Carnation is a brand of food products. The brand was especially known for its evaporated milk product created in 1899, then called Carnation Sterilized Cream[1] and later called Carnation Evaporated Milk. The brand has since been used for other related products including milk-flavoring mixes, flavored beverages, flavor syrups, hot cocoa mixes, instant breakfasts, corn flakes, and ice cream novelties. Nestlé acquired the Carnation Company in 1985.[2]
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Carnation was founded as an evaporated milk company. With the widespread availability of home refrigeration and fresh milk and cream in the late 20th century, the demand for evaporated milk decreased. Carnation diversified its product portfolio after the 1950s and was acquired by Nestlé in 1985 for $3B.
Elbridge Amos Stuart (1856 in North Carolina[3]–1944) was an American milk industrialist and creator of Carnation evaporated milk and its famous slogan, that it came from "Contented Cows".[4] On September 6, 1899, Stuart and a fellow business partner founded the Pacific Coast Condensed Milk Company in Kent, Washington. It was based solely on the relatively new process of evaporation. Stuart was the first president of the Carnation Company between 1899 and 1932 and served as its chairman from 1932 to 1944. In 1901, his partner sold out, leaving Stuart the company along with $105,000 in debt. As sales began to grow, Stuart searched for a brand name for his product. While walking in downtown Seattle, Stuart passed a tobacconist's window with cigars on display around a sign proclaiming their name—Carnation. The company was renamed Carnation Evaporated Milk Company.
Stuart believed that there was value in sanitary milk at a time when fresh milk was neither universally available nor always drinkable. He believed that his product would soon join other staples on the grocer's shelves, such as salt and sugar. One of the most important things E.A. Stuart learned as a boy on his father's farm was that quality milk had to come from healthy cows. To have the best quality milk and milk production, he distributed purebred bulls to the farmers who were suppliers for his factory. The offspring from these bulls were better milk producers than the cows of the previous generation.
The belief that quality milk came only from quality cows eventually led Stuart to establish his own breeding farm, known as Carnation Farm. On his breeding farm, through practical science and application, Stuart was able to continue improving the quality and production of milk from his Carnation cows. In fact, Carnation cows held the world milk production record for 32 consecutive years. One cow in particular, Segis Pietertje Prospect, produced 37,381 pounds of milk during 1920. So proud was Stuart, he erected a statue of the cow to honor this record for milk production that held top honors for 16 years. It was through such accomplishments that Stuart was able to make significant contributions to dairy science while helping to improve the world's food supply. The town of Tolt, Washington, was later renamed Carnation for the nearby breeding and research farms run by the company.
In 1907, the public was first introduced to the promotional phrase, "Carnation Condensed Milk, the milk from contented cows". This slogan referred to the higher quality of milk that came from the happy cows grazing in the lush lands of the Pacific Northwest. Carnation used this slogan for decades, and it even spawned a radio variety program entitled "The Contented Hour," which featured entertainers such as Dinah Shore, Jane Powell and Burns and Allen. Burns and Allen's own CBS television program, which premiered in 1950, was sponsored by Carnation. As was common during that era, instead of cutting to filmed commercials, Burns, Allen and guests broke the "fourth wall" to plug Carnation products in a comedic, often tongue-in-cheek way during the show.
Since the 1960s, labels of cans of Carnation Condensed Milk have contained recipes on the inner side.[5]
During the twentieth century, Carnation Evaporated Milk became the subject of humorous, satirical rhymes.[6] One example that may date back to the year 1900 is as follows: Carnation Milk is the best in the land / Here I sit with a can in my hand / No tits to pull, no hay to pitch / You just punch a hole in the son of a bitch. This quatrain, or a variant of it, has often been portrayed by storytellers as the result of a slogan contest or advertising contest sponsored by the Carnation Company,[7] although such a contest never actually occurred.[6]
The site of the original Carnation Farms is located 45 minutes east of Seattle, in Carnation, Washington.
Since 2008, Carnation Farms became Camp Korey, part of the Hole in the Wall Camps founded by Paul Newman. Camp Korey is a medically supervised camp staffed with physicians and nurses, and trained camp counsellors for children living with serious and life threatening illness. The camp provides a week-long experience of camp programs and activities for children ages 7–16 at no cost to them.
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