Tabasco
MARKET
HISTORY
As was once said about the British Empire, today the sun never sets on the TABASCO® world of flavor. TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce is labeled in 22 languages and dialects and sold in more than 180 countries and territories. This universal appeal to appetites shows how versatile TABASCO® Sauce is in bringing out the flavour of food from so many lands. The pepper sauce that Edmund McIlhenny created in 1868 on Avery Island is much the same TABASCO® Sauce that is produced today, on that very same site. The basic recipe, the process by which it’s made, and the ingredients remain virtually unchanged and five generations of McIlhennys and employees have dedicated themselves to preserving its legacy. Besides being a savoury ingredient in so many countries’ foods and drinks, TABASCO® Sauce and its red-and-green diamond logo have become part of numerous cultures around the world. People see the sauce stocked on the shelves of grocery stores in Buenos Aires and Mecca, offered as a condiment in a Johannesburg airport, served on tap at a Mexican restaurant in Brisbane and featured in a culinary contest in Melbourne. Just as some people aspire to be citizens of the world, TABASCO® has truly become a seasoning of the world.
Edmund McIlhenny was given seeds of Capsicum frutescens peppers that came from Mexico or Central America, and he first planted them on Avery Island, Louisiana, over 140 years ago. Today, just as then, when the peppers reach the perfect shade of deep red and are at their juiciest, they are carefully picked by hand. (Young peppers are green and then turn yellow, orange and, finally, deep red as they age.) When in doubt, pickers can gauge the colour by comparing it to a small wooden dowel, “le petit bâton rouge,” painted the preferred hue of TABASCO® red. The diet of the Reconstruction South was bland and monotonous, especially by Louisiana standards. So Edmund McIlhenny decided to create a pepper sauce to give the food some spice and flavour - some excitement. Selecting and crushing the reddest peppers from his plants, he mixed them with Avery Island salt and aged this “mash” for 30 days in crockery jars and barrels. McIlhenny then blended the mash with French white vinegar and aged the mixture for at least another 30 days. After straining it, he transferred the sauce to small
ACHIEVEMENTS The British have been enjoying TABASCO® Sauce since it was first exported there in 1874. In 2009, the sauce achieved the ultimate Royal seal of approval when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who is said to use TABASCO® Sauce on her lobster cocktail, www.tabasco.com/mcilhennycompany/press-releases/royal-warrant/awarded a Royal Warrant to McIlhenny Company, maker of TABASCO®. On the other side of the globe, Japan is the country with the second-highest TABASCO® Sauce consumption, after the United States. The Japanese splash the sauce on their pizza and their version of spaghetti, which originated from the rations of US military forces occupying Japan after World War II. What the Japanese call “Spaghetti Neapolitan” is inspired by American soldiers eating spaghetti seasoned with ketchup - a dish ripe for improvement with TABASCO® Sauce.
96
sold in over 180 countries and territories, added to soldiers’ rations and put on restaurant tables around the globe, it is the most famous, most preferred pepper sauce in the world.
PRODUCT
In 1965, McIlhenny Company ran out of room on the Island and started growing additional peppers in Latin America. (All the seeds are still grown on Avery Island before being sent to Latin America, where they are planted and grow into peppers.) When those peppers are harvested, they’re shipped back to Avery Island for the next step in the process.The fresh peppers are mashed, mixed with a small amount of Avery Island salt extracted from the salt mines that lie beneath the Island, and placed in oak barrels. The wooden barrel tops are covered with more Avery Island salt to form a natural protective barrier, and the pepper mash is allowed to age for up to three years in the McIlhenny warehouse. This process creates the subtle flavour notes that are unique to the Original Red Sauce. The mash is inspected by a member of the cologne-type bottles with sprinkler fitments, which McIlhenny family. When approved, the fully aged he then corked and sealed in green wax. (The mash is then blended with high-quality distilled sprinkler fitment was important because his pepper vinegar. Numerous stirrings and about four weeks sauce was concentrated and best used when later, the pepper skins, pulp and seeds are strained sprinkled, not poured.) out using three different-sized screens. Then the “That Famous Sauce Mr. McIlhenny Makes” “finished” sauce is bottled by modern methods, proved so popular with family and friends that labeled in 22 languages and dialects, and prepared McIlhenny, previously a banker, decided to embark for shipment to over 180 countries and territories on a new business venture by marketing his pepper around the world. sauce. He grew his first commercial pepper crop The following year’s pepper crop is insured by in 1868. The next year, he sent out 658 bottles of the McIlhennys, who personally select the best sauce at one dollar apiece wholesale to grocers plants in the field during harvest. The pepper seeds around the Gulf Coast, particularly in New Orleans. from those select plants are treated and dried for He labeled it “Tabasco,” a word of Mexican use the following year, and then they are stored Indian origin believed to mean “place where the