Gebhardt’s Chili Powder Co.
Cropped image from an undated label for a can of Gebhardt's Chili Con Carne. Gebhardt Mexican Foods Company Records, MS 44, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries.
This week’s post is about a former San Antonio institution- Gebhardt’s Mexican Foods Company. In 1896, Willie Gebhardt established Gebhardt’s Eagle Brand Chili Powder Company. For nearly a century, the company produced chili powder, canned chili, canned tamales, and many other Tex-Mex food products in San Antonio – first as an independent company, and then as a subsidiary of the Beatrice Food Company. Gebhardt’s is now owned by ConAgra Foods, and though the San Antonio plant has closed, a few of the products developed there are still available in stores. You can check what products are available in your local stores on the Conagra Web site: http://www.conagrafoods.com/consumer/brands/index.jsp.
When Gebhardt first started selling chili powder, his market was limited by the fact that Americans outside Texas did not know how to cook with it. In 1908, the company published Mexican Cooking, one of the first Tex-Mex cookbooks. This cookbook introduced Americans to what would become one of the most popular cuisines in the country and promoted the use of Gebhardt’s chili powder above similar products. The book warns that “The success of Gebhardt’s Chili Powder has naturally brought forth a host of spurious chili powders or compounds of, which the public should be aware…” and goes on to say that Gebhardt’s is the only product that delivers “That Real Mexican Tang.”*
Gebhardt’s used this same technique to promote later products like canned chili, canned beans and deviled chili meat. While the booklets describe the recipes as “real” Mexican cooking, it’s not likely that Mexicans would recognize much of the contents. The recipes include “Piquant Deviled Eggs,” “Hominy and Chili Scramble,” and “Gebhardt’s Beans in Tomato Cups.”
Osborne, Leno. Deviled Dainties. San Antonio: Gebhardt Chili Powder Co., c1922.
UTSA Libraries Special Collections acquired the Gebhardt’s Mexican Foods Company’s records in 1989 and is in the process of digitizing the collection and making it available through our digital portal. Readers of Top Shelf, UTSA Libraries Special Collections blog, have already been introduced to the collection’s photographs. Now, images of over 100 labels from Gebhardt’s products are also available at digital.utsa.edu.
Gebhardt Mexican Foods Company Records, MS 44, University of Texas at San Antonio Libraries.
Best Chili Powder in the USA, bar none. Would not use anything else…
Gebharts chili powder is the very best as my mother taught me and I have found that to be true.Their was a couple of times in my life that I tried a different chili powder and it ruined what I was making.It just was not the same quailty.I do like the new easy scoop bottle.I really would like to know what kind of chilies are used to make this wonderful chili powder.I also have taught my daughters to only use Gebharts and they also agree it is the best.
I found a small cookbook pamphlet entitled Mexican Cookery for American Homes. How old is it? It has an introduction by Helen Harvey and was priced 25 cents.
The Gebhardt company published several cookbooks with the title Mexican Cookery for American Homes: 1923, 1932, 1935/36, 1942/43, 1949, possibly one in the 1950s, and the most recent one I’ve located in 1960. Although the books have the same title, the design and recipes vary from one publication to the next.
As I don’t have access to all editions of Gebhardt’s Mexican Cookery for American Homes, I can’t definitely confirm which edition you have. It is not the 1932 or 1943 edition as these do not have introductions attributed to Helen Harvey.
Your copy might be the 1960 edition, as this edition does begin with a one page introduction by Helen Harvey. If so, it should have a yellow cover with a picture of enchiladas in a casserole dish, and the title in green and red lettering. It should be 18 cm. tall and have 46 pages. On the back cover, several canned Gebhardt products should be displayed on a red background, including chili con carne, tamales with chili gravy, chili con carne, chili beans, chili powder, deviled sandwich spread, and barbecue sauce.
My Grandmother Pauline Salas born 1925 swears by it for menudo, enchiladas and more… so do I…Denise Sepulveda Ft Worth Texas
Visited the plant 1967 while in the Army and have used the products since (when we can find them).. Wonderful company with a great name.
John Gebhardt Gainesville Florida
Gerbhart use to make what they called “Chile Meat” that came in a small can and I have not been able to find it in a long time and i was at the store today and it came to mind and I would love to know if they stil make it and where I may find it? I can even taste it it was so good. I use to take it and but of pickles in the meat and add manyo and make me a sandwich. Yum Yum If anyone out there can help please let me know . Thank you BJ
As of 1997, Gebhardt Mexican Foods was part of Hunt Foods, a division within Conagra Incorporated. I have not confirmed this, but you may be able to find additional information on Gebhardt foods on the ConAgra website: http://www.conagrafoods.com.
I loved their chili meat spread, too Mixed it with a scrambled egg and ate as a sandwich, hot or cold. I’d love to find a recipe for it. I haven’t seen any since the mid 1980′s.
Glad to hear some one else liked it amd misses it and I wish they would bring it back if they did stop making it. I can even taste it right now as how it tasted. If they still do make it I would love to know where I could get it. Thanks and maybe if they read our wnats maybe they will put it back on the shelves at stores. I live in Tyler, Texas