the trade name of a bottled hot chilli sauce made since 1868 from ripe red peppers of the species Capsicum frutescens v. tabasco. The variety name comes from the state in Mexico from which seeds originally came to Avery Island, Louisiana, where the McIlhenny family have cultivated the plants to make the sauce. The island is the peak of a subterranean mountain of salt. A special fermentation process carried out there gives the special flavour to the sauce. Interesting features of the sauce's history have been described by Naj (1992), but an official history of this fascinating phenomenon in the annals of food production has still to be written.
Tabasco sauce is convenient as a source of ‘bottled hotness’, but has a number of rivals, also based on one or other variety of hot chilli pepper.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Naj, Amal (1992), Peppers, New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
