New Iberia, Avery Island, and Tabasco Sauce

May 7, 2011

When we first arrived in this area of Louisiana we saw field after field of rowed, precisely planted bushes. Bill and I at first thought the crop must be some kind of pepper for the red pepper sauce industry. Hey, we're from the north! We were soon to learn that sugar cane is a principal crop. It has recently been harvested so this is what is left.

Sugarland

We experienced the city of New Iberia, population about 35,000, as the center of civilization 30 miles from the Lake Fausse Point State Park. It had a WalMart for an oil change and a good restaurant. We learned some more interesting things:

New Iberia is the Queen City of Bayou Teche.

New Iberia is the home to fictional detective Dave Robicheaux and his creator, author James Lee Burke.

New Iberia hosts the Louisiana Sugar Cane Festival in September which celebrates the commencement of the sugar cane harvest, locally referred to as grinding. Sugar cane is a principal crop grown by New Iberia farmers.

New Iberia is the site of the World Championship Gumbo Cook-Off on the first full weekend in October. There's also the Cajun Hot Sauce Festival and the Great Gator Race!

A small town before getting to New Iberia is Loreauville. The French influence abounds.

Sign for Loreauville LA, Village on the Bayou Teche since 1871

Leaving town

Did carriages ride under this canopy?

Avery Island

Twelve miles beyond New Iberia is the privately owned Avery Island, home of the McIlhenny family since 1818 and their world-famous Tabasco brand pepper sauce. I was amazed to find out that the recipe has remained the same from the very beginning and consists of only three ingredients – red pepper mash, salt, and vinegar. The Tabasco peppers are now grown in Central and South America as well as on the island to hedge on crop failures and hurricanes. But all the product, every bottle, 700,000 a day, happens here. The island sits on one of the largest salt mines in the world. It is deeper than Mt. Everest.

The bottling and labeling factory

Flat Stanley would get his very own sample bottle of Tabasco Sauce.

Endorsed by Queen Elizabeth II

The peppers mature on the bush from green to yellow to orange to red.

There are 100 peppers per bush.

Every pepper is picked by hand.

Over 170 countries at last count

First bottles used were perfume and cologne bottles

Part of the long mechanical production line

Edmund returned from the Civil War to find the Union Army had destroyed the buildings and equipment needed to mine the salt. The red peppers he had planted before going away were flourishing. He had to do something to make some money! The rest is history.