This year marks the 150th anniversary of the year Edmund McIlhenny harvested his first tabasco pepper crop to create a sauce to liven up food for his family and friends.
The McIlhenny Company continues its celebration of that occasion with the release of a Diamond Reserve Red Sauce. It is made from a selection of the finest tabasco peppers on Avery Island, chosen for their superior color, texture and robustness, the company says. These peppers are mashed with a small amount of salt, then aged – some for up to fifteen years – and blended with sparkling white wine vinegar. The resulting pepper sauce has exceptional complexity, while maintaining the signature flavor and vibrancy for which TABASCO® Sauce is celebrated, the company says.
You can buy a six-ounce bottle for about $35 here, but you might want to hurry – because it’s a limited edition.
McIlhenny couldn’t have known that the creation of this simple sauce would change the way the world eats, but today the same three ingredients that made his TABASCO® Sauce – tabasco peppers, salt and vinegar – are aged and bottled by Edmund’s family on Avery Island, the process virtually unchanged.
The iconic red-capped bottle with the diamond label is sold in more than 185 countries and territories and labeled in 22 languages and dialects.
