THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995 TAG: 9510120017
SECTION: FLAVOR PAGE: F1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY VICKI L. FRIEDMAN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Long : 186 lines
MARK SAUER knows his vanilla extract. He can unscrew the little blue cap, take a whiff of what's inside and tell you instantly if it's made by the C.F. Sauer Co.
``It's in the aroma,'' he says. ``We're the last company to make vanilla the old way.''
The old way - a process that involves storing vanilla beans for months in grain alcohol - is all too familiar to Sauer, 43, who first started working at the Sauer Company as a 13-year-old, dumping beans in the vanilla room. Today, he is vice president of sales of the Richmond company that celebrated its 108th birthday Friday.
Family-owned since its beginning, the company was founded by Conrad Sauer on his 21st birthday in 1887. Now, the stately building at Broad and Meadow streets, with its incandescent ``Sauer's Vanilla'' sign atop, is a historical landmark in the capital city.
Thanks to the continuing demand for vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, parsley and an assortment of other spices, flavorings and extracts, Sauer's has survived and endured into its second century.
It's hard to overestimate the importance of vanilla extract, which Mark Sauer calls ``our flagship product'' - at Sauer's.
In 1884, C.F. Sauer, a pharmacist, often filled customers' bottles with drugstore products. Flavoring extracts, particularly vanilla, were a large percentage of the purchases. Sauer recognized it made good business sense to prepackage the products and sell them in grocery stores.
When the C.F. Sauer company was born three years later, it was the first in the United States to provide flavoring extracts in five- and 10-gram cartoned bottles, which were sold for 15 and 20 cents.
Today, Sauer's markets more than 250 extracts, mixes and spices - everything from chervil to ground arrowroot to apple-pie spice. The company produces more than 3 million pounds of spices and more than 200,000 gallons of extracts per year.
``We do the bulk of our business between November 1 and December 31,'' says Sauer, sitting in front of a massive portrait of his grandfather, Conrad. ``That's when all of the nutmeg and holiday seasonings are sold.''
Mark Sauer is one of five brothers active in the company and its various subsidiaries, including Duke's Products in South Carolina. His brother C.F. Sauer IV is president. Father, C.F. Sauer III, and his brother, Tremaine Sauer, serve as chairman and vice chairman of the board of directors.
Brother Brad is another vice president; brother Tyler is property manager of the real-estate division; and brother Matt works at a Sauer subsidiary in Charlotte. Tremaine's daughter, Anne Sauer, is in charge of manufacturing in Richmond.
But while it's practically in Hampton Roads' back yard, Sauer's distributes and sells few of its products here.
``We were in Food Lion up until three years ago,'' Sauer says. ``But we didn't fare too well.''
Sauer's sells its products largely in the Southeast, although you'll find the company name in parts of the Midwest, including Indiana, Ohio and Michigan.
Its spices, extracts and seasonings also are sold via mail order. BEHIND THE SCENES
On a recent business day, Sauer led a visitor through the maze of buildings that used to be a Sears Roebuck store.
Sauer hands out ``white bonnets'' - more like thin shower caps - for sanitary reasons.
Coming down from his office via an ornate staircase, first stop is the lobby, a homey room with plush chairs and a 24-karat-gold, mahogany clock inscribed ``Sauer's. Purity plus flavor plus strength. Best by every test.''
On another wall hang the awards Sauer's has won through the years, in state fair and international competitions.
Next stop is the room where they're bottling vanilla extract. The sweet scent of vanilla beans is everywhere.
The beans are expensive, Sauer says, but the company uses the best - bourbon beans, which cost up to $80 a pound. ``My father prides himself on being able to tell where beans come from just by smelling the aroma,'' he says.
Initially, the beans are stored for several months in a vault in the basement. They are then put into stainless-steel containers of grain alcohol, where they are kept for at least six months.
``Our process stresses the interaction between the bean and the alcohol,'' Sauer says. ``All you really have to do after that is add sugar and water, and you have vanilla extract.''
Heading into the adjoining room, he meets brother Brad. ``Looks like a vanilla extract day,'' Brad Sauer says.
``My brothers,'' Mark Sauer says, ``they're everywhere.''
