The oldest commercial products

Ivan Seeking

Surprisingly, Altoids must be a contender.

- wiki Altoids

Larsani

Tooth Brushes. Egypt and earlier...

Ivan Seeking

I was thinking of products currently produced under the original name, by the same company, or with a definite lineage to the original.

Ben Niehoff

There's scarcely any useful information in that paragraph. How many years has that advertising slogan been used? I'd guess since the 1990s, not the 1800s. What was the original candy like? Was it marketed as a breath mint? How many changes did the recipe go through before reaching its modern form, and when did that happen exactly? When were the candies first called "Altoids"? What were they called in 1780?

I strongly suspect that the actual recipe used today only goes back 10-30 years. The Wiki page appears to be mostly an advertisement for Altoids and various related products.

Evo

I was just watching bizarre foods which visited a company that makes Funa Zushi and has been in operation since 1619.

nitsuj

I would guess alcohol, beer or something, as meeting those "linage" requirements and being really "old".

intwo

Wikipedia also has a list of oldest companies.

KiwiKid

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_oldest_companies

So... 'Genda Shigyo', paper bags?

rootX

Family owned businesses last for centuries:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-16611040

Jimmy

Yes. One of my favorite beers has been made since 1363.

http://www.franziskaner.com/2_company_service/index.htm

Evo

Chartreuse liqueur, nasty stuff. Really nasty.

I know there are older liqueurs that have been in production by monasteries.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartreuse_(liqueur))

M Quack

The brewery at Weihenstephan near Munich has supposedly been in operation since 1040. It is now run by the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and you can actually study brewery science there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weihenstephan
http://www.weihenstephaner.de/index2.php?lang=eng

collinsmark

(Fixed the link)

Chartreuse is a special liqueur though, because the color "chartreuse" was actually named after the liqueur, not the other way around. Ya don't come across that everyday.

I try to keep a bottle of Chartreuse handy, as it's an essential ingredient in the drink "Webster F. Street Layaway Plan." Essentially, it's like a martini but with Chartreuse instead of Vermouth. It's very effective.*

But there are older alcohols than this. Distillation is a comparatively recent invention. There are wine and beer brands that are much older.

*(See John Steinbeck's "Sweet Thursday" for details.)

M Quack

"Green chaud" is a very good use of Chartreuse liqueur. Make yourself some hot chocolate and add Chartreuse. Or use it as "sauce" for chocolate ice cream.

The liqueur is named after the monastery that is still in charge of making it (although it is industrialized now and not make at the monastery anymore. Legend has it that only one monk knows the precise receipe). The monastery is named after the mountain range.

You can visit the brewery but not normally the monastery. You can only get a sneaky peek from above when you hike the mountains, in particular Grand Som.

http://maps.google.fr/maps?q=chartre...grand+som&z=17

lisab

An article made me think of this thread:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18261045

Wow, 14 generations!

turbo

My older neighbors have since moved back to Mass, but one of their sons works producing cymbals for Zidjian. When I was hosting open mic jams, I always brought the drum-kit. The drums were all Fibes and the cymbals were all Zildjians. Quality rules.