The Fascination of Tabasco Sauce

On my recent trip to Louisiana, I discovered that Avery Island, the home of Tabasco Sauce was a short distance from my hotel. On a sunny Sunday afternoon I traveled to the plant to see exactly how Tabasco Sauce is made. It was an amazing experience and nothing what I expected. Avery Island sits atop a natural salt bed which is said to be as deep as Mt. Everest is tall. It is coarser and almost looks like sea salt.

Avery Island, Louisiana, is the home of the McIlhenny family. About 130 years ago, a gift of Capsicum frutescens peppers from China or Central America was presented to Edmund McIlhenny. Soon his private pepper sauce was being requested by friends and acquaintances alike and the business was born. They outgrew the land and in 1965, the family transferred some of the growing of the peppers to Central America. The McIlhenny family still supervises every step of the growing and manufacturing process.

The pepper seeds are planted every February in the greenhouses where they remain until mid-April after the last frost when they are transferred to the field. The plants grow and mature until August when they turn the perfect shade of deep red and are ready to be picked. The full size of the pepper is only about 1 to 1-1/2 inches. The red peppers are picked daily by field workers who use a little red stick called Le Petit Baton Rouge which is painted the exact color of the ripened pepper. This way there is consistency in all peppers picked.

The same day the peppers are picked they are ground into a mash with a small amount of Avery Island salt. The mash is placed into oak casks supplied by companies such as Jack Daniels or Jim Beam. The casks are sealed and the tops are covered with salt from the island and holes are drilled into the top of the casks to allow ventilation. This is done to keep the barrels from exploding during the fermentation process which lasts three years. Yes, you heard it right, they store these barrels for three full years.

At the end of three years, the barrels are opened and the mash mixed with a special vinegar and secret spices and placed in large mixing vats. The vats are stirred for the next 30 days. At the end of this, the mash mixture is run through three separate screens to extract the pepper pulp and seeds. The bottles are then ready to be filled with the familiar red cap and labels applied.

Approximately 720,000 bottles per day are manufactured and shipped to over 160 countries, in 22 different languages. Nothing is wasted in the process. The pulp and seed by-products that were strained from the Tabasco mash are used to make well-known products, some of which you may know. These include Ben Gay, Icy-Hot, Close-Up toothpaste, Spam, Slim Jim beef sticks, Heinz ketchup, A1 Steak Sauce, Cheez-It Crackers, Lawry's salt and Vlasic pickles, to name just a few.

I had the opportunity to visit the country store and taste Tabasco ice cream and a line of special Tabasco Sauce dips and Tabasco cola. They even take the barrels that the mash was stored in and chip it to make charcoal briquettes that are wonderful for barbecuing. There is always a story behind the product sitting on the shelf of your local supermarket.

Peace and love.