Mcllhenny Co. Avery Island, LA. An American company for over 150 years which uses... Tabasco peppers in the recipe. Ferments them in wooden barrels (which, when opened on the tour of the kitchens— can swell people’s eyelids... the concentrated fermenting hot pepper and juice it is in.
A wonderful American product. As is Texas Pete— made with simple cayenne.
The Tabasco peppers are grown on the island but not enough. The peppers now come from I believe costa Rica which is said to have the same climate and growing conditions.
Avery Island is a gold mine. It costs $4.00 toll for the bridge. They farmed the peppers and discovered the farm sits ona vast salt dome. They mine the salt. Then, they drilled through the salt dome and struck oil. They now produce oil as well.
So many people came they developed a tourist park to see the wild life etc.
In the Tabasco plant parking lot there is a food truck serving up jambalaya and filet gumbo. It is just fantastic and well worth the $4.00 bridge toll