both on the Island and in a local bank vault as a soil is humid” or “place of the coral or oyster hedge against any disaster that might befall future shell.” McIlhenny secured a patent in 1870, and crops. TABASCO® Sauce began its journey to set the culinary world on fire. Sales grew and, by the late RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 1870s, he sold his sauce throughout the US and Since 1868 McIlhenny have had a tradition of even in England. exploration and experimentation, and today Over 140 years later, TABASCO® Sauce is made McIlhenny Company crafts seven unique and much the same way except now the aging process distinct flavours of sauce, each with its own for the mash is longer – up to three years in white variety of deliciousness. From mild to wild, there’s oak barrels – and the vinegar is high-quality distilled something for everyone! vinegar. Labeled in 22 languages and dialects, TABASCO® Sauce is still made on Avery Island,
TS
60 25
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ILLE
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- 80
HEAT U
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00 - 50
SC
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I ILLE AT UN HE
Things you didn’t know about Tabasco A 2-oz. bottle of the Original Red Sauce contains at least 720 drops. (There are 60 drops per teaspoon; 3 teaspoons per tablespoon; 2 tablespoons per fluid ounce and 2 fluid ounces per bottle). l The number of drops in a “splash” or a “dash” of the Original Red Sauce depends entirely upon how hard you shake the bottle! l When all four production lines at the Avery Island factory are in operation, over 700,000 2-oz. bottles of Original Red Sauce can be made in a single day. l Edmund McIlhenny came up with the brand name TABASCO® as his second choice. Some scholars say it’s a Mexican Indian word that means “land where the soil is hot and humid.” This certainly describes the climate of Avery Island that has proved perfect for growing his special variety of hot pepper. Other scholars have put forth that it actually means “place of coral or oyster shell.” l McIlhenny originally wanted to call his concoction Petite Anse Sauce (after the island which then was known as Isle Petite Anse). But when family members balked at the commercial use of the family island’s name, he opted for the trademark TABASCO®. l
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00
HEAT U
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12
15
70
ILLE
00
Rock’n Red Aged to perfection in white oak barrels since 1868. It’s an American Icon.
OV
00
Hair-raisin’ Habanero The world’s hottest pepper blended with mango, papaya, tamarind, banana and ginger. It delivers the ultimate heat, Jamaican style.
00
From slow-smoked red jalapeños, a thick-bodied sauce for the perfect balance of heat and flavor. Splash it on to just about everything.
I ILLE AT UN HE
0 0 -2 5
SC
For over 140 years, McIlhenny Company has grown its peppers on Avery Island. In the 1960s, the company looked elsewhere to meet increased need for the peppers. They developed test plots in several Latin American countries and, by the early 1980s, more than 80% of their pepper mash was sourced elsewhere. The vinegar is distilled grain beech wood-generated vinegar. The grain is grown in the Midwestern US and processed into vinegar in Texas and Alabama. Salt is sourced primarily from the salt mine located on Avery Island, Louisiana. Since its early days, McIlhenny Company has manufactured its premier product in a sustainable manner. A single-plant facility located on Avery Island produces and bottles the majority of TABASCO® branded products. This helps them to manage the overall resources used in production and to limit water and energy consumption. Also, the majority of their products have always been bottled in glass. Glass containers are 100% recyclable and are the only food and beverage packaging material that is chemically inert. Whenever possible, packaging materials are sourced regionally to reduce shipping costs and energy consumption. Those materials include plastic and glass containers, which are 100% recyclable. Since the company’s inception, it has had a zero-waste approach. Using recycled cologne bottles, stoneware jars and oak barrels, McIlhenny Company, out of necessity, produced TABASCO® in an extremely efficient and cost-effective manner. Today, most “waste” from the production process is still reused. Pepper skins and seeds are used as compost or for other commercial products. White oak barrels used for aging the pepper mash are reused for up to 50 years. Even then, discarded barrels are broken up to build fences and tables, and to make wood chips for resale as a branded product. Mash solids (pepper skins and seeds) and runoff are used either as compost or for other commercial products. And, by incorporating mash waste back into the field as compost, the company
Smokin’ Chipotle (Chee-poht-lay)
00
BRAND VALUES
