What do Britain's Queen Mum, former USA
president George Bush, Paul Newman and Madonna have in common ? If
lacking of a witty answer, let us spare you the trouble. They all share
a common love for McIlhenny's Tabasco Pepper Sauce. Ta-da!.
So, what's so special about Tabasco pepper
sauce, you may ask. Well, for starters, the sauces has been around for
the last 125 years. It was first concocted as a result of an experiment
by Edmund McIlhenny in the 1860s, on Avery Island, America. McIlhenny
began to develop the sauce by crushing the ripest and reddest peppers,
mixing it with the local Avery salt and aged the concoction for 30 days.
Then, he added the best French wine vinegar and hand-stirred it at
intervals to properly blend the flavor.
Today, the sauce-making process remains
much the same, although the and-stirring bit has thankfully been left to
sophisticated machines. The family business is now headed by Ned
Simmons, the maternal great-grandson of Edmund McIlhenny, who has
continued the family's tradition of personal involvement in growing and
harvesting the peppers.
The sauce, by the way, is named 'Tabasco',
which is indigenous to the native Indians of Mexico's central highlands
where the pepper originated, meaning 'land where the soil is hot and
humid'. Today, Tabasco sauce is known for its remarkable flavor
difference. And as it has no additives whatsoever, it is also a healthy
substitute for salt and white or black pepper.
