Cottee's is an old Australian foods manufacturing company, founded in the year
1920 by
Lismore farmer
Spencer Cottee.
Spencer's main crop was the exotic Passionfruit which thrived in the hot northern New South Wales town, close to today's hippy capital, Byron Bay.
In 1920, the Cottee family formed the company based on commerical processing of the passionfruit grown on the farm. Early experimentation led to the creation of a sweet passionfruit soft drink, Passiona. Throughout the 1920's the company developed a small range of fruit-based products, including jams ("jelly" to our North American friends), jelly ("jello" to our North American friends), cordials and even peanut butter.
By 1966, the latest company structure, Cottee's General Foods was one of Australia's largest food manufacturers. In 1984, Cottee's was sold to the UK-owned Cadbury's Schweppes food behemoth.
NOT CUT AND PASTE -- ADAPTED FROM COTTEE'S CORPORATE MATERIALS