Tabasco Sauce Pepper Factory & Konriko Rice Mill

 

The Tobasco Sauce Pepper Factory is located on Avery Island, Louisiana.  Edmund McIlhenny conconcted the now famous Tabasco brand pepper sauce in a wooden building called the "Laboratory".  Five generations of the family have owned and still run this factory.  A new building replaced the old Laboratory in the early 1900's as demand grew. 

The Capsicum frutescens pepper plant is grown on Avery Island mainly for its seeds to keep the pepper line pure.  These seeds are then exported to Central and South America, where tabasco peppers are cultivated and harvested.

Fields to Factory > In January the seeds are planted and cultivated in greenhouses.  About April, the seedlings are planted in the fields by hand.  When the plant is in fruit, you will notice a variety of colors...green, yellow, orange, and red.  Because of these variations in color the pickers use le petit baton rouge, the small red stick that is painted the right shade of red for a fully ripened hot pepper.  When daily picking is done, the peppers are hauled to the factory where they are mixed with pure Avery Island salt.  The freshly picked peppers are ground with the salt into a mash and stored in 50-gal. white oak barrels.  These barrels are purchased from the Tennessee Whiskey Distillery as the distillery can only use the barrels ONE time.  The Tabasco factory can use the barrels over and over.  When the barrels are no longer useable, they are chopped into chips and sold for smoking foods.
Peppers to Mash > Once the wooden barrels are full of fresh mash, the covers are tightly secured with stainless steel hoops.  Each lid contains a small opening that allows the barrel to vent the gasses created by fermentation.  These special plastic vents are then covered with a protective layer of salt from the Avery Island salt mines and the barrels then placed where they will age for 3 years.
Mash to Sauce > After aging for 3 years, the pepper mash is ready to be mixed with the 3rd ingredient.  The 50 gal. barrels of mash are opened and blended with strong vinegar.  The sauce is then pumped into larger white oak vats where this mixture of mash and vinegar is stirred intermittently for 2 months.  After agitation the sauce is strained off its seeds and pulp is ready for bottling.

The making of a bottle of Tabasco sauce > The bottles travel via conveyor belt and are filled with the exact amount of Tabasco sauce, capped, sealed, and made tamper-proof.  They are checked after each step to insure the high quality of the sauce.


Tabasco pepper sauce was originally sold in cork-topped cologne bottles dipped in green sealing wax.  today the bottles are vaccum filled.  Boxes of sauce are shipped to distant lands in 19 non-English languages.

While there J bought me some MaQue Choux (crayfish & mushrooms over rice) and Etouffee (crayfish over rice) for me to have some "real" Cajun food.  YUM!  YUM!  We also sampled most of their sauces, rice, and icecreams.  YUM!  YUM!

...Recipes...

Eggs:  1/4 t. Tabasco for 6 eggs or 2-3 drops per egg

Sauces/Gravies:  Per recipe for 6
1/8 t.Tabasco , mild
1/4 t. Tabasci, hotter

Salad Dressing:  1/4 t. Tabasco, extra zip to 1/2 cup salad dressing

Soup:  2-3 drops Tabasco per portion while cooking or to taste at the table



Avery Island is separated from the mainland by a narrow bayou.  It is a salt dome and the largest of 5 salt domes in coastal Louisiana.  Discovered in 1862, Avery is the first salt dome in the US.  Pillars of salt in the present mine are 60 feet high.  The salt deposit is estimated to contain 1,000 acres in the area.  Holes have been drilled into the salt bed 2,200 feet deep without going through the solid salt.  It is believed to be deeper than Mt. Everest is tall.

This is the salt used with the pepper processing.

 

The Conrad Rice Mill was built in 1912 by P.A. Conrad.   In the 1950's the name changed to KONRIKO.  It is a trademark acronym for "Conrad Rice".  He took the first 3 letters of his last name (Con), the first 2 letters of rice (ri), and the first 2 letters of company (co) to create the name Conrico for his rice company.  Another person already was using part of this name so he had to change the lettering from "c" to "k" creating Konriko that we know today.  This is America's oldest working rice mill located in the Bayou Teche area of New Iberia, Louisiana.  This is a rare surviving example of a factory using a belt-driven power transmission. 

A substantial portion of the mill's original equipment is still in use today.

 

Fields are flattened then the rice seeds and fertalizer are dropped by airpane onto the fields.  Once the rice begins to grow, the fields are flooded several times to reduce weed growth.  When the fields are flooded the crayfish come up from the ground building high mounds of dirt.  The crayfish are then harvested to eat.  When the water subsides the crayfish left behind go back down into the ground.  When the rice turns a golden yellow it's ready to harvest.  It is thrashed by combines and hauled to round storage bins with aerators for keeping the grain moisture free.  The farmers value is by the number of full storage bins on his farm.  When the time is right or money is needed, the rice goes to the mill to be sold and processed for market. 

 



The Rice Mill and grounds are guarded by over 40 cats who (according to our guide) do an awesome job keeping the non wanted varmints away.

 

 

Konriko has a couple new products on the market.  They make Hol Grain Rice Starch to take the place of Cornstarch.  The Rice Starch can be used immediately in hot gravies or soups without clumping.  They also raise Wild Pecan Rice.  No it is NOT made from pecans.  It is a hybrid rice with a nutty aroma and pecan-like flavor.  This new rice only takes 20 minutes to cook compared to others. 

They also have an expensive sauce ($14.95 per small bottle) called Konriko Island Secret Sauce.  It is a thick, rich sauce made from exotic peppers and seasonings with just a "hint" of heat.  Perfect served over cream cheese for an hors d'orvore and on rice wafers.  Brings out flavor of beef, pork, or chicken when used as a glaze.

Konriko sales are in all 50 states and Canada, and beginning to venture into European markets.  Here we received yummy samples of their rice with coffee.

Back at camp, we are prepared for the ??? wintry mix from the Arctic blast. I'm getting use to the 4 lane busy highway on one side and the nearby railroad tracks on the other side.  Last night I counted the whistle blows from the frist time I heard it until it went out of hearing and it blew 28 consecutive times.  Thank goodness for Benadryl so I can sleep.  LOL Our neighbors are a potpouri of folk from work amp to booking cop, to full timers, to passing thru folk like us.
Take care.  Be safe.
See you by the campfire.