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Tabasco

Tabasco is one of the world’s most popular spicy sauces and is distributed around the globe.

It was first made in 1868 in Louisiana by Edmund McIlhennys who combined ripe red peppers, premium vinegar and Avery Island salt into a pepper sauce.

Five generations later, the McIlhenny family still control the business and still grow the seeds of the Capsicum frutescens peppers on Avery Island, Louisiana. Since 1965 the peppers have been grown in Latin America as the scale of the business has outgrown the space available on the island.

The same ingredients are used today as in 1868 and they are then packed into white oak barrels, where the sauce is aged for up to three years. Peppers are only picked when they are deep red in color and they are made into the sauce on the same day there are picked.

Tabasco has expanded into other varieties of the sauce have become available and one can now choose from their hottest sauce, Jalapeno, to milder versions such as their garlic variety.

Tabasco sauce measures at around 4,000 on the Scoville scale.

A 242 page book about the history of Tabasco, called Tabasco: An Illustrated History is available for those looking for specific Tabasco recipes or an in depth history of the company.