LEA and Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is perhaps the city's most famous product and today the brand is worth £10.5m.

It was first produced in Worcester by two chemists, John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins, and went on sale in 1837.

And today, more than 160,000 bottles are still produced every day - to a secret recipe to which only a handful of people have access.

The famous sauce has been produced at a factory in Midland Road, Worcester, for more than 110 years.

The only other factory producing the sauce is in New Jersey, America.

There are just 34 employees at the Worcester factory, who blend all the secret ingredients together, several of which are left to mature for 18 months before being used.

In 2005, bottling of the sauce moved from Worcester to Aston, Birmingham.

However, just a year later, it was brought back to be made in the city, where it continues today.

About 52 per cent of the bottles produced at Worcester are exported to more than 80 countries around the world - with Japan and South East Asia being among the largest customers of the county sauce.

The other 48 per cent is distributed within the UK, where the sauce is becoming increasingly more popular.

Last year it was even voted Britain's Greatest Contribution to World Cuisine, followed by Cheddar cheese and Yorkshire pudding.

"Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is becoming more and more popular," said brand manager Lynsey Hurst.

"The new revolution in home-cooking, inspired by chefs such as Jamie Oliver, has seen sales booming."

Winter is traditionally the busiest time for sales of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in the UK, with people using the unique ingredient in dishes such as shepherd's pie. Now the company wants to encourage people to find new summer uses for the sauce.

"Try it with your steaks and burgers on a BBQ," said Mrs Hurst.

"Or use it to marinade fish. The sauce has so many different uses. In America, they use it largely on their steaks, while in Mexico it is used in Burritos.

"And in Asia, a splash of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce is used in a wide variety of noodle and rice dishes."

"We want to give people the confidence to use it in a range of foods," she added. "We want to show people what a difference it can make to a dish."

This year, the company has launched a special edition of the sauce to celebrate 170 years in the nation's kitchens.

The sauce has been matured for longer to give a more gourmet taste and the new classic design of the bottle will encourage consumers to place it on their dining table rather than hide it in the cupboard.

Mrs Hurst said: "The extra-matured sauce can provide an extra-special kick to a typical dish such as cheese on toast or a Bloody Mary.

"Alternatively, it can be used to add great flavour and depth to seasonal dishes such as shepherd's pie or as a marinade for steak and chops."

The special edition sauce is now available in Sainsbury's, at a cost of £2.99 for a 290ml bottle.

The original Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce recipe is believed to have come from Lord Sandys, a local aristocrat who had been Governor of Bengal.

In 1835, Lord Sandys visited the shop of John Wheeley Lea and William Perrins asking for a recipe he had found in India to be made up.

Lea and Perrins made an extra jar for themselves, but found they did not like the concoction and stored it in the cellar. Some time later they retasted the preparation to discover it was delicious.

Although today the ingredients are listed, the exact recipe has never been revealed and remains a closely-guarded secret.

  • For a fuller history of Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce see your Worcester News later this week, when we talk to employee and historian Tony Deakin.
  • How do you use your Worcestershire Sauce? tell us in our forums here.

SAUCE FILE
WORCESTERSHIRE people are being encouraged to create a special official dish for the county.

The public will vote for their 10 favourite dishes. The finalists will then be judged by a panel of food journalists and local celebrities, including Kevin Ward, editor of your Worcester News, at a live cook-off.

The winning recipe will feature in a national Lea & Perrins advertisement and its creator will win £1,000 and see their recipe become the Lea & Perrins Official Dish of Worcestershire.

To enter, log on to www.splishme.com, fill in the entry form and upload your recipe by Friday. Then get all your friends to start voting from Monday.

If you make it in to the top 10 you will be invited to the factory in Midland Road, Worcester, on Thursday, May 15, for the nail-biting cook-off event.