have reduced landfill usage by 312 tons annually and have increased organic materials in the soils. McIlhenny are always looking for new ways to improve their business and operations. They are aware of the impact of growth and development on their “home,” Avery Island, Louisiana, and they understand their responsibility to manage their own environmental footprint. The company recognises that it has a responsibility to operate in a sustainable manner. This responsibility increases with the company’s growth and the expansion of the brand’s reach as they serve more and more customers around the world. As McIlhenny reach these consumers, they want them to understand that TABASCO® stands for more than just “hot” sauce. They often say, “It’s more than just hot,” and it really is. When you buy TABASCO® brand products, you are getting five generations of commitment to quality standards and excellence in production. Their commitment to you as they go forward is to continue their sustainability journey, to develop new and innovative ways to measure their impacts and to manage those impacts to reduce their overall influence on the environment. At McIlhenny Company they see a future that is bright and full of opportunities. But those opportunities are only possible if they are good stewards of their natural resources, so that they will be here for generations to come. As a company that is over 140 years old, McIlhenny want to build a business that is sustainable for the next 140 years. The seven TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce flavours are Halal certified under the supervision of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA). Furthermore, IFANCA has been recognised by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) as a Halal certification body in the United States. The following TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauces have been certified Halal: TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce TABASCO® brand Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Garlic Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Habanero Sauce TABASCO® brand SWEET & Spicy Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Buffalo Style Hot Sauce.
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SC
Louisiana, to this day. In fact, about half of the company’s 200 employees actually live on Avery Island, with many of their parents and grandparents having worked and lived there as well. Anthony “Tony” Simmons, the current Chairman of the Board and CEO, is the seventh McIlhenny in a chain of direct descendants who have strived to preserve the legacy and traditions of the company’s creator.
I ILLE AT UN HE
0 0 -1 8
SC
Garlic flavor plus cayenne, oak-aged TABASCO® and mellow red jalapeños. Sprinkle it on any Italian dish or stir-fry and see that even though it’s mild, it isn’t shy.
SC
Go-for-it Garlic
OV
0
Groovy Green Green jalapeños make up our mildest sauce. Ideal for any Mexican or Tex-Mex dish. Also perfect for pizza.
0 -1 20
HISTORY
As was once said about the British Empire, today the sun never sets on the TABASCO® world of flavor. TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce is labeled in 22 languages and dialects and sold in more than 180 countries and territories. This universal appeal to appetites shows how versatile TABASCO® Sauce is in bringing out the flavour of food from so many lands. The pepper sauce that Edmund McIlhenny created in 1868 on Avery Island is much the same TABASCO® Sauce that is produced today, on that very same site. The basic recipe, the process by which it’s made, and the ingredients remain virtually unchanged and five generations of McIlhennys and employees have dedicated themselves to preserving its legacy. Besides being a savoury ingredient in so many countries’ foods and drinks, TABASCO® Sauce and its red-and-green diamond logo have become part of numerous cultures around the world. People see the sauce stocked on the shelves of grocery stores in Buenos Aires and Mecca, offered as a condiment in a Johannesburg airport, served on tap at a Mexican restaurant in Brisbane and featured in a culinary contest in Melbourne. Just as some people aspire to be citizens of the world, TABASCO® has truly become a seasoning of the world.
Edmund McIlhenny was given seeds of Capsicum frutescens peppers that came from Mexico or Central America, and he first planted them on Avery Island, Louisiana, over 140 years ago. Today, just as then, when the peppers reach the perfect shade of deep red and are at their juiciest, they are carefully picked by hand. (Young peppers are green and then turn yellow, orange and, finally, deep red as they age.) When in doubt, pickers can gauge the colour by comparing it to a small wooden dowel, “le petit bâton rouge,” painted the preferred hue of TABASCO® red. The diet of the Reconstruction South was bland and monotonous, especially by Louisiana standards. So Edmund McIlhenny decided to create a pepper sauce to give the food some spice and flavour - some excitement. Selecting and crushing the reddest peppers from his plants, he mixed them with Avery Island salt and aged this “mash” for 30 days in crockery jars and barrels. McIlhenny then blended the mash with French white vinegar and aged the mixture for at least another 30 days. After straining it, he transferred the sauce to small
ACHIEVEMENTS The British have been enjoying TABASCO® Sauce since it was first exported there in 1874. In 2009, the sauce achieved the ultimate Royal seal of approval when Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, who is said to use TABASCO® Sauce on her lobster cocktail, www.tabasco.com/mcilhennycompany/press-releases/royal-warrant/awarded a Royal Warrant to McIlhenny Company, maker of TABASCO®. On the other side of the globe, Japan is the country with the second-highest TABASCO® Sauce consumption, after the United States. The Japanese splash the sauce on their pizza and their version of spaghetti, which originated from the rations of US military forces occupying Japan after World War II. What the Japanese call “Spaghetti Neapolitan” is inspired by American soldiers eating spaghetti seasoned with ketchup - a dish ripe for improvement with TABASCO® Sauce.
