The other day I received a catalog from Smucker’s and given that I love jam and jelly, I figured I’d flip through it. In the middle of the catalog is None Such Mince Meat now manufactured by Borden. This brought a bunch of things flooding into the front of my mind. First was an article written by Post-Standard’s Dick Case a couple of weeks ago on the lighting of the water tower for Christmas at Franklin Square in Syracuse. He mentioned that several items were manufactured at Franklin Square, one of which was mince meat. I was wondering which building was used by the Merrell-Soule Co. And then I remembered the photo in the OHA research center of the None Such Mince Meat parade float in front of the Merrell-Soule Co. building at Franklin Square.
None Such Mince Meat parade float with Miss None Such,
from OHA Research Center Collection
This five-story 1904 factory remains at 600 N. Franklin St. and was built at a railroad siding on what had been old solar drying beds for salt. It is now the home to Dupli printing.
Merrell-Soule Co. manufacturing building at Franklin Square, Syracuse,
from The Post-Standard Newspaper Archives
In the 1920’s, it was the headquarters of Merrell-Soule Co. with 26 plants in the US and Canada and 900 employees, half of them in Syracuse. Merrell-Soule’s signature product was None Such Mince Meat for pies perfected by G. Lewis Merrell and Oscar Soule at their small canning factory on West Fayette St. starting in 1868. When Merrell-Soule was sold to Borden Co. in 1928 it was one of the largest manufacturers of powdered milk, mince meat and powdered lemon extract in the world. Borden made None Such in Franklin Square until 1981 when production moved to Pennsylvania. The company’s research center at 600 North Franklin left in 1997.
circa 1937 None Such Mincemeat Ad
None Such Mince Meat is a mix of apples, raisins, currants, citrus peel, sugar, vinegar, cider, salt, starch, beef and spices, and sometimes brandy and rum. “Mynce pies” were mentioned in 15th-century manuscripts. People used to make their own mince meat at home until Merrell-Soule, who started out canning vegetables, discovered a way to make low-moisture, marketable mince meat from dry ingredients. It is said they started with a recipe from a family member named “Grandmother Seward.” None Such Mince Meat succeeded because it was easy to use and because of a “secret” blend of spices that accounted for half of its 27 ingredients. The company made both a dry and a wet version.
circa 1920 None Such Mincemeat Ad
Merrell-Soule had canning factories in Fayetteville and Chittenango and sold millions of the 10-cent packets of None Such Mince Meat every year. The cardboard boxes carried a drawing of a local woman, “Miss None Such,” proudly holding a mince pie. Miss None Such did the job for mince meat that Betty Crocker and the Jolly Green Giant did for their products.
Sources:
Onondaga Historical Association
The Post-Standard Newspaper Archives
Click here to see a cookie recipe using None Such Mince Meat.
Nature Woman 
Pam, while I enjoyed learning about the history None Such Mince Meat and mincemeat pies, I admit that I don’t ever remember tasting a mincemeat pie, nor do I ever plan to… I’ll have a lemon pie first.
Mary – I’m glad you liked the history. I do too! I tasted a piece of mince pie once and it was yucky, but I don’t like raisins, currants, or citrus peels anyway. There was always a mince pie at Thanksgiving and other times of year because my Dad liked it. However, the prize cookies I remember liking. I wouldn’t eat them now, but when I was a kid they were good!
What a fun and interesting post Pam. I have always wondered exactly what “mincemeat” was, and now I know. Like Mary, I think I’d prefer less meat in my pie…lol. :c)
Jayne – Thank you! You and Mary would probably like Mince Meat, but I’m with you, I prefer to eat another type of pie first!
Well, I like it! Not with meat though. Thanks for reminding me that I usually make one at Christmas. I use a green tomato mincemeat recipe and subsitute a pear for the tomato. Works fine, and both my husband and I like it.
Glad to hear the beginnings of None Such. Do you know that little ten cent box is four or five dollars now!
I love mincemeat pie and we always had it at home at Christmas. The family I married into seems to have a genetic aversion to raisins, so I haven’t had this pie for years. It is so rich, I cannot eat a pie by myself. There are lots of meatless mincemeats around too.
Sandy – That’s good! And your recipe sounds good, if I were to like mincemeat in any form. I can’t believe how expensive it is now!
Ruth – That’s too bad you haven’t had mincemeat in a while! I don’t care for the meatless mincemeat either, because I don’t like raisins either.
Hmm, does sound interesting! 🙂 Thanks for sharing Pam!
I made a mincemeat pie at Christmas this year and took half of it to my in-laws who are both 92 years old. The other half went to my husband’s aunt who is 102 years old. Well, the old folks just raved on and on about how wonderful it was (I used the jar of NoneSuch and Pillsbury pie crusts – how easy was that!)
