Old Bay seasoning has become a staple in Maryland, especially for crabs. The seasoning was created in Baltimore, in 1940 by a German-Jewish immigrant.

German-Jewish immigrant, Gustav Brunn and his family ran a successful fur and rawhide business, often selling spices on the side. In 1923 the value of the German mark plummeted, making the fur business unstable. It was at this time the Brunn family turned to spice making as their primary income.

As tension in German continued to grow with the rise of the Nazi regime, Gustav Brunn was arrested and taken to a concentration camp. Luckily, he and his family had secured their American visas and he was released in 10 days and him and his family immigrated to New York City and then moved to Baltimore.

With his background as a spice merchant, Brunn started making seasonings at a sausage factory. He had a few different spice merchant jobs, but eventually opened his own store, The Baltimore Spice Company, across from the Baltimore Wholesale Fish Market. The Baltimore Spice Company was in an ideal location, near grocers and meat packers.

World War II kept the Baltimore Spice Company afloat. Brunn invented an imitation pepper out of buckwheat as it was becoming nearly impossible to find regular pepper during the war. At this time Gustav Brunn also created Old Bay. Crabs were typically prepared in a rich, creamy base, and more of a simple steamed crab was considered less elevated. Originally the seasoning was called, “Delicious Brand Shrimp and Crab Seasoning,” but was shortened to “Old Bay,” named after the Old Bay Line steamliner, which sailed between Baltimore and Norfolk, VA. The creation of the seasoning elevated the more simple steamed crabs and is believed to have created a boom in the crab market in the 1940s.

Eventually Gustavs’s son Ralph took over the business to continue in his father’s footsteps. As refugees who had built their business from the ground up, the Brunns wanted to continue the legacy by hiring refugees. They described their company as “a United Nations in miniature.” It allowed their employees to have a starting point in America to establish a career, and learn English. The Baltimore Spice Company was family-owned and run until Ralph Brunn retired in 1985. McCormick bought the Old Bay spice recipe, in 1990 and sells it around the world today.

For more on the Brunn family visit Preservation Maryland.

If you would like your county featured in Fun Facts, please get in touch with Amanda Grosskrueger at agrosskrueger@mdcounties.org.