So are the raw materials - vanilla beans among them - that become the spices that fill the tiny bottles.
It's like a geography lesson as Sauer explores the stock: ``Remember why we're all here,'' he says. ``Columbus was looking for a shorter route for the spice trade.''
India peppercorns. Paprika from California. Indian celery seed. White pepper, Asian, Sauer thinks. Vanilla beans from Madagascar.
``There are a bevy of different countries represented in these containers,'' he notes, poking the oversized bags:
The biggest seller? Pepper, of course. Sauer's purchases up to 350 tons a year.
The hardest spice to produce? Mace, made difficult by its grinding and the process involved.
The most expensive to make? Saffron, which retails for $13 for .06 of an ounce. ``The best saffron is grown in Spain,'' Sauer says. ``The flower is hand-pollinated and then when the stamen is just about ready, instead of letting it make seeds, it's plucked and dried in the sun.
``Then they take razor blades and slice it. We have one customer who buys five pounds of saffron a month from us, and the salesman comes down here and picks it up himself.''
Sauer's containers are manufactured in the next cluster of rooms. Giant machines make the teeny retail containers fill supermarket shelves.
One machine makes the plastic containers; another makes the fancy tops that let you spoon or sift. Another machine makes the squarish plastic tins with writing on all four sides. Pick up one and it's still a tad warm.
Spices are made about four months before they are shipped to stores. ``If processed properly, you should be able to keep them at room temperature, 70 to 80 degrees, out of direct sunlight, and the spice should last at least a year,'' Sauer says. ``Extracts, if packed in glass, like all of ours are, are fine for years. In fact, extracts get better.'' SALES CLIMB
A trend toward lower-fat, lower-sodium cooking has boosted sales, Sauer says.
Spice and extract consumption has risen 450 percent in the United States since the '60s, and Sauer doesn't expect a decline any time soon.
A pinch of one spice or another, he notes, can make a dish more flavorful without adding calories. Forget the salt, and pass the lemon-pepper seasoning.
That pleases the Sauers, who are eager to pass the family business on to a fifth generation.
Mark Sauer has one son, Max, 7, whom he expects will be a part of the Sauer spice tradition. But Max is only one of several dozen Sauer children who might continue what C.F. Sauer started more than a century ago. Private companies, Sauer admits, are difficult to maintain, but he'd like to see Sauer's always be in the family.
And be family-oriented as well. ``There's a lady here in Richmond who makes lemon cakes,'' he says. ``And the stores around here do not carry big bottles of lemon. They would rather her buy several 1-ounce bottles. What we do is make them up special.'' MEMO: To order spices, flavorings or extracts, write: the C.F. Sauer Co., 2000
West Broad St., Richmond, Va., 23220. For more information, call
1-800-688-5676.
ILLUSTRATION: Color photos
This still-life painting of Sauer's products hangs on an office wall
at company headquarters.
Irvin Cosey inspects a machine used in the processing of vanilla
extract.
Peter Stevens of C.F. Sauer checks how containers are arranged on a
machine before they are filled.
Graphic
SPICE TIPS
Ground coriander may be substituted for cinnamon in rice or
tapioca pudding.
To create wonderful aromas while grilling, add a handful of
rosemary to coals during the last five to 10 minutes of cooking.
Stir a teaspoon pure vanilla extract into eggs for French toast.
Add vanilla to coffee, tea or cocoa.
Use celery flakes in soups, stews, sauces, stuffings and
celery-seasoned dishes.
For maximum flavor, add tarragon to long-cooking soups and stews,
but only during the last 15 minutes of cooking.
Do not use cayenne in recipes that call for freezing because that
will intensify the flavor. Instead, add when ready to serve.
Orange extract comes from the orange peel, not from the fruit. Do
not substitute for orange juice, or vice versa.
Spice up asparagus and carrots and lower your sodium intake by
adding ginger instead of salt.
French-fry slices of raw pumpkin and dust lightly with
pumpkin-pie spice.
- From ``A Collection of C.F. Sauer Recipes'' (1991)
Photo
RICHARD L. DUNSTON/Staff
Mark Sauer is one of five brothers affiliated with the family-owned
company.
by CNB