Tabasco sauce facts for kids
 |
|
| Private (family-owned) | |
| Industry | Food processing |
| Founded | 1868 |
| Founder | Edmund McIlhenny |
| Headquarters | Avery Island, Louisiana, U.S. |
|
Key people
|
Harold Osborn, CEO |
| Products | Hot sauce and other condiments |
|
Number of employees
|
About 200 (per company web site, August 2014) |
| Heat |  Hot |
| Scoville scale | 2,500 - 5,000 SHU |
Tabasco sauce is a famous type of hot sauce. It's made by the McIlhenny Company, which is located on Avery Island in Louisiana, U.S.. This special sauce gets its spicy kick from tabasco peppers. It also contains vinegar and salt. After mixing, the sauce is aged in white oak barrels for three years. This process gives it a unique, hot, and spicy flavor that people around the world enjoy.
Contents
What Is Tabasco Sauce?
Tabasco sauce is a well-known brand of hot sauce. It's famous for its strong, spicy taste. The sauce is made using a simple recipe that has been around for a long time. It uses only three main ingredients: tabasco peppers, vinegar, and salt. These ingredients are carefully mixed and then aged to create the sauce's special flavor.
How Tabasco Sauce Is Made
Making Tabasco sauce is a careful process that takes several years.
- First, the special tabasco peppers are picked when they are perfectly ripe.
- Then, these peppers are crushed into a mash.
- This pepper mash is mixed with salt.
- The mix is then put into white oak barrels. These barrels are like big wooden containers.
- The pepper mix stays in these barrels for three years. This long aging process helps the flavors develop and become richer.
- After three years, the aged pepper mix is taken out of the barrels.
- Finally, it is mixed with high-quality vinegar. This step gives the sauce its final consistency and tangy flavor.
- The sauce is then bottled and ready to be sent out to people everywhere.
Where Tabasco Sauce Comes From
Tabasco sauce is made on Avery Island, a small island in Louisiana, U.S.. This island is special because it has a lot of salt domes, which are underground salt deposits. The McIlhenny Company has been making Tabasco sauce on Avery Island since 1868. The island's unique environment, with its rich soil and salt, is believed to help grow the best tabasco peppers.
History of Tabasco Sauce
Tabasco sauce was created by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868. He was a banker who loved to garden. He started growing tabasco peppers on Avery Island. He experimented with different ways to make a spicy sauce. His recipe became very popular with his family and friends. Soon, he started selling his sauce to others.
Early Days and Growth
At first, Edmund McIlhenny used old cologne bottles to sell his sauce. He poked holes in the corks so people could sprinkle the sauce out. This was a new idea for hot sauce. Over time, the company grew. The small family business became known around the world. Even today, the McIlhenny family still owns and runs the company. They continue to use the original recipe and methods.
How People Use Tabasco Sauce
Tabasco sauce is used in many different ways. People add it to their food to make it spicier.
- It's often put on eggs, pizza, and tacos.
- Some people like to add it to soups and stews.
- It's also a key ingredient in many famous drinks, like the Bloody Mary.
- Soldiers in the U.S. military even get small bottles of Tabasco sauce in their MREs (Meals, Ready-to-Eat). This shows how popular and widely used it is.
Images for kids
-
A Tabasco advertisement from around 1905. Notice the cork-top bottle and diamond logo label, which are still similar today.
-
Tabasco pepper mash aging in barrels on Avery Island, Louisiana.
-
A few of the different types of Tabasco sauce, with the original red sauce on the far right.
-
The original Tabasco red pepper sauce bottle.
-
Tabasco sauce highlighted in an MRE, in the middle right.
.jpg)
See also
In Spanish: Salsa Tabasco para niños
