Romantic story of a Valentine creation

The creation of a meat juice recipe may not sound the most romantic of stories on Valentine’s Day, but behind its invention lies a touching love story.

In the Horsham Museum & Art Gallery archives is this little bottle that bears the name Valentine’s Meat Juice.

Back in 1870 in Richmond, Virginia, USA, Mann Valentine and his wife Anne Maria, plus children, were living a happy and contented life.

However, Anne Maria became very ill and the doctors were unable to come up with a cure. She was unable to eat much at all and began to waste away in front of Mann’s eyes.

Determined to do all he could for his wife, Mann set to with a rudimentary knowledge of chemistry and began concocting a tonic of sorts from the blood and meat of a cow.

In fact, it was probably the iron in the liquid that helped Anne Maria regain her strength, but it was certainly the devotion to his wife that spurred Mann on.

News that Anne Maria was recovering meant that there was soon a demand for this new ‘elixir’.

So Mann put his sons to work and Valentine’s Meat Juice hit the shelves to great acclaim. Sadly, Anne Maria passed away in 1873 but the tonic, made with love, lived on.

By 1878 the Meat Juice had reached a global audience and was on pharmacy shelves around the world.

It was used to combat cholera and typhoid and was drunk by royalty.

By the 1940s it was known more as an ‘extract’ and moved to the grocery shelves. In the coming years vitamin pills and dietary supplements overtook Valentine’s Meat Juice and by 1957 the company finally closed down.

Mann Valentine had died in 1892 but had left a lasting legacy that had been crafted with love.