Louisiana Hot Sauce Factory Tour

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Hot Sauce Factory Visits

TABASCO SAUCE FACTORY AND FOOD TOUR | Avery Island, Louisiana

Were planning a trip to Louisiana later this year and I just found out we can visit the Tabasco factory.

Are there any, more artisan, hot sauce factories in LA that are open for visitors?

Thats an excellent question – Id never really thought of it!

I looked up the other famous hot sauces from Louisiana – Franks, Crystal, Louisiana – but none of them offer anything. There may be artisanal ones out there, but so far theyve eluded me & to be honest if I found a tour offered it may very well be the first time Id ever heard of the sauce as wed be getting a bit obscure. And Im a hot sauce fan!

For your sake I hope someone will chime in with something. For what its worth, the Tabasco visit is best done on a weekday to see anything happening – it was pretty quiet the Sunday I went, and I remember the visit more for the store than for anything else. I bought an industrial-sized version of their jalapeño sauce! They also have a limited edition bottle only sold there that is a step above the typical stuff.

Scott, we may need you as our personal tour guide, first the music tips in my road trip post, now the hot sauce.. 🙂

I didnt know Franks is from LA originally, but I did see the brand or name Muriels pop up here and there. Im trying to find out more, but it seems everybody and their cousin are now making hot sauce, as do we occasionally, and its hard to figure out how local, original, small or big some of these brands are.

Stop 3 Barrel Aging Cooperage

As you leave the greenhouse, youll see another building which is the Tabasco Barrel Museum.

Inside youll find exhibits explaining the barrel aging process of Tabasco peppers, including a video showing how its aged and artifacts from the last couple of centuries.

Just outside of the museum area is the cooperage where you can see hundreds of barrels of Tabasco peppers being aged. The tops of the barrels are covered with a layer of salt to help prevent impurities from getting in the barrel.

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Does The Tabasco Factory Tour Reveal This As The Secret To Success

Is the secret to success simply committing to one thing and then trying any and everything to make that thing work?

And when it comes to earning a living through our own creativity, does it pay to create different works or to focus on one thing and one thing only and market the hell out of that?

Creatively.

That’s a lot of introspection to wrangle out of a Louisiana hot sauce tour.

But the Tabasco Factory tour seems to invite thought, time, reflection.

Stop 10 Restaurant 1868

McIlhenny Company (Tabasco Factory)

It was about 2:30pm by this point, so we decided to have lunch at Restaurant 1868! seeing as they had pet-friendly seating on their porch and it was a nice day. 1868 is the year that Edmund McIlhenny founded the Tabasco company, hence the restaurants name.

Their menu had all kinds of tasty-sounding options, so as usual I had a hard time choosing what to get.

Id enjoyed trying boudin in Lafayette a few days before, so I ended up ordering the Boudin Po Boy, while Shae got the Fiesta Nacho Supreme. Both our meals were tasty and reasonably priced.

Restaurant 1868! also offers a make-your-own Bloody Mary bar, so Shae took advantage of that being available seeing as I would be the one driving us to New Orleans that afternoon.

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Tabasco Sauce Factory Tour

Touring the island gives visitors a rare look into the factory process, as well as several different tour options to enjoy. Some of the tour offerings focus on the surrounding wildlife and sustainable production habits. On the contrary, other educational points of interest focus on the history of the brand and the family behind it.

A post shared by Thibault Mortegoute on Apr 8, 2017 at 5:06am PDT

Open daily from 9 am to 4 pm, you can take a factory tour of the Tabasco bottling plant. Here, guests can enjoy a self-guided tour with ten different stops. Here, exhibits detail the process, as well as a short history film in the onsite museum.

Other stops along the tour include the greenhouse, a look at the barrel process, the bottling process, and a trip to the onsite store and restaurant. As the visit continues, it becomes apparent that many significant changes have occurred over the years. In addition, the modernized process is impressive, to say the least.

What Is Cincinnati Chili

Cincinnati Chili lives up to its name insomuch thats its from Cincinnati and its main ingredient is chili. Sort of. The chili in this dish is nothing like chili eaten in Texas or sold in cans across America. Instead, its more like a Greek meat sauce with flavors of cinnamon, clove and bay leaf. Its kind of like pastitsio meets spagbol meets a burrito.

In Cincinnati, cooks start by topping oval plates with spaghetti and then smother the simple pasta strands with highly seasoned meat sauce. Based on how the chili is ordered, they finish by adding the following:

  • Chili Spaghetti Nothing The name says it all.
  • Cincinnati Three Way Chili Lots of Grated Cheddar Cheese
  • Cincinnati Four Way Chili Either Chopped Onions or Kidney Beans and Lots of Grated Cheddar Cheese.
  • Cincinnati Five Way Chili Chopped Onions, Kidney Beans and Lots of Grated Cheddar Cheese.

You may be wondering about Cincinnati One Way Chili. Wonder no more. One Way Chili isnt a thing. Without the fixings, its just plain spaghetti and we dont play that way.

Pro TipDont count out Cincinnati Chili if its combination of disparate ingredients sounds weird to you. In our opinion and, more importantly, the opinion of millions of hungry midwesterners, Cincinnati Chili is dee-licious.