Long story short: I live in Austin, Texas and have tried every store in town to buy some more mincemeat, but to no avail. It’s definitely a seasonal thing down here. I am originally from Nova Scotia and maybe the British tastes are still prevalent in that part of Canada, thus I like it too.
I am trying to order some of the condensed (box) kind on-line – I think Borden has a website.
Marion,
I live in Kerrville and our HEB has it on an end shelf. Be sure to ask. I love mincemeat and use it as a filling in my cinnamon rolls. Hope you find some.
I’m very dissappointed this thanksgiving season that none of my local grocery stores carry the boxes of Borden None Such Mincemeat.
Lisa – I would talk to the manager of my favorite grocery store and ask him to get it in! Lots of people like mincemeat.
Thanks to your original post, Pam, I could blog about mincemeat pie in an advertising vein for Thanksgiving – it’s up on my Signalwriter blog now.
On the eaglenonesuch.com website, mincemeat searchers can use the “Product Locator” feature or (better yet), order None Such Mincemeat directly from Eagle Family Foods online.
All the best for Thanksgiving – and an extra slice oaf pie for everyone!
I have been looking for Bordan None Such Mincement, Condensed.
I found it on the Wegmans website this a.m.
9 oz box sells for $3.29 at the Dewitt store in aisle 27B. At least that is what the website said.
Although I have never had a mincemeat pie, I have grown up having the prize cookies as one of my favorite treats every year during the holidays. I now make them myself and everyone who initially turns their nose up, tries a bite, and falls in love. To note, the recipe on the box over the years has changed slightly, and I still use the older version.
I really enjoyed reading the history of my favorite holiday pie. Thank you!
I have looked in all the grocery stores in my area of NC for the boxes of None Such with no luck. I had my mother look in her Long Island stores also with the same result. We were both told it wasn’t ordered this year. I don’t know what their justification is – but it’s certainly not customer service! I’m now going to the website to place an order. Thank goodness the mince meat has a long shelf life.
Interesting site, glad I found you. Lost my recipe for the bar cookies that was on the box back in the ’50s. Does anyone still have it. Hard to find the boxes of None Such here in my area of Maine.
How can I get the mincemeat cookies to be crisp and not soft?
How does one get the mincemeat cookies to be crisp?
http://www.eaglenonesuch.com/ they have a bar cookie recipe. I don’t know if it’s the one you are looking for or not.
MY MOTHER-IN-LAW USED TO MAKE FRUITCAKE EVERY YEAR USING NONESUCH MINCEMEAT. tHE MOST FAAB EVER!! IS THERE A RECIPE FOR FRUITCAKE ON THE BACK OF THE MINCEMEAT JAR? I’VE GOT TO FIND THIS RECIPE. ANYONE WITH A RECIPE USING NONESUCH PLEASE EMAIL ME AT ITCHK4@COX.NET.
I used to make that cake and I also cannot find it. If you have it could you please e-mail it to me?
Magic Fruitcake
Ingredients:
1 ½ c. (15 oz can) of Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
9 oz package of NoneSuch Condensed Mincemeat + 1 ½ cups boiling water
(crumbled mincemeat into boiling water, remove from heat, stir a bit and let cool)
1 cup candied cherries
1 cup candied pineapple
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
2 ½ cups of sifted all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Directions
Grease, line with waxed paper, and grease again your pans. In large bowl blend condensed milk, eggs, reconstituted and cooled mincemeat, fruits and nuts. Sift flour and soda on top of batter; fold in. Turn batter into pans. Bake in 300 degree oven until center springs back when lightly touched (about 2 hours for a tube cake or 1 ½ hours for loaves). Cool for 5 minutes in pans. Turn cake out of pan, peel off waxed paper, and cool completely. Decorate with cherries and almonds if desired.
Did you ever find the recipe for the Fruitcake using Nonsuch mincemeat?
I would love a copy if you did.
Thanks,
Angie
hi, i am trying to find out where to find the none such pecan filling for pies after the holidays year before last found one jar on shelf at store it was a pie like i remember from my grandmothers in 5 grade. one jar.have not found sence anyone knows how to find a places to order please let the cat ouy of the bag sure a puzzle to me thank you for your help.
Iwould llike to know where I can find condensed Mincemeat for making prize cookies. I cant find it in any of the grocery stores. Waiting to hear from you. Nelda Sleeman
where can I buy none such mince meat in pembroke pines or miami florida?
I, too, am frustrated because I cannot find this dry mincemeat product in any of my local grocery stores. Where do you suggest I look next?
Electa Cook
I used to make fruitcake many years ago with None Such Mince Meat. My sister just asked me to make one but I no longer have the recipe. It used to be on the jar. If anyone has it please post. Thank you. Never had a mince meat pie, however.
