Tabasco factory/museum

Today I did a fun side trip to Avery Island and the McIlhenny Company's Tabasco facility. The self-guided tour covered everything from an actual greenhouse, processing, storage, bottling and shipment. The peppers are processed the same day they are picked and stored in large wooden barrels for up to three years; then vinegar and salt are added, and the mixture is blended for a few weeks then off to bottling. Avery Island is 2,200 acres which lies atop a huge salt dome; Cargill Corp. currently operates a mining operation and provides some of the salt to the factory. The air in some parts of the facility, especially storage, has a certain pepper pungency. The histories of the McIlhenny family is pretty interesting; Walter S. spent a career in the Marine Corps, retired as a brigadier general, and fought in the Pacific in WW2 earning a Silver Star, a Navy Cross and two Purple Hearts. Edward Avery "Ned" sailed with the Frederick Cook Arctic Expedition, survived a sinking, and ran his own expedition a few years later. John Avery left the Company to join

Teddy Roosevelt's Rough Riders in Cuba and later, on his own, fought in the Philippine-American War of 1899 before spending a long career with the State Dept.