One of New Zealand's favourite hot sauce brands, Tabasco is celebrating its 150th anniversary. What was originally started by the McIlhenny Company, founded by Edmund McIlhenny in 1868 on Avery Island in Louisiana has grown to include 200 employee’s half of whom still work and live on the island.
150 years later, the process and ingredients remain virtually unchanged with the same three ingredients that made the original red Tabasco Sauce still used today – tabasco peppers, salt and vinegar, aged in white oak barrels and bottled by Edmund’s family on Avery Island.
Current president and CEO, Anthony “Tony” Simmons is the seventh McIlhenny family member in a chain of direct descendants and has continued the traditions passed down from the family’s creator. “My family and all of us at McIlhenny Company are truly humbled by the love we’ve seen for TABASCO Sauce that has brought us to this incredible anniversary.”
The range has grown to include four varieties – Tabasco Original, Green Sauce, Chipotle and Habanero, which are sold in more than 195 countries and labelled in 25 different languages and dialects.