@electa cook
Walmart always have it during the Christmas holidays.
I need some nonesuch mince meat to make my grandmas fruit cake!
but I have moved to Florida and I can’t find it! Help!
Who sells Bordens None Such Mincemeat?
Wal Mart sells None Such Mince Meat in the Jar from Oct. to Jan.
I have always loved mincemeat pie. I grew up with it and my mother made hard sauce to go on top. Very rich so you just put a small dollop on time of the crust. So yummy! (I can’t imagine not liking raisins!) I do have a question….does any know how long a sealed jar of mincemeat lasts? It seems like it could be years but I am not sure. If anyone has any input, I’d appreciate it.
Hello all,
I am the great-great granddaughter of G. Lewis Merrell. I never knew about the Merrell-Soule Co. until after my great-grandfather passed away and we found the papers for the selling of the company to Bordan’s.
It’s kind of cool to learn a little more about the company.
Thank you!
Looking for a “lighter” version of a mincemeat recipe. Seems that these younger generations don’t like the rich / strong tastes. I was thinking along the lines of a mincemeat & cream cheese(?) in a phyllo crust kind of thing.
Pam,
Thanks for the history. I lived in Syracuse until 1999, I was 42 when I moved away and I never knew that None Such Mincemeat was made there. My maternal grandfather and grandmother introduced mince pie to me as a child and I have always loved it. Grandpa would have loved your article and proabably would have had a story of his own to tell.I live in North Carolina(the gem of the south) now and most people here that are natives do not know of mincemeat and finding it is like finding treasure. i went to a local Walmart today and found the None Such brand and bought 4 jars. I think it has been at least 5 years since i have had a none Such Mince pie..I will think of your article often during the upcoming holiday season, Thank You
Harry Weyer
Mooresville, BC
I also am a mincement lover but have been having trouble finding it in the local stores. I have found the wet version in jars but perfer the dry in the box. My mom always made the pies for Thanksgiving and Christmas but added a box of golden raisens and a fresh tart apple such as granny smith. I continue to make them the same way. I have made the cookies and was surprised that my grand-daughter really liked them. The bar cookies sound good and I would love to have the receipt. Thanks, Cathy in Southern California
Yes Yes I still remember my Mom when she would make minced meat pies with nonsuch mincedmeat boy what a great pie
Pam, thank you so much for the info. I’m a lifetime vegetarian and my deceased mom used to make veg.mincemeat pie for me. Never got her receipe tho. I read in England where they made mincemeat, but it what we call ground meat lol,
http://www.eaglenonesuch.com/ This will lead anyone looking for NoneSuch Mincemeat .
I just discovered this article when I was searching online for a source of None Such Mincemeat. Not only does my local grocery not stock it, but no one who works there had ever heard of mince meat pie. Most of them were young, but not all. How strange is that? (By the way, this is in the Mid-Hudson Valley in NY, not Outer Borneo.)
I loved mincemeat pie as a child, and learned young how to make hard sauce. For children it was salted butter beaten with confectioners sugar and some vanilla or rum flavoring. When I grew up, I started making the “real thing” with significantly more rum. Either way, it was fabulous. (But a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a big dab of whipped cream is almost as nice.)
Now, since I discovered I’m celiac, there is very little pie crust in my life (since I can’t eat wheat and only occasionally stumble on gluten-free pie crust in the grocer’s freezer section). But I still use mincemeat to flavor my apple crumbles (topped with gluten-free crumbs). Not as sharp or strong as totally mincemeat pie, but more palatable to friends whose taste buds are startled by the spiciness of mincemeat.
And when I can’t get mincemeat, I fake it with a lot of spices (especially Ceylon cinnamon and cloves) and a generous amount of dried currents and some grated lemon peel. It’s still an apple pie with extras, but if I close my eyes I can almost imagine I’m eating the real thing.
JIM LIVING MIN az–i have only a jar of mincemeat. i want to bake a pie. can you help me??
My brother and I both have winter birthdays, and when we were growing up, our grandmother never failed to ship us a box of mincemeat bars. Ohhhhh so yummy. She is gone, so I carry on the tradition and send them to my brother. I was so disappointed that I couldn’t find the condensed this year either. I’m thinking of buying several online so this doesn’t happen again!
Grandma’s recipe calls for extra raisins, apple and some water. It is not a super sweet treat, but it is a comfort food for us.
