H and H Extracts

H and H Extracts—baking flavors such as vanilla, Extract of Lemon, and related essences—were sold as part of Hoffmann-Hayman’s broader grocery shelf next to coffee, H and H Tea, H and H Spices, and H and H Cocoa. The Welcome post and About page group those lines with the roastery’s main business; collection posts on spices note that coffee-house equipment could be turned to extracts as well as spices (allspice, cinnamon).

November 1932 — joint Spice & Extract Department

The 28 November 1932 Express-News article announcing Hoffmann-Hayman’s separate Spice and Extract Department treats extracts as a co-equal sub-line with spices: the combined roster runs to “over 33 different spices and extracts” and was promoted out of the coffee sales force into dedicated handling at the same moment H&H occupied the new Delaware Street plant. R. W. Menger (secretary) announced the move. The article also asserts H&H had “for many years produced spices and extracts under the H. and H. brand,” placing the internal start of the extract line earlier than the 1923 first-documented promotion. See H and H Spices for the full department-formation narrative.

Products

Named offerings

Period literature and company rosters list at least:

1. Vanilla extract (and related vanilla essences)
2. Extract of Lemon
3. Other flavor extracts (almond, mixed “flavoring,” compounds) — still being mapped from advertisements and wholesale lists

Grocery firms of the era typically sold these in small glass bottles with cork, screw, or proprietary seals. Hoffmann-Hayman bottle shapes and full flavor list are not yet reconstructed from labeled H and H examples in this archive.

Packaging

No confirmed Hoffmann-Hayman extract bottle or label has been catalogued with a clear San Antonio attribution. The site Wanted list calls out H and H Vanilla Extract, Extract of Lemon, and H and H Extracts (generic) as priorities.

December 1932 — vanilla extract in a printed carton (period photographic evidence)

The 19 December 1932 Express-News introductory-bundle photograph for the new 3-lb Crystalvac jar shows the bundled accessories on a counter between the two Crystalvac jars: two cups and saucers, an “H AND H / TEA” carton, an “H-H / SPICES” carton (the bundle’s “package of black pepper”), and — between the tea and spices cartons — a tall narrow printed carton consistent with H and H Vanilla Extract. The article copy describes the bundled vanilla as “one bottle of vanilla extract”, so the photographic evidence is best read as a vanilla bottle inside a printed retail carton in the same H and H trade-dress family as the parallel tea and spices cartons. This is the first photographic documentation in the project of H and H vanilla packaging — earlier evidence (1923 Light products spread) shows only the Extract of Lemon tin.

The vanilla still belongs on the Wanted list — a surviving carton or the inside bottle would confirm the wordmark, the bottling/co-packing line, and whether the carton was vanilla-specific or a generic extracts carton used across flavors.

Research: Kork-N-Seal “extract” bottle (attribution open)

The only extract-adjacent glass write-up so far is Small Kork-N-Seal extract bottle—an eBay find described as a possible vanilla jar with H & H embossed on the base. The post walks through why the letters might mean Haig & Haig (Scotch) rather than Hoffmann-Hayman, and why the shape does not match known Three Rivers H and H work. Treat it as a research object, not a catalogued H and H retail package, until better evidence appears.

Reference photography

Confirmed H and H extract bottles are still absent from Our Collection; follow-up research objects are noted under Packaging.

Newspaper & period branding

Lemon extract tin from the 26 Aug 1923 San Antonio Light products display and from the companion spices / extracts / cocoa spread.

• Lemon extract — products ad · Spices-quality lemon crop · Newspaper ads · Branding in Newspapers

Related lines

• H and H Spices — parallel small-format grocery tins; joint Spice & Extract Department from November 1932.
• H and H Tea — tea tins and cartons.
• H and H Cocoa — dry grocery extension (still thin on this site).
• H and H Product Line — product-family index.
• Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company — corporate hub.

Open questions

1. Pre-1923 internal origin — the November 1932 Express-News department-formation article asserts H&H had “for many years produced” spices and extracts; the earlier internal start date is unrecoverable from the captured sources.
2. Full flavor inventory — beyond Vanilla and Extract of Lemon, the 1932 “over 33 spices and extracts” combined roster is largely unidentified for the extract side; possible candidates include almond, orange, peppermint, and the compound “flavorings” typical of period grocery lines.
3. Bottle shapes and label formats — no confirmed H&H extract bottle has been photographed; the Kork-N-Seal “H & H” base-embossed bottle (above) remains attribution-open between Hoffmann-Hayman and Haig & Haig Scotch. The 19 Dec 1932 Crystalvac bundle photograph documents a vanilla-extract carton in the same trade-dress family as the parallel tea / spices cartons but at newsprint scale — the underlying bottle shape and the carton’s specific wordmark are still unrecoverable.
4. In-house bottling vs. co-packed — same unresolved question as on H and H Spices: labels read “Packed for Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Co.” without indicating where the bottling happened.
5. Post-1932 silence — after the November 1932 department article, extracts drop out of the project’s documented sources. The 1942 H&H wholesale price sheets cover coffee SKUs only; whether the extract line was discontinued, transferred, or simply unrecorded in the captured window is unresolved.

Wanted

1. H and H Vanilla Extract — bottle, label, or carton with readable Hoffmann-Hayman copy (also on the Wanted “Most Wanted” list).
2. H and H Extract of Lemon — bottle, label, or carton with readable Hoffmann-Hayman copy.
3. Any other H and H–branded extract (almond, “flavoring,” compound bottles, etc.).
4. Advertisements, cookbooks, or store cards that name H and H extracts alongside spices or coffee.
5. Factory price lists or invoices that prove which flavors were actually bottled in San Antonio.

When the first confirmed package is photographed, add images under assets/images/gallery/ and mirror the layout used on H and H Spices.