Oddly, it was recommended that if we’re ever in Louisiana, we needed to visit the Tabasco factory. From our current stay in Lafayette, the factory was only a forty minute drive, so we decided to go learn all about Tabasco. The Tabasco plant is located on Avery island north of Vermilion Bay. And is named after Daniel Dudley Avery, a previous owner of the island in the nineteenth century.
The island is completely surrounded by water and is actually a salt dome that rises high above the water line. Prior to the discovery of the island in the early 1800s, the island was home to the native Indians, who learned of its salty properties from the natural briny springs. They would boil the spring water to extract the salt, which they would then trade to tribes as far as Texas, Arkansas and Ohio.
Before the civil war, the island was being used as a sugar plantation when Edmund Mcllhenny joined the Avery family, by marring Mary Eliza Avery, daughter to Daniel Dudley. When the Civil war broke out, a mine was founded on the island in 1862 which subsequently produced 22 million pounds of salt for the confederacy. According to historians, the rock salt mine had been well protected until the Union began pushing up the bayou towards the island. When they arrived, the Union army advanced on the mine without any opposition. They burned all the buildings, smashed the steam engines and mining equipment, and dumped six hundred barrels of salt that was waiting to be shipped.
After the war, the sugar plantation was gone and Edmund Mcllhenny, who was a banker prior to the war found himself unemployed. In 1868, Mcllhenny began making a pepper sauce for his friends and family when he decided to take it further. In 1868, he founded the Mcllhenny company, and began manufacturing Tabasco brand pepper sauce. To distribute his pepper sauce, Mcllhenny initially obtained unused cologne bottles from a New Orleans glass supplier. In 1870, he received a letters patent for his sauce processing formula. And for the next 150 years, the Mcllhenny family has grown the Tabasco company on Avery island into what it is today.
Avery island is surrounded on all sides by Bayous and salt marsh. At its highest point, the island is 163 feet above sea level and covers 2,200 acres, about 2.5 miles across its widest point. Edward Mcllhenny introduced numerous verities of azaleas, Japanese camellias, Egyptian papyrus sedge, and other rare plants to the island. In 1895, After plume hunters had slaughtered egrets by the thousands to provide feathers for ladies hats, Edward gathered eight young egrets, raised them in captivity on the island, and released them in the fall to migrate across the Gulf of Mexico. The following spring the birds returned with others of their species, a migration that continues today. When oil was discovered on the island in 1942, the Mcllhenny family ensured that production crews bypassed live oak trees and buried pipelines to preserve the islands beauty, and wildlife.
The Tabasco bottle has not changed since the beginning. They are still made to replicate the cologne bottles Edward Mcllhenny used in the beginning. The green label around the top replaced the green wax that was originally used as a seal.
Mcllhenny is one of just a few U.S companies that have received a Royal warrant of appointment that certifies the company as a supplier to the British monarchy.
During WWII and the Korean War the US military provided Tabasco as a standard military ration to make the food more palatable.
The bottle of Tabasco on the top shelf was salvaged from the wreck of the YMS-24, a U.S Navy minesweeper that sank in the Mediterranean during WWII
Tabasco bottle guitar owned by Van Halen bassist Micheal Anthony in 1985-1993. It was stolen from a New Orleans restaurant in 1999 and recovered 11 years later.
In the early 20th century, the Mcllhenny family volunteered as an experimental grower for the U.S Department of Agriculture. In this role they planted over 65 varieties of bamboo on Avery island. 35 of the species still grows around the island.
The red peppers used in Tabasco were grown on the island until the early 20th century. Now grown in Africa, central and South America due to their consistent weather conditions. Other than the peppers being grown in other countries, the manufacturing process has never changed.
Right after the red peppers are picked they are mashed into a pulp and stored in white oak barrels for three years. Salt from the island mine is placed on top of each barrel to prevent impurities from getting in.
Diorama of the Avery island salt mine.
Chunk of rock salt extracted from the mine.
After the peppers have fermented in the oak barrels for three years, they are moved to these large vats where they are mixed with the other ingredients and left to sit for three days.
After three days, the pulp is removed from the pepper sauce and bottled. The plant was not in operation today, but it is not very big.
Avery island was full of wildlife.
The trees are actually bigger than they look.
The bayou was all over the island
Path to the bird sanctuary.
The egret bird sanctuary is placed above the bayou where predators can’t reach the nests.
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