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- Hot Sauce
Brands - Tabasco
 The
story of Tabasco could be the history of commercial hot sauce,
it could even be the history of modern America since the sauce
dates back to the American Civil war and in a way was even
a byproduct of it. As best as we know the Tabasco pepper seeds
were first bought from Mexico to Louisiana by Colonel Maunsell
White around 1849. He grew them successfully on his Deer Range
Plantation in New Orleans and even produced his own sauce,
marketed as Tobasco (a frequent misspelling of Tabasco at
the time). Colonel White was a great benefactor of his pepper
seeds, believing them to be of great benefit healthwise to
the community, and in 1859 gifted some seeds to his friend
Edmund McIlhenny. Equally enthusiastic, McIlhenny planted
up and nurtured the seeds on his Avery Island plantation and
started himself to explore the world of hot sauce production.
It's said that at the time the local food was in desperate
need of some zest and McIlhenny figured that hot sauce would
be just the thing. Unfortunately, just as things were really
happening the American Civil War intervened and by 1863 the
hostilities forced McIlhenny and his family out of their home;
for the duration of the war they relocated to Sao Antonio,
Texas. It wasn't for another five year that the family were
to return to Avery Island but when they did Edmund found the
chilli plants thriving and covered in tiny red peppers. He
promptly set about harvesting them and manufacturing his sauce
to the recipe he'd perfected before the families departure.
Once  the
sauce was ready it needed bottling for distribution but suitable
bottles were not easy to find at that time. McIlhenny eventually
sourced some scent bottles which had the advantage of dispensing
the sauce a drop at a time. He sent samples to as many wholesalers
as he could find and in no time orders were pouring in. It
seemed that the locals couldn't get enough of the fiery condiment
to liven up their dull diet, the rest as they say is history.
Although the recipe appears simple with just three ingredients
McIlhenny appreciated the importance of using the finest ingredients
and crucially developed the idea of aging the peppers through
a fermentation process. The sauce is made today just as it
was then: The same day the peppers are picked (their readiness
being decided by a family member) they are mashed and mixed
with Avery Island salt (Avery Island is actually on a dome
of salt!), placed in white oak wooden barrels and allowed
to ferment and age. Only when the mash is fully aged (again
as accessed by a family member) is it blended with all natural
high grain vinegar and allowed to rest for a further period.
Finally, when the taste is just right the mix is strained
and bottled.
 In
1870 McIlhenny obtained a patent on his unique production
process in 1870 but the name Tabasco itself was not actually
trademarked until 1906, the result of a legal battle with
a competitor leveraging off the, by then, well know brand
name.
Today the McIlhenny Company is still a family run business
and still has its headquarters on Avery Island, New Iberia,
Louisiana. From the early days the company has had a significant
impact on the local area, not least the development of 250-acre
Jungle Gardens and Bird City and the colony of egrets saved
from probably extinction by "Mr. Ned" McIlhenny
.
Our full range of Tabasco Sauces.
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