Spanish moss abounds
Avery Island is privately owned by Avery Island Corporation, which leases land on the island to a salt-mining operation, an oil and gas refinery and the McIlhenny Company, which produces Tabasco brand pepper sauce on the island.
Born on the bayou
The indigenous Creole and Cajun cultures shape much of Southern Louisiana’s cuisine. Plenty of pepper and various native spices are added to dishes like jambalaya and gumbo. Here, chef Patrick Mould stirs a Cajun Pork and Smoked Sausage Jambalaya cooked with dark roux.
It’s all about the roux
Jambalaya is traditionally cooked in a large sauce pot and takes about an hour, start to finish. Protein is typically added to onion, bell pepper, celery, garlic, rice, beef broth and roux, which is made with bacon fat or oil instead of butter, and is dark brown in color.
The seafood state
Dark roux is also the secret ingredient in chef Patrick Mould’s Chicken & Smoked Andouille Gumbo, which is ladled over rice. Mould has been cooking Southwest Louisiana Cajun and Creole cuisine for 30 years, specializing in seafood. Louisiana produces more seafood than any other state but Alaska.
Mystery of the seed
Edmund McIlhenny, a New Orleans banker who lost much of his business after the Civil War, began making pepper sauce in 1868 from peppers he grew on Avery Island. To this day, where McIlhenny got the seeds for what he would call Tabasco peppers remains a mystery. (A resident island historian has been on the case for 21 years and continues to discover new evidence.)
FIFO: 70,000 fermenting barrels
Tabasco peppers are harvested from October to December on Avery Island, as well as in many South American countries. The red pepper sauce is made by blending crushed Tabasco peppers grown around the world with salt, called mash. The mash is stored in white oak barrels for three years, allowing it to ferment.
Salt as a seal
Salt from Avery Island is used to coat the lids of the white oak barrels as the pepper mash ferments. The salt seals the barrel, allowing some gases to be released but no outside particles to infiltrate the mash.
On the line
Tabasco partners with farmers throughout Central and South America to grow their peppers, which are then shipped to Avery Island. At the factory, the peppers are broken down and aged three years before mixed with salt and vinegar and bottled as Tabasco red pepper sauce.
Sriracha’s curb appeal
From 1868 until 1994 the only flavor of Tabasco available was “original red.” Since then, 11 other flavors have been introduced. Next up, Tabasco is testing a Sriracha product made with cayenne peppers. The company will decide by January whether to move into full production or curb the idea.