Avery Island is a salt dome named after the Avery family that settled here in the 1830's.
At that time is was a sugar plantation. During the Civil War, the salt was mined for the
Confederacy. In 1862, Edmund McIlhenny married Mary Avery and joined the family business mining salt. In 1868, McIlhenny experimented with a sauce made with peppers from Central America and received a patent for TABASCO PEPPER SAUCE. The family
still operates the business and sells TABASCO all over the world.
Approaching Avery Island
Toll Booth to the Island
Factory Entrance
The peppers are picked when they are ripe using
a six inch dowel painted red (pette baton rouge).
The peppers are then ground into a mash with a
little salt and placed in oak barrels to ferment
for three years.
The barrels are sealed with holes in the top
to allow for escaping gases. Salt is placed
on top to allow the gases to escape while
keeping out bacteria, etc.
When the mash is ready, the barrels are dumped into vats
with vinegar and stirred for 28 days then bottled.
Stayed the night at Palmetto Island State Park
(A Cajun Bayou Park)
Vermilion River
Tomorrow: Texas
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