Tabasco sauce

Tabascois an American brand ofhot saucemade from vinegar,tabasco peppersand salt. It is produced by theMcIlhenny CompanyofAvery Islandin southern Louisiana, having been created over 150 years ago byEdmund McIlhenny.Originally the tabasco peppers were grown only on Avery Island; they are now primarily cultivated inCentral America,South AmericaandAfrica.The Tabasco sauce brand also has multiple varieties including the original red sauce, habanero, jalapeño, chipotle, sriracha andTrinidad Moruga scorpion. Tabasco products are sold in more than 195 countries and territories, and packaged in 36 languages and dialects.
According to the company's official history, Tabasco was first produced in 1868 byEdmund McIlhenny,aMaryland-born former banker who moved toLouisianaaround 1840. However, as Jeffrey Rothfeder's bookMcIlhenny's Goldpoints out, some of the McIlhenny Company's official history is disputed, and the politicianMaunsel Whitewas producing atabasco peppersauce two decades before McIlhenny.A 2007 book review by Mark Robichaux ofThe Wall Street Journalquotes Rothfeder's book:
Rothfeder cited January 26, 1850, letter to theNew Orleans Daily Deltanewspaper crediting White as having introduced "Tobasco red pepper" (sic) to the southern United States and asserting that the McIlhenny was at least inspired by White's recipe.Jean Andrews, in her book "Peppers: The Domesticated Capsicums", goes further to declare—citing United States Circuit Court testimony from 1922—that prior to his death in 1862, "White gave some [pepper] pods, along with his recipe, to his friend Edmund McIlhenny, during a visit to White's Deer Range Plantation."To distribute his, Edmund McIlhenny initially obtained unusedcolognebottles from a New Orleans glass supplier. On his death in 1890, McIlhenny was succeeded by his eldest son,John Avery McIlhenny, who expanded and modernized the business, but resigned after only a few years in order to joinTheodore Roosevelt's 1st US Volunteer Cavalry Regiment, theRough Riders.On John's departure, brotherEdward Avery McIlhenny, a self-taughtnaturalistfresh from an Arctic adventure, assumed control of the company and also focused on expansion and modernization, running the business from 1898 until his death in 1949.Walter S. McIlhennyin turn succeeded his uncle Edward Avery McIlhenny, serving as president of McIlhenny Company from 1949 until his death in 1985. Edward McIlhenny Simmons then ran the company as president and CEO for several years, remaining as board chairman until his death in 2012.Paul McIlhennybecame company president in 1998 and was chairman until his death in 2013.In 2012 McIlhenny cousin Tony Simmons assumed the company's presidency and in June 2019 his cousin Harold Osborn was chosen as the next president and CEO.McIlhenny was one of just a few U.S. companies to have received aroyal warrant of appointmentthat certified the company as a supplier toQueen Elizabeth II. McIlhenny was one of the 850 companies around the world that have been officially designated as suppliers to the queen by such warrants. The warrant held was "Supplier of Tabasco HM The Queen — Master of the Household — Granted in 2009".In 2005, Avery Island was hit hard byHurricane Rita, and the family constructed a 17-foot (5.2 m)-highleveearound the low side of the factory and invested inback-up generators.
Originally, all peppers used in Tabasco sauce were grown on Avery Island. Over time, growers were selected throughout Louisiana to accommodate demand and during the 1960s, the company established farms in various Latin American countries. As of 2013peppers grown on the Island are used to produce seed stock, which is then shipped to foreign growers.More predictable weather and readily available farmland in these locales allow a constant year-round supply. This ensures the availability of peppers should severe weather or other problems occur at a particular growing location. Following company tradition, peppers are picked by hand. To ensure ripeness, pickers compare peppers to a little red stick (le petit bâton rouge); peppers that match the color of the stick are then introduced into the sauce production process. Peppers are ground into a mash on the day of harvest and placed along with salt inwhite oakbarrels previously used forwhiskeyof various distilleries.To prepare the barrel, the inside of the barrel is de-charred (top layer of wood is removed), torched, and cleaned, to minimize the presence of any residual whiskey. The barrels are then used in warehouses on Avery Island for aging the mash. After aging for up to three years, the mash is strained to remove skins and seeds. The resulting liquid is then mixed withdistilled vinegar, stirred occasionally for a month, and then bottled as a finished sauce.Tabasco has released a Tabasco reserve edition with peppers aged for up to eight years, mixed withwine vinegar.Tabasco Diamond Reserve Edition was a limited bottling released in 2018 to commemorate the brand's 150th anniversary. This sauce consists of peppers that have been aged for up to fifteen years, then mixed with sparkling white wine vinegar.For many years the salt used in Tabasco production came from the Avery Islandsalt dome, the largest such structure along the Louisiana coast.
Several sauces are produced under theTabascobrand name.A few of the varieties include:
The habanero, chipotle, and garlic sauces include the tabasco peppers blended with other peppers, whereas the jalapeño variety does not include tabasco peppers. None of these sauces, however, has the three-year aging process the flagship product uses. The brand also produces a selection ofTabasco Chocolate.
