The paper describes the development of cultures for the dairy industry by the Marschall Dairy Laboratory, which was later to become the Marschall Division of Miles Laboratories, from 4 oz mother cultures distributed in 1906 without refrigeration to ‘Superstarts’, Marschall's concentrated frozen direct‐to‐the‐vat cultures. The paper also describes the first successful large‐scale trial in the UK with direct‐to‐t