2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29
Tabasco sauce is an American brand of hot sauce, which has been produced since the late 19th century by a family company located on Avery Island, Louisiana. Tabasco sauce is the most famous hot sauce in the world, as only a few drops of it change the taste of the dish in an amazing way, but only the bravest have the opportunity to enjoy it. Tabasco owes its worldwide fame to the balanced taste between fiery hot and pleasantly sour soft.
History of Tabasco sauce
Tabasco sauce comes from tropical Louisiana, and the beginning of its glorious history dates back to the years after the end of the American Civil War. For more than 140 years, tabasco sauce has been made from three ingredients - well-ripened hot red chili peppers, distilled natural vinegar and Avery Island salt. At first glance, a simple recipe could not shape the amazing sauce in conditions other than Louisiana. The long aging procedure with certain care is also an important factor.
The father of Tabasco sauce, Edmund McIlleny, a native of Maryland, settled on the island of Avery in the distant 1840s. The enterprising McKilleny figured out that the island's fertile land could grow the highest quality red chili peppers, a variety native to Central America. The first hot chili peppers were planted on the island in 1860. 8 years later, the company began to seriously produce tabasco sauce as a commercial product. Originally, McClellan wanted to name the sauce Petite Anse, which was actually the old name of Avery Island.
However, family members did not agree and so the family stopped at the name Tabasco. According to hypotheses tabasco sauce is an Native American word that means land with hot and moist soil. This feature perfectly describes the climate of the island, which offers an incredible chance to grow a special variety of hot peppers. After McEllen's death, his son Edward kept the recipe, and so it began to be passed down from generation to generation in the family.
Production of Tabasco sauce
At the beginning of each year, the seeds of hot chili peppers are planted in greenhouses, and in April the seedlings are transferred to the open field, where the peppers ripen in the sun. In August, hot peppers are picked by hand, choosing only the highest quality and healthiest of them. On the day of collection, the peppers are crushed and mixed with small amounts of salt, which is also extracted on the island. Many believe that it is in the salt from the island of Avery that one of the secrets of the sauce is hidden tabasco.
The resulting paste of peppers is left to ferment for three years in special barrels of white oak. Then a special, very fine and distilled grain vinegar is added to the fermented paste. The resulting solution should be stirred periodically for about 1 month, then filtered and bottled.
Once the necessary time for aging has passed tabasco sauce, one of the members of the McIlleny family personally checks the condition of the puree before the final phase of production and assesses whether it is ready. During the next 1 month, the solution should be constantly stirred, and finally the husks and seeds are separated.
The finished one tabasco sauce is bottled, then takes its long journey to over 120 countries around the world. Sauce labels are printed in more than 19 languages. This is the way to produce the famous sauce, which is extremely highly concentrated and rich in taste. Of course, there are different types of tabasco sauce that can meet even the most demanding taste.
The classic red tabasco sauce is measured with 2500-5000 skewers. Tabasco Habanero sauce is much hotter - 7000-8000 stiff, but in it the hottest peppers in the world are mixed with mango, tamarind, papaya or banana puree, so it gets an exotic taste with incredible character. Other options are tabasco sauce from Jamaican green peppers, which has a much more delicate taste, and tabasco sauce with garlic - light and very fragrant.
Storage of tabasco sauce
The classic tabasco sauce of red chili is a natural product in which there are no impurities and dyes. The red pigments of the peppers in the sauce are extremely sensitive to light, which means that they must be stored away from it. Excessive contact with light can cause the sauce to darken. Too low and high temperatures are also not suitable. The shelf life of tabasco sauce is 5 years.
Tabasco sauce in cooking
Undoubtedly tabasco sauce is the most famous hot sauce the culinary world has ever known. Its popularity is huge, its applications are virtually limitless and depend only on the imagination and courage of those who dare to try it. Tabasco sauce is an integral part of official dinners at the White House. Many people use tabasco as a spice, but it can easily be perceived as an important ingredient in the preparation of various dishes - stews, soups, meat sauces, Mexican beans.
The optimal proportion is 1 tsp. of about 1 liter of water or other liquid. The concentrated taste of tabasco sauce gives an incredibly pleasant spiciness to any dish to which it is added. The pizza with a few drops of tabasco becomes remarkable, and the simple scrambled eggs turn into an amazing breakfast. Seafood and tomato sauces flavored with tabasco go to the next level of culinary art.
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