96
sold in over 180 countries and territories, added to soldiers’ rations and put on restaurant tables around the globe, it is the most famous, most preferred pepper sauce in the world.
PRODUCT
In 1965, McIlhenny Company ran out of room on the Island and started growing additional peppers in Latin America. (All the seeds are still grown on Avery Island before being sent to Latin America, where they are planted and grow into peppers.) When those peppers are harvested, they’re shipped back to Avery Island for the next step in the process.The fresh peppers are mashed, mixed with a small amount of Avery Island salt extracted from the salt mines that lie beneath the Island, and placed in oak barrels. The wooden barrel tops are covered with more Avery Island salt to form a natural protective barrier, and the pepper mash is allowed to age for up to three years in the McIlhenny warehouse. This process creates the subtle flavour notes that are unique to the Original Red Sauce. The mash is inspected by a member of the cologne-type bottles with sprinkler fitments, which McIlhenny family. When approved, the fully aged he then corked and sealed in green wax. (The mash is then blended with high-quality distilled sprinkler fitment was important because his pepper vinegar. Numerous stirrings and about four weeks sauce was concentrated and best used when later, the pepper skins, pulp and seeds are strained sprinkled, not poured.) out using three different-sized screens. Then the “That Famous Sauce Mr. McIlhenny Makes” “finished” sauce is bottled by modern methods, proved so popular with family and friends that labeled in 22 languages and dialects, and prepared McIlhenny, previously a banker, decided to embark for shipment to over 180 countries and territories on a new business venture by marketing his pepper around the world. sauce. He grew his first commercial pepper crop The following year’s pepper crop is insured by in 1868. The next year, he sent out 658 bottles of the McIlhennys, who personally select the best sauce at one dollar apiece wholesale to grocers plants in the field during harvest. The pepper seeds around the Gulf Coast, particularly in New Orleans. from those select plants are treated and dried for He labeled it “Tabasco,” a word of Mexican use the following year, and then they are stored Indian origin believed to mean “place where the both on the Island and in a local bank vault as a soil is humid” or “place of the coral or oyster hedge against any disaster that might befall future shell.” McIlhenny secured a patent in 1870, and crops. TABASCO® Sauce began its journey to set the culinary world on fire. Sales grew and, by the late RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 1870s, he sold his sauce throughout the US and Since 1868 McIlhenny have had a tradition of even in England. exploration and experimentation, and today Over 140 years later, TABASCO® Sauce is made McIlhenny Company crafts seven unique and much the same way except now the aging process distinct flavours of sauce, each with its own for the mash is longer – up to three years in white variety of deliciousness. From mild to wild, there’s oak barrels – and the vinegar is high-quality distilled something for everyone! vinegar. Labeled in 22 languages and dialects, TABASCO® Sauce is still made on Avery Island,
TS
60 25
OV
TS
ILLE
TS
- 80
HEAT U
NI
00 - 50
SC
OV
I ILLE AT UN HE
Things you didn’t know about Tabasco A 2-oz. bottle of the Original Red Sauce contains at least 720 drops. (There are 60 drops per teaspoon; 3 teaspoons per tablespoon; 2 tablespoons per fluid ounce and 2 fluid ounces per bottle). l The number of drops in a “splash” or a “dash” of the Original Red Sauce depends entirely upon how hard you shake the bottle! l When all four production lines at the Avery Island factory are in operation, over 700,000 2-oz. bottles of Original Red Sauce can be made in a single day. l Edmund McIlhenny came up with the brand name TABASCO® as his second choice. Some scholars say it’s a Mexican Indian word that means “land where the soil is hot and humid.” This certainly describes the climate of Avery Island that has proved perfect for growing his special variety of hot pepper. Other scholars have put forth that it actually means “place of coral or oyster shell.” l McIlhenny originally wanted to call his concoction Petite Anse Sauce (after the island which then was known as Isle Petite Anse). But when family members balked at the commercial use of the family island’s name, he opted for the trademark TABASCO®. l
NI
TS
00
HEAT U
TS
12
15
70
ILLE
00
Rock’n Red Aged to perfection in white oak barrels since 1868. It’s an American Icon.
