Adams® Extract & Spice LLC currently produces well over 100 extracts, spices, and food colors in a variety of sizes, but the company will always be best known for its vanilla extract, ADAMS BEST®.

Adams® Extract traces it beginnings back to 1888 when John Anderson Adams sold extracts in the harsh Michigan climate. In 1905 he moved his family to Texas. At the time, most vanilla was sold to pharmacies and was often labeled “Do not bake or freeze.” John A. Adams, a pharmacist whose imagination was stirred by his wife’s yearning for a flavoring that wouldn’t bake or freeze out, announced that he could produce a better vanilla than the one his wife was currently using. Working with just $6.71 worth of materials on top of an old icebox, Adams discovered the formula he wanted.

To test this product, his wife whipped up a cake for the family to try. “John, this is the BEST flavoring I have ever used,” she announced. “Well, that’s old man Adams BEST,” he responded. The name stuck.

The double-strength extract was sold door-to-door by sons Fred and Don. At night, by the light of kerosene lamps, the boys helped their father print labels. The first bottle of Adams Best vanilla was sold with the guarantee that if it was not the best vanilla extract the customer had ever used, the company would refund their money, even if the whole bottle was used.

Shortly after World War II, Adams® Extract began diversifying its product line and expanding its operations. By the early 1960s a spice division was added. In 2002 Adams® Extract was moved to Gonzales, TX under its new name of Adams® Extract & Spice LLC.

Adams® Extract & Spice LLC proudly manufactures and markets under several Adams® Brand banners, including Adams Best®, Adams Extract®, Adams ClearVan®, Adams® Seasoning & Spice , Adams Reserve®, Flavor King™, Adams Pantry Basics™, Sear-n-Crust®, Zesty-Full™, Parslic®, Carniceria® and Culinary Tonight®. In addition, Adams® is proud to manufacture some of the nations most respected Private Label Brands as well as serve as contract manufacture for many legacy Regional Brands of seasonings and spice.