What Exactly Goes Into Old Bay Seasoning?

As any Marylander will tell you, Old Bay seasoning is the pride of the Old Line State. Old Bay is to Maryland as key lime pie is to Florida, or the ice cream potato is to Idaho. The iconic spice mix boosts classic summer seafood boils, beef, poultry and even dips with its smoky flavor. Of course, the spice notes of Old Bay are also a natural pairing with Maryland's famous blue crab. The state's signature preparation style involves steaming crabs fished from the Chesapeake's salty waters in a mixture of beer and vinegar, then dousing them in Old Bay.

The exact ingredients that go into Old Bay's salty and spicy mixture are kept pretty quiet by the McCormick company. Before McCormick came into possession of the recipe, Old Bay began with Gustav Brunn, a spice merchant and German-Jewish refugee. Brunn and his family arrived in Maryland where Brunn worked briefly at the McCormick Spice Company before starting his own spice shop. Now the purveyors of Old Bay, McCormick has kept the exact recipe confidential, only revealing that the current formula of 18 herbs and spices includes salt, celery seed, paprika, and mustard, plus red and black pepper.

Gustav Brunn came to America as a refugee. In 1938, Brunn was taken to a Nazi concentration camp in Germany. Brunn's wife managed to pay a lawyer to secure her husband's release and soon after, the Brunn family fled to America. Once in Baltimore, Brunn found work with McCormick. His brief tenure at the company lasted only a few days before he was fired because of his Jewish heritage. Brunn opened his own shop, The Baltimore Spice Company, run only by him, his wife Bianca, and his son Ralph.

The new business was conveniently situated close to Baltimore's fish markets — and eventually, seafood sellers started to scour Brunn's shop for flavors to pair with the local crab hauls. Seeing a business opportunity, Brunn began to develop a spice blend with the seafood fans in mind. Brunn's original recipe mixed together 19 herbs and spices, including celery salt, paprika, red and black pepper, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. 

The unexpected spices in the blend gave the local crab a surprising flavor and the number of ingredients made the recipe harder for competitors to replicate. Brunn eventually gave his seasoning blend the local moniker of "Old Bay," the nickname of a nearby steamship line.

Five years after Brunn's death in 1985, McCormick purchased his company and with it, the secret spice blend that had become a favorite for local seafood consumers. While McCormick has kept the bulk of the Old Bay recipe a secret, the company has revealed enough of the formula for cooks and recipe developers to create convincing at-home replicas of the hot commodity.

Old Bay's deep orange blend is loaded with layers of salty flavor. To make your own, you'll be getting pretty comfortable with the shelves of your spice rack. Recipe developer Miriam Hahn's (hot) take on a homemade Old Bay spice blend involves a modest combination of 12 spices: celery seed, salt, paprika, cayenne pepper, black pepper, dry mustard, allspice, cardamom, cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger, and nutmeg. Store the mixture in an airtight container to heat up meat, veggies and side dishes. Hahn even recommends dressing up popcorn with a dash of Old Bay.