MEAT & FISH PACKING  CO

This little barrel shaped bottle is one of the treasures of the early western glass industry. The company that sold it, the Meat & Fish Packing Co. of San Francisco, was very short-lived. Documentation is nearly non-existent save for one reference that put in on the map. The relatively new product was marketed in 1878 and the proprietors decided to enter it into the 13^th Industrial Exhibition of the Mechanics’ Institute in September of that year, and noted in the Pacific Rural Press, September 21, 1878.

Literally translated from its German roots, Ochsenmaulsalat means ‘Ox mouth salad’. This concoction was a delicacy (and probably still is) originated in southern Germany and Bavaria. It must be made from meat picked from the cheeks and tongue of a cooked corned beef head. The meat is additionally boiled in a water vinegar mixture for three hours then cut into small pieces with onion, salt, pepper, vinegar and oil, with additional spices if desired.

Apparently there weren’t enough Germans in San Francisco to keep the company in business and it silently went away. The business was never even listed in the San Francisco business directory. Left behind were a very few of the “nicest glass barrels” as pictured below.

The barrels are a little larger than most mustard bottles and are obvious contenders for being blown at the San Francisco and Pacific Glass Works – in 1878. Measuring about 5 1/2 inches in height, I must agree, they are very nice, and one of my very favorite California made bottles.

If one is really observant it is even possible to find an example blown from the re-worked mold of the Meat & Fish Packing Co., as shown above.  A slugged out arch hiding the area of the previous embossing is a dead giveaway. These bottles are also not very common and I have no idea what they may have contained, but they do look similar to a mustard bottle and may have been used for that product.