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Where Is The Best Cincinnati Chili

Cincinnati is the obvious answer to the question of wheres the best Cincinnati Chili. The better question is where to find the best Cincinnati style Chili in Cincinnati. Unlike the specific ways to order Cincinnati Chili, that answer isnt so easy.

Some people will quickly respond with Skyline Chili, the citys 800-pound chili gorilla. Not only does Skyline have a secret recipe and numerous locations, but eating at Skyline is an absolute must for its slice of midwestern culture.

Others will respond with Camp Washington Chili, a local institution with just one location and prestigious accolades that include a James Beard award. As a bonus, this Cincinnati chili parlor has a dinner menu and hours that extend through the night.

As noted above, Cincinnati has more than 100 chili parlors. Other top Cincinnati Chili restaurants include Blue Ash Chili, Chili Time, Dixie Chili, Empress Chili , Gold Star Chili , Pleasant Ridge Chili and Price Hill Chili.

Pro TipDont twirl your spaghetti when you eat Cincinnati Chili in its home city. Locals are choppers instead of twirlers and will know right away that youre not a native Ohioan.

Try Some Of My Other Hot Sauce Recipes

Tabasco Sauce Factory Tour…Food Obsession – Avery Island, Louisiana

Check out more Hot Sauce Recipes or learn more about How to Make Hot Sauce with lots of answer to frequently asked questions, such as pH and acidity, processing, and where to buy hot sauce woozy bottles. Grab a couple bottles of tabasco sauce!

Got any questions? Ask away! Im happy to help. If you enjoy this recipe, I hope youll leave a comment with some STARS. Also, please share it on social media. Dont forget to tag us at #ChiliPepperMadness. Ill be sure to share! Thanks! Mike H.

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The Tabasco Factory Tour Review

Avery Island gets people guessing from the start.

First, its not an island, at least not in the conventional sense.

Its a 2.5 mile wide peak of salt that rises, island-like, from the surrounding swamps and bayous of the Deep American South.

Second, it’s the home of Tabasco, the most famous hot pepper sauce in the world.

Today, the Tabasco Factory runs a slick operation beneath the Louisiana sun. Tabasco bottles line up for photo ops while glassy miniatures wait in the gift shop and Avery Island gumbo comes with no fewer than six different Tabasco versions.

And if hot sauce golf bags, key rings and clothes are all that’s been missing from your life, you’ll find them all here.

But a Tabasco factory tour also reveals a lot more. It talks about the mystery that is the secret to success.

What To See On Avery Island And Nearby

But your tour of the Tabasco Factory wont take up your entire day. The other place to visit on Avery Island is . The 170-acre botanical garden and bird sanctuary was created by McIllhennys son Ned in 1895 to protect the areas snowy egrets. It opened to the public in 1935 and has a number of animals and sculptures, including a famous Buddha.

On your way back to Lafayette, stop by town of New Iberia. The Bayou Teche Museum has exhibits on the bayou that surrounds the parish including its notable residents, history, and food. Youll find traditional Mardi Gras costumes and zydeco instruments in the exhibits.

Shadows on the Teche is a preserved sugar plantation that covers its history, including the lives of the enslaved people that lived there. In addition to tours of the home, visitors can wander throguh the gardens. You can also tour the Conrad Rice Mill, the oldest operating rice mill in America.

On nearby Jefferson Island, Rip Van Winkle Gardens was built in 1870 by actor Joseph Jefferson, who played Rip Van Winkle in a stage production of the Washington Irving tale. It is believed that the cypress wood included in the house was originally planted by Jean Lafitte. Theres also an onsite cafe and a bed and breakfast.

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Tabasco And The Secret To Success

Today, Tabasco retails in over 185 countries, in over 20 languages and dialects and has even appeared in the world of James Bond. The business generates over $100 million dollars each year – and every single bottle is filled in the Tabasco Factory here on Avery Island Louisiana.

Yet, the story began back in 1868 with a young man who had lost everything in America’s Civil War.

Edmund McIlhenny dreamed of putting a bottle of Tabasco on every table and he and his heirs have arguably achieved just that.

The recipe is largely unchanged and the bottle reads like a history book.

But how did McIlhenny do it?

Why this hot sauce, why here?

How Hot Is Tabasco Sauce

Avery Island: Home of TABASCO® Brand Pepper Sauce

Even though tabasco peppers are very hot, actual Tabasco Hot Sauce is not quite as hot as the actual peppers, measuring in at 2,5005,000 Scoville Heat Units. That is about as hot as a mild to medium-heat jalapeno pepper.

That’s it, my friends. I hope you enjoy the sauce. If you make it, shoot me a pic or post it on social. I’d love to take a look!

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Avery Island: Home Of Tabasco Brand Pepper Sauce

    https://www.tabasco.com/visit-avery-island/
    The McIlhenny family has made TABASCO ® Sauce on Avery Island, Louisiana for over 5 generations. Built on a salt dome, it’s a mysteriously beautiful place where the red peppers grow, the factory hums, and abundant wildlife can be seen in Jungle Gardens. Play Video.

