12 Facts about Tabasco Sauce

  Although I love kim chi, I'm not much of a hot sauce eater.  I don't like throwing it on everything to spice things up.  I  much prefer adding the heat during cooking so that it's a flavorful hot, not a burn your mouth up hot.  The main hot sauce found at work is the world wide Tabasco sauce.

After a bit of research, I found out there is only one brand allowed to label itself as "Tabasco Sauce" due to a decades long infringement court case in which McIlhenny's won against B. F. Trappey and sons.

Tabasco sauce is strictly an American invention from Avery Island, Louisiana.  Avery Island is a small salt dome in Iberia Parish which the McIlhenny family has owned for years.  Although the family came into possession of the seeds via a returning soldier from Mexico, they did not begin commercial production for another 10 to 12 years.  The first commercial product showed up shortly after the Civil War.

Using Tabasco Peppers, Avery Island salt, and vinegar, the McIlhenny created an enduring sauce after finding their island fought over by both sides in the Civil War due to the salt it produced.  By 1872, McIlhenny obtained a patent for the sauce.  Since then it has expanded and developed a world wide following.

1  The peppers are picked, mashed, mixed with salt and placed in barrels to age for 3 years before the vinegar is added and a month later, the mixture is strained and bottled.  Originally, the mixture was fermented for 30 days before the vinegar was added.

2. A 130 year old Tabasco bottle was excavated at the remains of an African American owned saloon in Virginia City, Nevada.  This establishment was one of the places to offer the sauce.

3.  The Bloody Mary drink began in Paris but it wasn't until the creator was working in New York, that he added various ingredients to the tomato juice and vodka, including Tabasco.  No one is sure where the name came from for the drink.

4.  B. F. Trappey used to work for McIlhenny before he branched out on his own.  He had the seeds and created his own Tabasco sauce but once he lost the copyright infringement case, no one including him could use the title Tabasco sauce, they could only list the peppers as an ingredient.

5. Tabasco sauce is kosher.

6.  There was a gentleman who sold his own hot sauce about 4 years before McIlhenny began selling his but there are differences in the two recipes including the original guy boiled his while McIhenny fermented his.

7. McIlhenny bottled his original sauce in discarded cologne bottles.

8.  On average, each 2 ounce bottle of Tabasco sauce has 720 drops.

9. Some of the seeds are kept in the local bank vault just in case.

10. Tabasco sauce is found in the MRE's for both American and British forces.  In the Vietnam war, the company sent a recipe book and bottles of the sauce to servicemen.  The book showed how to use the sauce in C-rations to make them better.

11.  Tabasco sauce has even gone to space with the astronauts.  It helped spice up the rather dull meals.

12.  There is even a Tabasco flavored ice cream available at the Tabasco county store on Avery Island.