Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1914-17) also known as the Endurance Expedition was a journey across the Antarctic led by Sir Ernest Shakleton.  Instead of making it around the Arctic 28 men were stranded for months on the ice and one of the foods they survived on was Bovril.

For decades, the British people would call it beef tea.  British soccer and football fans would often take a thermos of beef tea with them to fortify their spirits and bodies during soccer games.

The company improved the product in 1966 when it launched Bovril’s instant beef stock. It also made other instant flavours, such as mushroom and chicken, for stews, casseroles and gravy.

The Bovril company was sold to Cavenham Foods and the beef raised to make the product is now raised mainly in South America.  Currently the brand is owned by Unilever.