A bottle of tomato sauce is an unlikely place to find a Scottish connection. Yet All Gold’s own history credits Scottish chemist John Semble with bringing the secret behind its recipe to South Africa in 1908. 

The sauce’s beginnings were in Paarl in the Western Cape, where its early production method involved something closer to an enormous spice infusion than a modern bottling line.

Spices in a Muslin Bag

According to Tiger Brands, All Gold was originally made by lowering muslin bags filled with herbs and spices into pots of crushed tomatoes. The fabric held the seasoning while allowing it to flavour the mixture. The company dates the sauce’s commercial launch to 1908. 

Semble’s part in the story is recorded in the brand’s heritage account. It traces the product’s origins, not proof that every ingredient and manufacturing step has remained unchanged for 118 years.

By 1959, the brand’s timeline records mass production in Paarl and Langlaagte, taking the sauce beyond its early beginnings. 

Remember the Giant Bottle?

For many readers, the more familiar chapter will be the advertising.

All Gold’s timeline dates its television advertising debut to 1975, with tomatoes jumping into a sauce bottle. In 1990, children were shown cramming tomatoes into a giant bottle in the “36 tomatoes” commercial. 

The packaging changed too. In 2004, the brand introduced its upside-down squeeze bottle as an alternative to squeezing sauce out of the traditional glass version.

The Story Starts Before the Kitchen

An agricultural chapter also sits behind the bottle.

In a 2024 report, ProAgri described tomato seedlings being raised at Riverside Nursery in Musina for farmers supplying Tiger Brands. The company supplied the seed for selected tomato cultivars, with seedlings typically going to growers about 28 to 32 days after planting.

The nursery was also checking the tomatoes’ expected soluble-solids content, measured as Brix. Choosing suitable tomatoes began well before harvesting and processing.

Paarl Still Has a Part to Play

The historical connection continues through ingredients.

In July 2026, Tiger Brands announced a redevelopment of its Paarl facility costing more than R200 million. It included a vinegar plant with annual capacity of three million litres, supporting products including All Gold tomato sauce, Mrs Ball’s chutney and Crosse & Blackwell mayonnaise.

The announcement identifies Paarl as a production site for vinegar, jams and other sauces. It also identifies Boksburg as a manufacturing location for All Gold, among other brands. 

The Bottom Line

The familiar bottle has a history stretching from spice-filled muslin bags to nursery trays and modern manufacturing. Its Scottish connection belongs to the brand’s account of its beginnings; the generations of South African production that followed give the story its local flavour.