Today I found out what the eight juices are in V8 vegetable juice.

The included juices in the original V8 100% vegetable juice come from tomatoes, carrots, celery, beets, parsley, lettuce, watercress, and spinach.  The dominate juice in this mixture is tomato juice comprising nearly 87% of the total juice.

The V8 vegetable juice blend was created by W.G. Peacock in 1933 in Evanston, IL.  Peacock was the founder of the New England Products Company, which made a variety of vegetable juices and marketed them under the brand name “Vegemin”.  Not surprisingly, vegetable juice wasn’t a big seller at first given that the original juices were sold as pure juice from specific vegetables.

In order to try to boost sales, Peacock began experimenting with mixing the juices from different vegetables to improve on the overall flavor.  Eventually, he came up with the recipe for “Vege-min 8”, which was later shortened to “V8” at the suggestion of a local grocery store in Evanston, Illinois that was carrying the product.

Bonus Facts:

• The V8 recipe was purchased by the Campbell Soup Company in 1948, which was the same year W.G. Peacock died.
• At the time V8 was acquired by Campbell’s in 1948, Ronald Reagan was the leading spokesman for V8.
• The iconic label on Campbell soups was devised all the way back in 1898 by Herberton Williams.  Williams was an executive at Campbell’s and was inspired by the colors and uniforms of the Cornell University football team.  The gold medal on the labels is from a gold medal Campbell’s won at the 1900 Paris Exhibition.  The Campbell’s label has changed very little in the more than 100 years since its creation.
• “Joseph Campbell & Co.”, which later became the Campbell Soup Company, was put on the map in the late 19th and early 20th century thanks to a nephew of the general manager named Arthur Dorrance.  Dorrance was a chemist and during his time with Campbell he developed a way to condense soup by taking out most of the water content.  This and other such successes with Campbell’s eventually saw him made president of the company from 1914 to 1930.  He also later purchased the company outright from the Campbell family.
• Along with the Campbell’s brand line of soups and the V8 line, Campbell’s also owns the following other major brands: Pace Foods (salsas), Pepperidge Farm, Prego, and Swanson, among others.