Travelogue-New Orleans (Day 1-Tabasco Visitors Center and lunch)

McIlhenny Co, the makers of Tabasco brand pepper sauce, has a facility at Avery Island that is open to the public.

Some info to guide your choice on whether to go out of your way to stop by for a look. You need to manage your expectations.  This is mainly a bottling facility. While there might be other things going on at this site, the bottling is the only thing the general public can view. While some peppers are grown here, the majority are raised in South America. South America is also where the bulk of the peppers are mashed and mixed with salt then shipped here. The guide mentioned the pepper field may be opened up to tours next year.

From the entrance, just left of this shot, to the second outcropping is the breadth of the touring facility.

As you make your way in, you pass by a giant replica of the modern day container of the sauce.  A short history is presented by the guide as they touch on previous incarnations of the container to la petite baton rouge.  The original  sauce was poured into a perfume bottle.  La petite baton rouge, little red stick, is a short piece fo wood painted the color of the ripened chili at its peak of juicyness.  We were given miniatures of some of their pepper sauces as we entered to watch a short video presentation.  At its conclusion, we make our way into the small hallway.

A plexiglass window seperates you from the machines and the workers.  Bottles are filled, capped, labeled and boxed for shipment.  Packaging only occurs Monday to Thursday.

These shipments go allover the US as well as the world.  These are getting readied to be forwarded to France.  This concludes our tour.  We exit the tour and enter an educational room with further info about the company and its mainline product

The mash is stored in white oak barrels obtained from the distillers of Jack Daniels whiskey.  The barrels are enclosed and capped with a layer of locally mined salt.  The salt allows gases formed during fermentation to escape while keeping impurities out.  Once its fremented and aged, the results are mixed with vinegar, filtered, then bottled.  Simple, right?  Peppers, salt and vinegar

In a motion-activated display model, a mixer gently stirs a portion of mash underneath a clear plastic lid.  The lighter portion gets rotated while the darker red mash is never disturbed.

A diorama provides an overview of Avery Island on which the complex stands.  The island is named after McIlhenny's wife's maiden name.  A bird sanctuary was established to protect the snowy egret.  In the top left is where the visitors center is located, just to the right of the white circle.

The souvenir shop is the parting shot to your tour.  While not connected to the tour area, it is but a short walk.  The edifice is modeled after a general store you would find in the country.

You can find almost anything you could imagine that contains the sauce or has its name and logo branded on to it.  Edibles and wearable goods abound among cookbooks to novelty items

There are currently seven varieties of Tabasco pepper sauce.  You can sample them to see which tickles your fancy and find a way to go home with you.  Other sauces and condiments are available to try out and purchase as well.

Soft serve with flavors that they have concocted are offered for tastings.  The raspberry chipotle is a sauce they make available for purchase.  It is incorporated into ince cream.  The initial sensation is a sweet raspberry flavor on the front of your tongue.  Slowly, the heat builds in the back of your throat and you cannot ignore it any more.  The ice cream, I believe, has a bigger kick than the sauce.  Jalapeno hits you almost immediatly with the flavor of the pepper.  I hardly noticed the sweetnes as the jalapeno flavor took front and center.  As with the other flavor, the heat works it up stealthfully.  An unappetizing creation they had was the Tabasco soda pop.  Thnakfully, they dont put this out for sale.  It is pretty nasty and all they do is mix cola with Tabasco.

As I left, some of the snowy egrets were spotted in the waters that surrounds the island.

I relied on Yelp to help find a place to have lunch in New Iberia.  There were high marks for this place in the center of town, Bon Creole Seafood/lunch counter.

The counter offers the staples of the area: po-boys, seafood, gumbo, etc.  To one side is counterspace for noshing while there are tables in the next room for a more relaxed atmosphere amongst the deer heads, marlins, and other trophies hung on the walls and cieling.

I ordered the seafood po-boy.  Deep fried sandwich fillings can also be purchased in plate form with salad and french fries.  This po-boy comes dressed(lettuce, tomato, and mayo) with fried shrimp, crawfish, catfish, and oysters.  Upon reflection, I failed to taste any oyster and they may have been left out.  Later, in local news shows, it was report that oyster harvests are down and there could be a shortage for the upcoming thanksgiving holiday.  Anyway, the breading was crispy and light without the heavy handedness of the frying oil.  The flesh of all the seafoood tasted fresh and juicy.  It was so big that eventually I left the bread behind.

To the right, potato salad comes with the sandwich.  It was ok but not worth finishing on a full stomach.  Seafood gumbo accompanied my meal.  White rice is provided with an extra bowl to mix the two together.  The gumbo had a nice mildly muddy flavor with plump pieces of small shrimp and crawfish.  I am no gourmand and no food critic, but I knoow what I like and what tastes good to me..