Old Bay

In 1939, a German immigrant, Gustav Brunn, opened a spot in Baltimore's Market Place. He ground up a combination of celery salt, mustard, red and black pepper, bay leaves, cloves, allspice, ginger, mace, cardamom, cinnamon and paprika and sold it in a yellow can. The name is from the Old Bay Line, a steam ship taking passengers between Baltimore and Norfolk, VA from the 1840s to 1962. About twenty years ago, the company was bought out by another Maryland spice company - McCormick.