Stop 4 Blending Building

The fourth stop on the tour is the blending building.

Inside youll learn about the blending process where the Tabasco peppers that have been aged for up to three years in the cooperage are blended with distilled vinegar and stirred periodically for two to three weeks in 1,800 gallon vats made of wood.

Before the sauce is bottled, the seeds and skins from the peppers are removed and both scientific and taste testing is done to ensure it meets their quality expectations.

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Welcome To The Louisiana Way Of Life

Good food. Good times. Good people. Thats what the Louisiana way of life is all about. And as Louisianas original hot sauce, its what were all about too.

We got our start in 1928 in New Iberia, Louisiana, when we carefully selected the best peppers, combined them with vinegar and salt and left them to ferment during the aging process. The result was a perfectly simple balance of heat and flavor that earned us a reputation for quality and taste.

More than 93 years later, and not a whole lots changed. We still make Louisiana Hot Sauce the same way in the same place with the same high standards. Sure, over the years, weve added to our family of recipes with flavored sauces, wing sauces, new pepper varieties and more, but weve always stayed true to who we are perfectly balanced, perfectly original and always perfectly Louisiana.

The Strawberry Tabasco Pepper Jelly Recipe Story

How the Tabasco Factory Makes 700,000 Bottles of Hot Sauce Per Day Dan Does

Last year, Mark and I went to Avery Island, to a Tabasco factory tour. I didn’t write about it much back then because we didn’t stay as long as we’d planned.

You see, we went right before the 4th of July weekend, when Mark had some time off of work. We went on like a Thursday morning, heading out of our driveway about 2 hours after the time we thought that the bumper-to-bumper Baton Rouge morning traffic would end.

Well, y’all, were we ever wrong!!! Yep!! Passing through Baton Rouge an hour into our trip was a stop-and-go nightmare. For like two hours, we moved about 2 to 5 feet down I-12 at a snail’s pace, only for Mark to have to stop for 30 seconds to 1 minute, and then drive forward again.

Ya’ll, it was pure staycation torture for both of us!! After the first 30 minutes, both of our backs started to hurt, and after we finally made it through Baton Rouge 2 long, miserable hours later, we were both cranky, hungry, and hurting.

So, we rode the lighter traffic out another hour. Then, we stopped to eat pho at a groovy little restaurant in Lafayette. Satiated and filled with the pho glow, we arrived at Avery Island another hour later, tired but hopeful.

Well, I’m sorry to say that neither one of us could appreciate the beauty of the Tabasco Factory grounds that day. So, we popped into a few tour stops, then spent the rest of our short time there at the Tabasco Country Store.

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Why Was Tabasco So Successful

Was it his business partner, the less well known John. C. Henshaw, who opened up sales to the prosperous north east?

Was it the companys devotion to family, with a 5th generation CEO today?

Or was it the companys approach to marketing and embracing new technology while keeping the basics of the product the same?

They made an early move to radio. And were one of the first food companies to get online.

And then there was that pioneering product placement involving The Man with the Golden Gun.

Yes, the Tabasco factory tour reveals that they were the masters of marketing. Keeping up with the new. Retaining the old.

The shape of the bottle hasn’t changed. McIlhenny initially forged them from recycled cologne bottles as that was all that was available in the post-war years. A green top replaces the wax seal but the label remains the same: Tabasco, Avery Island, McIlhenny.

What Goes With Cincinnati Chili

To be honest, you dont NEED to add anything to our Cincinnati Chili recipe but you may WANT to add some hot sauce for extra zip. We added a few dashes of Louisiana hot sauce and the smoky flavor worked well.

Buy Louisiana Hot Sauce from Amazon.

The fine folks in Cincinnati often add crushed oyster crackers to their Cincinnati Chili spaghetti dishes. Since were not from Cincinnati, thats overkill for us. The dish isnt exactly dainty not that were complaining.

While were on the same page about not adding oyster crackers, we agree to disagree when it comes to dessert. Its a local tradition to eat a York Peppermint Patty after eating a plate of chili spaghetti in Cincinnati. Its and American candy classic!

Discover more American candy favorites.

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Strawberry Tabasco Pepper Jelly

Allow me to present my all new strawberry Tabasco pepper jelly, y’all!! It’s oh soooo sweet with a little bit of yum-delicious heat. And it’s pourable, spreadable and party sharing-friendly, too. But, you may just want to keep enough on hand to spoil yourself straight food silly every homemade pepper jelly craving now and then. Yep and yay…

Disclosure: A Sprinkling of Cayenne is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.

Where To Stay Near Avery Island

Places to Visit in Louisiana Besides New Orleans

There are no accommodations in Avery Island proper. DoubleTree by Hilton Lafayette is the closest full-service hotel, located on the southern end of the city. It has a restaurant and bar, an outdoor pool, and an airport shuttle.

In New Iberia, the Holiday Inn Express & Suites New Iberia-Avery Island is the top-rated property, with daily hot breakfast, an outdoor pool, and in-rom microwaves and refrigerators. Rip Van Winkle Gardens has onsite cottages. Theres even an RV park at Conrad Rice Mill.

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