Cooks Extracts
Cook’s Extracts traces its history to 1918, when Scottish immigrant Angus T. Lochhead founded the company in St. Louis. As home refrigeration became more common, he saw growing demand for high-quality vanilla in ice cream and baked goods. He began supplying pure vanilla extract to bakeries and dairies throughout the Midwest. Even after the company’s factory was destroyed by fire in 1925, the family rebuilt the business and kept it operating through the Great Depression.
Angus’s son, Raymond R. Lochhead, later studied chemical engineering at the California Institute of Technology and applied his knowledge of aromatic chemistry to vanilla production. He developed the company’s slow, cold extraction process, designed to preserve the many natural flavor components found in vanilla beans. In 1963, Raymond established a production facility in Paso Robles, California, where the company continues its manufacturing tradition. He also expanded the product line beyond vanilla and helped develop innovative products such as pure vanilla powder and alcohol-free pure vanilla extract.
The familiar Cook’s name came from Ken Cook, a former president of Dreyer’s Ice Cream who admired Raymond’s vanilla and introduced Cook’s Pure Vanilla for home bakers during the 1980s. The Lochhead family later acquired the Cook’s brand, bringing it together with their longtime flavoring company. Today, Cook’s remains a family-owned business spanning four generations. The company sources vanilla beans from regions including Madagascar, Tonga, Tahiti, Fiji, Mexico and Uganda, while continuing to use careful bean selection and slow, cold extraction methods. Cook’s is especially fitting for your Americana product collection because it combines more than a century of American family-business history with traditional craftsmanship, scientific innovation and ingredients sourced directly from vanilla-growing regions around the world.
