The story of Mrs. H.S Ball’s and her famous chutney has been doing the rounds on social media recently.
Based on several reports, the narrative is, however, so filtrated with errors that it calls for an attempt to take aside some of the fabrications.
This is important as Mrs. Ball’s chutney is an iconic South African condiment. It is a household name with a long-standing heritage as one of the country’s big brands. Chutney is an integral part of local culture and Mrs. Ball’s has earned a place in the hearts and kitchens of SA cooks.
Based on a generations-old secret family recipe, Mrs. H.S. Ball’s was started by Amelia Ball at the start of the last century, made on a small scale and either given as gifts to friends or sold at church bazaars and grew rapidly through popular demand.
As demand continued to soar, Amelia and Herbert sought the assistance of Cape Town businessman Fred Metter, who procured both the octagonal jar and the oval label with which today’s chutney lovers are so familiar. Metter helped the family scale up the business, and together they opened the first factory in Retreat in Cape Town.
In a recent interview on the breakfast show on Cape Talk Radio with Lester Kiewit, Metter’s granddaughter, Shelley Garb, said her grandfather was a manufacturer representative so he represented various brands and they approached him with the product. He was fascinated by it and decided to take a chance on it.
“Mrs. Ball’s was making the chutney at home on a primus stove and used to sell it at church bazaars. Mrs. Ball’s was selling the chutney for subsistence in order to earn some money. They said that it was very popular and they realised they needed to make it more on a commercial basis,” said Garb.
“My grandfather chose the octagonal design of the bottle and the label. He insisted on it always being in glass. He was approached to put it in plastic and all the years, he steadfastly refused. When Brooke Bond Oxo bought the factory, they put it in plastic. Sales plummeted and they put it back into the glass. We’re very proud we grew up with that brand. We played on the boxes in the factory. The smell of vinegar and fruit was pungent. As children, we didn’t enjoy that. We love that it’s now international. We will eat no other chutney.”
In April 2013, Mrs. Ball’s became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tiger Consumer Brands Limited.