February 4… Make it hot, hot, hot

Today we went to Avery Island, home of the McIlhenny Co, makers of Tobasco sauce. Founded in 1868 by an out of work banker, it’s been making the sauce the same way with the same recipe for 157 years. It’s also the ONLY factory that makes Tobasco sauce. They have farms growing the peppers in different locations worldwide, but it all comes back to this island in Louisiana to be turned into sauce. The word “Tobasco” derives from an Indian word meaning “my food is kinda bland and needs a kick” or something like that.

Wherever in the world the peppers are grown, they are ground up into a mash and sealed in barrels with salt on top for two to three years! Then the mash gets dumped in a vat with some local salt mine salt and some vinegar and stirred for three weeks. Filter out the seeds and pulp and Boom, you have Tobasco sauce.

We went to the tasting room after the tour and I made a grave mistake. I saw “sweet and garlicky” so gave that a try, not noticing the Habanero on the label. My mouth burned for an hour and I didn’t even get to try the Tobasco ice cream. 😢

The son of the founder (who took over the company after dad passed) was an avid explorer and naturalist, and he cultivated a huge nature park and garden near the factory. Avery Island Jungle Garden. This was Susanne’s favorite part of the day. LOTS of giant live oak trees (her favorite), dozens of varieties of bamboo, camellias, holly trees, and water gardens. Susy saw her first wild alligator!! She was so excited, I wanted to catch it for her but she kept screaming at me to stay away, so I backed off. Whatever.