Mar 20, 2013 - McILHenny Co. Tabasco Pepper Sauce

Little Avery Island in Louisiana is the home of the famous "McILHenny Co. Tabasco Pepper Sauce. Known to most as Tabasco Sauce. Mr. McIlhenny was delighted to find that the special red peppers he had planted in his garden before the war had miraculously survived. He began to experiment with making pepper sauce, and eventually hit upon a formula that worked by crushing the ripest, reddest peppers, mixing half a cup of local salt with each gallon, then aging the mixture in crockery jars for thirty days. He added fine French wine vinegar, and...

Mar 27, 2012 - Passport America Rally

Today the six of us drove about 40 miles southeast of Rayne, Louisiana to Avery Island where the entire world's supply of Tabasco Sauce is bottled. We took the tour of the bottling plant where we viewed a 10 minute video that discussed the development and history of the Tabasco Sauce. After the plant tour we visited the company store where all of us tasted all of the products and all of us bought something. Following the plant tour we toured the Avery Island Jungle Gardens where we viewed wildlife and flora. The gardens have wild...

Oct 31, 2011 - Baton Rouge to Avery Island

The first thing I noticed about the Louisiana State Capitol was the amount of green space around the building - lots of trees and flowers. The second was the inscription on the front stairs of all of the names of the states and the date of admittance to the union. I was so surprised that I was able to enter using the official front door. Since 9/11 most capitols have security at the basement level. The third surprise was the outside wraparound observation deck off the 27th floor. Pretty terrific views! My tour guide - all mine --I was the...

Apr 13, 2011 - Day Trip: Avery Island, LA

We drive today to Avery Island to see the Tabasco Pepper Sauce factory and the Jungle Gardens with its Bird City. Edmund McIlhenny first produced Tabasco pepper sauce from capsicum pepper plants grown on Avery Island in the post-Civil War era. The McIlhenny family still runs the company. We go through the historical gallery, see a film and move to the viewing gallery where the Tabasco sauce is made. We get free samples! After the tour, we go to the Tabasco Country Store. Here we are able to sample Tabasco products. We have a ball. Our...

Feb 26, 2011 - Avery Island - Tabasco

Finally made to Avery Island, the home of Tabasco. I say finally because we tried to visit it several years ago and they were closed. Avery Island, owned and managed by the Avery/McIhenny families, is a salt dome island (one of 5 in the area) surrounded by swamps and marshes and for some reason they charge everyone a dollar to drive on to the island. Once there you can only go 2 places - Tabasco and a Botanical Garden/Bird Sanctuary. The rest of the island is private with large signs saying you will be charged with trespassing if you go...

Jan 29, 2010 - Hot Stuff, Hot Stuff

From Whispering Meadows RV Park, in Westlake, Louisiana (at I-10, 3 miles from Lake Charles, 27 miles east of Texas). We have had the pleasure of meeting in various settings probably 30-40 different couples & singles who are journal readers in the 3+ years of our travels. Unless my memory is failing me, certainly it might & please forgive me if it is, but we have now experienced another first in our vagabond life. Reader Roy had left a message back last fall inviting us to his home while we were in this area. That general invitation came...

Apr 8, 2008 - Trip to Avery Island

We had a very pleasant day visiting the McIlhenny Tabasco plant and surrounding area. The tour was very short but we were able to see the workers bottle the sauce. The general store had all the different pepper sauces they make as well as many many souvenirs. The McIlhenny company has a self guided garden tour you can drive or walk around. It's called the Jungle Garden and is about 5 miles roundtrip. The gardens were well worth the drive, they have many ponds with turtles and alligators as well as many white Egrets. Our next stop will be...