Hello Ldies! This is a great site! I was looking for NoneSuch Mincemeat pie filling for the holiday fruitcake and they did not have it at Publix, and the manager said it was a “by-gone” product! I went to Walmart and found it in the “baking” aisle in the jars. Was so happy, because I only recently found out my two married sons and their wives LOVE fruitcake! Hadn’t made this recipe in years but it is the BEST and EASIEST fruitcake recipe to be had! I lost my recipe years ago and it took a deep search on line, to find it! So I want to share it with everyone who may be interested. It is a little pricey to make, but it puts “store bought” fruitcake to shame! (My mother told me, my grandmother used to make several fruitcakes for the holidays, about in September, and kept them stored, all wrapped up, in the cold cellar, and would go down, and drizzle a little brandy over them, every week. Those were probably SOME FRUITCAKES!) Here is the famous NoneSuch Mincemeat fruitcake recipe!
Holiday Fruitcake With Mincemeat
oven 350 degrees
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/4 to 3/4 cup water
2 packages Pillsbury Quick Bread (date bread or nut bread)
1 jar NoneSuch mincemeat
2 cups pecans, chopped (I use WHOLE nuts!)
2 cups candied fruit (i use 3! and the big green & red cherries, pineapple etc,)
Generously grease and flour a 10 cup, fluted, Bundt pan. In a large bowl, combine water and eggs. Add remaining ingredients by hand. Stir well until combined. (Mixture works better if stirred after each addition of ingredients.)
Pour (spoon, really!) into prepared pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 70-80 minutes.or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes, then invert on cooling rack. Cool completely. Wrap in plastic wrap and then foil and store in the refrigerator!
(My oven runs just a little hot, so I’m going to set it on 340 degrees. These cakes cook for a long time and you do not want to scorch them. Also, always only cook one fruitcake at a time.)
my son Richard and I LOVE MINCEMEAT ANYTHING. I am dreaming up recipes for him with mincemeat. the others are afraid.
I buy both bottled and condensed None Such Mincemeat on Amazon.com. They carry both varieties at a great price, and my brother loves anything mincemeat as long as it is made with “None Such”
Janet. I have searched for. Mince meat to make my son mincemeat bars. A cookie type with an oatmeal mixture top and bottom mincemeat in center. From my adult sons childhood. My son has liver cancer and this is his only request for me to send him some mincemeat bars but I can not find. It in May in Florida. Can any oñe help. May 2015. reddollonè@yahoo.com.
Did you ever find the mincemeat recipe you were looking for? If not, I have one which might be suitable.
1 1/4 c light brown sugar
1 1/2 c rolled oats
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 c shortening
3/4 c chopped nuts
1 1/3 cups prepared mincemeat
1 egg yolk
1 Tbl water
Combine sugar, oats, flour and salt; cut in shortening; add nuts. Press half in 9x9x2″ pan; spread mincemeat evenly over layer in pan. Sprinkle remaining crumb mixture over top. Combine egg yolk and water; brush over crumbs. Bake at 400 for 20 to 25 min or until browned. Cool; cut into squares.
Hope there is still time to make these for your son. I’m really sorry to hear about his illness.
Best wishes,
Linda from California
Can anyone tell me how to substitute the bottled mincemeat for the dehydrated kind in a recipe?
I have another recipe for fruitcake from Nonesuch dating from the 60s or 70s.
Ever-so-Easy Fruitcake
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 28-oz jar mincemeat
1 14-oz can condensed milk (not evaporated milk)
2 cups (1 lb) mixed candied fruit
1 c coarsely chopped nuts
Preheat oven to 300. Grease and flour a 9″ tube pan or 10″ fluted tube pan.
Sift flour and baking powder; set aside. In large bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 1 hour and 15 min or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 15 min; turn out of pan. Glaze and garnish as desired.
Store by wrapping well in foil and refrigerate or freeze.
I also used to make a scrumptious fruitcake using the lamented and no-longer available Betty Crocker Date Bar Mix as a base, adding candied fruit, nuts, molasses and a package of Nonesuch condensed mincemeat. Even people who hate fruitcake like that!
Happy fruitcake and mincemeat season!
Cant find it this year The candied fruits are every where but not the non such
There was a wonderful mince pie recipe in a small Pillsbury cookbook years ago. It had orange juice as one of the ingredients. I would love to find that recipe again. If anyone knows. We made it with none-such mincemeat
I love this article. My great granduncle Gaius Merrell is where the “Merrell” in Merrell Soule (creators of None Such MM) comes from. My dad Robert Merrell Moore was born in 1904 and went to 13 public schools in 13 years, because his father traveled the country setting up powered milk factories. I love baking – nice coincidence. Here in PA, ShopRite carries the mince meat, and Wegmans used to.
Updated contrive page:
http://eileen.web1.telrock.net
I am a member of a rappie pie facebook group and someone is asking if anyone has a recipe for nonsuch bread that she had as a child. No one has a one. Do you?