Division History

Dr Ferenc Simonffy refers to the link between the southern part of the Great Hungarian plain and wild camomile in his book Adatok Székkutas jelenéből és múltjából — Történelmi megemlékezés a volt vásárhelyi ‘Nagypusztáról’ (Data from the present and the past of Székkutas — A historical commemoration of the former ‘Great Puszta’ of Vásárhely), in which he writes that ‘camomile mainly grows in the saline areas of the Puszta.’ The author mentions that a succession of customers came from the Northern countries (Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Canada). According to the medical and chemical experts of those countries, ‘this plant cannot be grown artificially because cultivated camomile does not contain the substances found in camomile growing wild and on saline soil’.

After the First World War, the rise in demand on the German market created the background for camomile’s success. The Herbária Országos Gyógynövény és Selyemgubóforgalmi Szövetkezeti Vállalat (Herbarium National Medicinal Plant and Silk Cocoon Trading Cooperative) started production with a simple dryer in Székkutas in 1936-37, initially engaging in the preservation and drying of vegetables. On 23 February 1939 the central representatives of the cooperative decided to extend their activities to include the gathering and industrial drying of camomile and to build a factory necessary for this purpose.