When I saw this product at a supermarket in Sweden, I had to buy it. Even though I had no idea what it was. The clerk in the store was equally puzzled, mumbling something about "preservative."
Now I have found out that "Atamon" is a Danish product that is used in jellies and pickles to preserve the freshness of the food for longer. It was apparently quite useful during WWII.
Which does not explain the very weird image on the bottle. Any guesses why it has a stereotypical "Chinaman" on the front?
I may need to get this on a tee-shirt!
It often used to wash old jars etc that you want to use for homemade jam.
I have no idea why there is a Chinaman on the front but “political correctness” in Denmark isn´t nearly as influential as in the US so thats probably why he is still there… 🙂
Ah good to know! Thanks!
The brand Tørsleff goes back to late 18th century. It focused on import, distribution and marketing of food products to the Danish market. Guess the china man on the Atamon product is a symbol for import.
Atamon contains Benzoic acid and Sodium benzoate.
Tørsleffs has other products with different strange figures. Check out the home page of the company who bought up Tørsleffs:
http://www.haugen-gruppen.se/produkter/0/19759/19807/19535/dagligvaror/saft_sylt_bakning/torsleff_s.aspx
By the way – you can also use it as a fungicide when cutting plants 🙂