Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of I Heart Radio,
Speaker 1: Hey brain Stuff Lauren Bobibon here. The Tabasco Company was
Speaker 1: founded in eighteen sixty eight in the rural community of
Speaker 1: Avery Island in southern Louisiana. New Orleans. Banker Edmund mcilenny
Speaker 1: used pepper plants of the Tabasco variety that's botanical name
Speaker 1: capsicum for tescans, abrought from Latin America. Those peppers make
Speaker 1: Tabasco a little hotter than most other table sauces, which
Speaker 1: are generally made from cayenne peppers, a varietal of the
Speaker 1: species capsicumb annum, and which are medium hot. A capsicum
Speaker 1: for tescans peppers are hot hot. Mcilenny called his creation
Speaker 1: Tabasco Pepper Sauce, patenting the name. The hot sauce quickly
Speaker 1: gained popularity in America and Europe in the eighteen seventies
Speaker 1: thanks to the recipes that the company created to use
Speaker 1: with the sauce. It's now an important part of Louisiana's
Speaker 1: famous cuisines, added to all kinds of savory dishes, sauces, dressings,
Speaker 1: and even sweet eats like jelly beans and chocolate. Relatives
Speaker 1: of the Maclonny families still round the company, and their
Speaker 1: share of the U S Hot sauce market is now
Speaker 1: seventeen point one percent, which is the largest in the country.
Speaker 1: They produce seventy five thousand bottles a day, but the
Speaker 1: pepper sauce production process has remained relatively unchanged over the
Speaker 1: last hundred and fifty years. The field hands who originally
Speaker 1: worked on Avery Island used what's known as le petipaon rouge,
Speaker 1: or a little red stick to determine the Tabasca peppers ripeness.
Speaker 1: The pepper had to match the color of the deep
Speaker 1: red paint on the stick in order to be picked. Surprisingly,
Speaker 1: despite technological advancement, the company still uses the sticks, as
Speaker 1: workers still pick peppers by hand. So far, a machine
Speaker 1: has not been developed that can make that determination on ripeness.
Speaker 1: Versions of the red sticks are sold in Tabasca's gift
Speaker 1: shop too. Once the ripe peppers have been selected, they're
Speaker 1: mashed and barrel aged for up to three years in
Speaker 1: white oak barrels sourced from Bourbon distilleries. Nowadays, most of
Speaker 1: the peppers are grown in parts of South and Central
Speaker 1: America and Africa, but the pepper seeds all come from
Speaker 1: Avery Island. These are then shipped overseas for growing. After
Speaker 1: they're harvested, the peppers are ground, mixed with salt into
Speaker 1: a paste, and shipped back to the island. Avery's abundant
Speaker 1: natural salt reserves come in handy then, as a thick
Speaker 1: layer of salt is placed on top of each sealed barrel.
Speaker 1: The salt helps prevent microbial growth while the product ages.
Speaker 1: This pepper mash is a whopping ten times hotter than
Speaker 1: Tabasco's completed sauce. Each batch of mash is inspected by
Speaker 1: a member of the maclenny family to confirm that the
Speaker 1: color and aroma are just right. After the aging process,
Speaker 1: the mash is mixed with vinegar and churned for about
Speaker 1: three weeks. Then the liquid is strained and poured into bottles.
Speaker 1: The flagship variety of the sauce berries in heat, usually
Speaker 1: between two thousand, five hundred and five thousand Scoville units,
Speaker 1: which is a measure of spice level. As of this recording,
Speaker 1: the brand cells eight total varieties, including Haban, narrow Chipotle,
Speaker 1: and Taracha, some of which may be hotter. Tabasco has
Speaker 1: also been a part of military rations around the globe
Speaker 1: and served to everyone from members of the British Royal
Speaker 1: family to NASA astronauts. As of two thousand nine, at
Speaker 1: any rate, mclennie was the only non British food company
Speaker 1: that has a Royal warrant, meaning that Tabasco is the
Speaker 1: official hot sauce of the Queen. You can also find
Speaker 1: it on Air Force one and Yes on the International
Speaker 1: Space Station. Today's episode is based on the article it
Speaker 1: Wouldn't be Tabasco Sauce without the Red Stick on how
Speaker 1: stuff works dot Com, written by Caroline you Banks. Brain
Speaker 1: Stuff is production of iHeart Radio in partnership with how
Speaker 1: stuff Works dot Com and is produced by Tyler Clang.
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