Tabasco Factory, Avery Island, Louisiana

Did you know that each and every bottle of Tabasco, no matter where in the world you get it, is produced in a small production facility close to Lafayette in Louisiana?    • Downtown Lafayette,  Louisiana   And that Avery Island that is printed on the bottles label really is a salt dome? The factory is still owned by the descendants of the man who created the original recipe in 1870, Edmund McIlhenny.

This and much more can be learned as you visit the Tabasco Factory and Museum in Louisiana.

Via the entrance in the Tabasco Museum you pay a small fee to enter the facilities, the fee also includes a gift of a few samples.
Inside the greenhouse you see the variety of peppers used in the production. Most of the peppers are today grown in South America and Africa, but always using seeds from Avery Island. In the Barrel Warehouse you learn about barrel aging cooperage and pepper mash aging process. In the blending room a 28-days blending process of salt, peppers and vinegar takes place. Local salt is an important factor in the making of Tabasco, and you get some further insights about the salt mining on the island during your visit. Inside the factory you see the staff supervising the bottling line and packing.
In the country store you get the opportunity to purchase from a big assortment of Tabasco branded gear, and of course taste and buy all varieties of Tabasco. If you worked up an apetite there’s also a restaurant on the premises. If they use tabasco in every dish? You bet!

So what does the word Tabasco really mean? The word has Mexican Indian origin and is said to mean a place where the soil is humid.