OV
00
Hair-raisin’ Habanero The world’s hottest pepper blended with mango, papaya, tamarind, banana and ginger. It delivers the ultimate heat, Jamaican style.
00
From slow-smoked red jalapeños, a thick-bodied sauce for the perfect balance of heat and flavor. Splash it on to just about everything.
I ILLE AT UN HE
0 0 -2 5
SC
For over 140 years, McIlhenny Company has grown its peppers on Avery Island. In the 1960s, the company looked elsewhere to meet increased need for the peppers. They developed test plots in several Latin American countries and, by the early 1980s, more than 80% of their pepper mash was sourced elsewhere. The vinegar is distilled grain beech wood-generated vinegar. The grain is grown in the Midwestern US and processed into vinegar in Texas and Alabama. Salt is sourced primarily from the salt mine located on Avery Island, Louisiana. Since its early days, McIlhenny Company has manufactured its premier product in a sustainable manner. A single-plant facility located on Avery Island produces and bottles the majority of TABASCO® branded products. This helps them to manage the overall resources used in production and to limit water and energy consumption. Also, the majority of their products have always been bottled in glass. Glass containers are 100% recyclable and are the only food and beverage packaging material that is chemically inert. Whenever possible, packaging materials are sourced regionally to reduce shipping costs and energy consumption. Those materials include plastic and glass containers, which are 100% recyclable. Since the company’s inception, it has had a zero-waste approach. Using recycled cologne bottles, stoneware jars and oak barrels, McIlhenny Company, out of necessity, produced TABASCO® in an extremely efficient and cost-effective manner. Today, most “waste” from the production process is still reused. Pepper skins and seeds are used as compost or for other commercial products. White oak barrels used for aging the pepper mash are reused for up to 50 years. Even then, discarded barrels are broken up to build fences and tables, and to make wood chips for resale as a branded product. Mash solids (pepper skins and seeds) and runoff are used either as compost or for other commercial products. And, by incorporating mash waste back into the field as compost, the company
Smokin’ Chipotle (Chee-poht-lay)
00
BRAND VALUES
have reduced landfill usage by 312 tons annually and have increased organic materials in the soils. McIlhenny are always looking for new ways to improve their business and operations. They are aware of the impact of growth and development on their “home,” Avery Island, Louisiana, and they understand their responsibility to manage their own environmental footprint. The company recognises that it has a responsibility to operate in a sustainable manner. This responsibility increases with the company’s growth and the expansion of the brand’s reach as they serve more and more customers around the world. As McIlhenny reach these consumers, they want them to understand that TABASCO® stands for more than just “hot” sauce. They often say, “It’s more than just hot,” and it really is. When you buy TABASCO® brand products, you are getting five generations of commitment to quality standards and excellence in production. Their commitment to you as they go forward is to continue their sustainability journey, to develop new and innovative ways to measure their impacts and to manage those impacts to reduce their overall influence on the environment. At McIlhenny Company they see a future that is bright and full of opportunities. But those opportunities are only possible if they are good stewards of their natural resources, so that they will be here for generations to come. As a company that is over 140 years old, McIlhenny want to build a business that is sustainable for the next 140 years. The seven TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce flavours are Halal certified under the supervision of the Islamic Food and Nutrition Council of America (IFANCA). Furthermore, IFANCA has been recognised by Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) as a Halal certification body in the United States. The following TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauces have been certified Halal: TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce TABASCO® brand Green Jalapeño Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Garlic Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Chipotle Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Habanero Sauce TABASCO® brand SWEET & Spicy Pepper Sauce TABASCO® brand Buffalo Style Hot Sauce.
OV
SC
Louisiana, to this day. In fact, about half of the company’s 200 employees actually live on Avery Island, with many of their parents and grandparents having worked and lived there as well. Anthony “Tony” Simmons, the current Chairman of the Board and CEO, is the seventh McIlhenny in a chain of direct descendants who have strived to preserve the legacy and traditions of the company’s creator.
I ILLE AT UN HE
0 0 -1 8
SC
Garlic flavor plus cayenne, oak-aged TABASCO® and mellow red jalapeños. Sprinkle it on any Italian dish or stir-fry and see that even though it’s mild, it isn’t shy.
SC
Go-for-it Garlic
OV
0
Groovy Green Green jalapeños make up our mildest sauce. Ideal for any Mexican or Tex-Mex dish. Also perfect for pizza.
0 -1 20