Tabasco brand pepper sauce is sold in more than 195 countries and territories and is packaged in 36 languages and dialects.The Tabasco bottle is still modeled after thecologne-style bottles used for the first batch of sauce in 1868.As many as 720,000 two-ounce (57 ml) bottles of Tabascosauce are produced daily at the Tabasco factory on Avery Island. Bottles range from the common two-ounce and five-ounce (59 ml and 148 ml) bottles, up to a 1-US-gallon (3.8 L; 0.83 imp gal) jug for food service businesses, and down to a1⁄8-US-fluid-ounce (3.7 ml) miniature bottle. There are also 0.11-US-fluid-ounce (3.3 ml) portion control (PC) packets of Tabasco sauce. One-eighth-ounce bottles of Tabasco, bearing thepresidential seal, are served onAir Force One.The US military has included Tabasco sauce inMeals, Ready-to-Eat(MREs) since the 1980s. The Australian, British and Canadian armies also issue small bottles of Tabasco sauce in their rations.
McIlhenny Company produces or has produced Tabasco brand products that contain pepper seasoning, including chocolate,popcorn, nuts,olives,mayonnaise,mustard,steak sauce,Worcestershire sauce,soy sauce,teriyaki sauce,Srirachasauce, marinating sauce, barbecue sauce, chili sauce,pepper jelly, andBloody Marymix. McIlhenny Company also permits other brands to use and advertise Tabasco sauce as an ingredient in their products (a common marketing practice called "co-branding"), includingSpam,Hormelchili,Slim Jimbeef sticks,Heinzketchup,A1 steak sauce,Plochman'smustard,Lawry'ssalt,Zapp'spotato chips,Heluva Gooddip, andVlasic Pickles.Cheez-Itcrackers for a long time used McIlhenny's Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce until 2018, whenKellogg'sreplaced it with their own hot sauce. The original red Tabasco sauce has ashelf lifeof three years when stored in a cool and dry place; other Tabasco flavors have shorter shelf lives.Tabasco appeared on the menu ofNASA'sSpace Shuttleprogram and went into orbit on the Shuttles.It was onSkylaband on theInternational Space Stationand is popular with astronauts as a means of countering the blandness of food in space.
During theVietnam War, Brigadier GeneralWalter S. McIlhennyissuedThe Charlie Ration Cookbook.(Charlie rationor "C-Rats" was the name for the field meal then given to troops.) This cookbook came wrapped around a two-ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce in acamouflaged, water-resistant container. It instructed troops how to mix C-rations to make such meals as "Combat Canapés" or "Breast of Chicken under Bullets."Soldiers also requested their families to send them Tabasco sauce in "care packages" from home. During the 1980s, the U.S. military began to include miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce in itsMREs. Eventually, miniature bottles of Tabasco sauce were included in two-thirds of all MRE menus.During the same period, McIlhenny Company issued a new military-oriented cookbook using characters from the comic stripBeetle Bailey.  TitledThe Unofficial MRE Cookbook, it was offered free of charge to U.S. troops.
In a 1982 article titled "Pepper Sauce Toxicity" Tabasco pepper sauce's toxicity was evaluated based on red peppers and vinegar. Sprague-Dawley rats (lab rats) were utilized as test subjects. The oralmedian lethal dosein male lab rats was determined to be 23.58 mL/kg body weight (BW) with an upper limit of 29.75 mL/kg BW and a lower limit of 18.70 mL/kg BW. The median lethal dose in the female lab rats was found to be 19.52 mL/kg BW (15.64 mL/kg BW lower, 24.35 mL/kg BW upper). The sauce was found to be a mild skin irritant and a moderate to severe eye irritant. The toxicity to the eye is mainly caused by vinegar.
In 1894 composerGeorge W. Chadwickcomposed theBurlesque Opera of Tabasco,a musical comedy that conductorPaul Mauffrayrevived in 2018 with support from McIlhenny Company.
Tabasco has appeared in many movies and cartoons,as well as on television. It featured in twoJames Bondfilms in the 1970s,The Man with the Golden GunandThe Spy Who Loved Me,as well as a shot of the iconic bottle inSidney Lumet's 1974 filmMurder on the Orient Express. Some appearances date as far back as theOur GangshortBirthday Bluesin 1932 andCharlie Chaplin'sModern Timesin 1936. InBack to the Future Part III, the saloon bartender uses Tabasco as an ingredient for an instanthangover curehe calls "wake-up juice". Tabasco sauce was also an important element in the television seriesRoswellabout alien/human hybrid teenagers who craved foods that were sweet and spicy and often carried bottles of Tabasco sauce with them. When the network tried to cancel the series in the first season, thousands of fans mailed bottles of Tabasco to the network to show their support.The series continued for three seasons.
In the 2009 Disney animated filmThe Princess and the FrogTiana is seen using Tabasco sauce for her gumbo soup. Later on, in the year 2024 Tiana's Bayou Adventure also features Tabasco sauce as part of the Disneyland and Disney World attraction and is used in Tiana's Palace restaurant meals.
In the "Leykis 101" segment of his talk radio show,Tom Leykisadvocated for men putting Tabasco sauce in their condoms after sexual intercourse to act as aspermicideand prevent a woman potentially "stealing the sperm" and using it to impregnate herself.In 2022, a story circulated widely on the internet that the rapperDrakedid this after having sex with anInstagrammodel.However, Tabasco's usefulness as a spermicide is questionable.