Built on 150 years of farming knowledge and experience in mustard milling, Condimentum was born from the ashes of the former Unilever site after it was announced in 2018 that Colman’s would leave Norwich. Fearing for the future of the brand and its heritage, English Mustard Growers approached Norfolk Mint Growers with a plan to work together.
The mint and mustard Growers joined forces to create Condimentum and supply English mint and mustard. Its new home at the Norwich Food Enterprise Park in Honington meant fresh mint travelled less than two hours to maintain their freshness, but also preserved Colman’s Norwich roots.
Mustard’s legacy
Most of the team who originally worked for Unilever on the Colman’s brand moved across to the new business, helping to maintain consistency for the legacy brand and a sense of community for the team.
“We’ve got a number of years of knowing each other, so that really helps the team work,” explained technical director Kezia Burton Ward. “Everyone’s willing to help each other. We have a laugh as well as getting the job done – you’ve got support from your colleagues.”
One of only three mills worldwide capable of milling ‘double superfine’ mustard flour, Condimentum processes more than 2,000 tonnes of mustard seed and 1,000 tonnes of fresh mint leaf each year. Optical scanners scan more than 8 million seeds a minute.
New based on old
“We’ve got a state-of-the-art mustard mill, so it’s a new style of manufacturing, but it’s based on old technologies. That gives us an edge I think,” Ward added. “You can’t really change from how it was years ago.
“[Production is] more computer controlled now and we can monitor things that way rather than having to go round and look at every piece of equipment, but it’s still based largely on historic methods.”
Meanwhile, join Food Manufacture as we step inside BakeAway’s Corby site in this edition of Me and My Factory.
