A lot of people are just finding out how Worcestershire sauce is made, and the burden of knowledge is too much for some to bear.
Yes, a number of people online have sworn off eating the popular condiment after learning what actually goes in to making it.
To be fair, the ingredients are right there on the side of the bottle, so it’s been no secret.
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Most people – outside the UK – find it hard enough pronouncing the name of the sauce, let alone understanding what it is and what goes into it.
However, in the UK it’s seriously popular, think cheese on toast, spaghetti bolognese – sorry to our Italian readers – and shepherd’s pie.
But, read on – if you dare – to discover what makes up the concoction, and see if you can still stick it afterwards.
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First off – as you can learn from the above video – it starts with a load of onions and garlic preserved in malt vinegar.
You leave them to pickle for a few years – yes, really – until it liquifies before making the next step.
Now comes the bit that people really seem to hate.
In other barrels, you cure a whole load of anchovies in salt for a number of months, until they start to break down as well.
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Then, there’s salt, sugar, malt vinegar, tamarind concentrate, molasses, and white vinegar added, as well as a ‘top secret’ herb and spice mix added.
After that the whole thing gets blended up for an unspecified amount of time – also top secret – before being put into maturing tanks.
It stays there for a few months, until everything changes quite a bit. Every now and again, it is mixed up, before it is strained out and periodically these steps are repeated.
Finally, it is pasteurised for extra flavour and longevity, then slammed into bottles.
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It’s really quite a specialised process, but – then – it’s a fairly specialised ingredient.
Learning about the anchovies really seems to have put a few people off, though.
After seeing the video online, one person wrote: "Jesus Christ, I love this stuff, but after seeing the anchovies [I] dunno if i can eat it again"
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Another person said: "I don't know what was worse.
“How disgusting all the ingredients looked or the complete butchering of the pronunciation of Worcester and Worcestershire."
A third person simply said: “I bet those fish stink.”
Still, like all foods, it’s not for everyone, and we’ve all got different tastes.
Some of us like the preserved fish, others can’t hack it at all.
Another – probably larger – group of people were unaware of the process until now, and are currently working out whether they can remove the uncertainty that this knowledge has now created from their brain.
We did warn you about that, though.
Topics: Weird, Food And Drink
Tom Wood