Tidbits About Tabasco

This is information from the Avery Island brochure about Tabasco.

From pepper pods obtained shortly after the Civil War, Edmund McIlhenny cultivated a crop, invented a product, and founded a company. Today on Avery Island you can see pepper plants like those being nurtured for next year's crop. Seeds from plants grown on the Island are exported to Central and South America, where Tabasco peppers are cultivated and harvested at the peak of their ripeness. Only the choicest peppers from the tropics are used in making Tabasco pepper sauce.

How it's made:
Tabasco pepper sauce was first produced by Edmund McIlhenny from capsicum pepper plants first grown on Avery Island in the post-Civil War era. Its recipe, so unique he was granted a patent on it, is closely followed today.

Each January, seeds of special capsicum peppers are planted in greenhouses; seedlings are transplanted to the fields in April. By August, the peppers reach just the right shade of red and are handpicked. Newly harvested peppers are mashed at the factory with a little Avery Island salt. The mash ferments and ages for three years in white oak barrels. Finally, the aged mash is mixed with special premium vinegar, stirred for a month, strained, and poured into bottles with their familiar red octagonal caps, green foil neckbands and diamond-shaped labels.  The caps, neckbands and labels are all registered trademarks.

Much of the world knows about Tabasco pepper sauce, made for over 125 years on Avery Island, Louisiana. Not as many people know that Avery Island is actually a salt dome that extends some eight miles beneath the earth's surface. Or that the protruding "island" part of the formation rising above the surface is home of the world's most beautiful sanctuaries for the preservation and study of flora and fauna.

It was on Avery Island, where salt and pepper meet, that Edward McIlhenny helped save the snowy egret from extinction. In 1895, when the bird was being hunted for its plumage, McIlhenny built an aviary on Avery Island, and then captured and raised 3ithe wold egrets. After they had raised their hatches and were ready to migrate, McIlhenny freed them. The egrets returned the next spring and every spring since then egrets and herons have returned by the thousands to the rookery now called "Bird City."

For his wildlife conservation efforts alone, "Monsieur Ned," as he was known by his French-speaking friends and associates, would be noteworthy. But he did much more to ensure that future generations had an ideal spot to enjoy and study the beauties of nature and to observe plants and flowers from around the world in his Jungle Gardens.

A Positive Attitude

This may be as good as it gets for today. If anything exciting happens, outside of having Chinese take-out brought in for the office staff, I'll be sure to record it.

I forgot to put this in my Sunday post a few weeks ago. It was something that was used in Sacrament Meeting, and I loved it. This could be used for a variety of subjects, but I think a positive attitude tops the list.

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. "Well," she said, "I think I'll braid my hair today." So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. "H-M-M, " she said, "I think I'll part my hair down the middle today." So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. "Well," she said, "Today I'm going to wear my hair in a pony tail." So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn't a single hair on her head.... "YEAH!" she exclaimed, "I don't have to fix my hair today!" 

ZLs and STLs

Elder Ware and Elder Virgin, Zone Leaders in the Alexandria Zone, were in for MLC yesterday and ending up spending the night. They needed to trade their car in for one that was working properly.

Sister Stennet and Sister Lindstrom also stopped by to bring their May gas reciepts and mileage record to the office elders. All receipts for the previous month must be turned in by the 5th of the new month or they lose miles. No bueno!

Unfortunately there wasn't much visiting time, but can I just say our missionaries are the best ever. They're all so friendly and genuinely loving. And I get to hug the Sisters!

Oak Alley Plantation

OAK ALLEY PLANTATION

Here's a brief history of Oak Alley, another spectacular antebellum plantation.

Jacques Roman acquired the property in 1836 from his brother-in-law, Valcour Aime, who was known as the "King of Sugar," and was one of the wealthiest men in the South.  Jacques began building the present mansion in 1837 and completed it in 1839 with the hope that his new bride, Celina, would be happy there. The marriage to Celina was pre-arranged and they were wed when she was 18 and he was 35. Celina was from New Orleans and, from what I heard, sounds like she was a spoiled society girl. They eventually had 6 children--3 who died when they were 2 years, 2 months, and 12 years old. Only one lived to be over 30.

Jacques died in 1848 of tuberculosis, and the estate began to be manged by his wife who had no skill for managing a sugar plantation. She also spent so heavily that she nearly bankrupted the estate. In 1859 her son, Henri, took control of the estate and tried to turn things around, but economic problems from the Civil War and lack of slave labor made it almost impossible for him to manage. He went into heavy debt, mainly to his family, and had to put the plantation up for auction. It was sold for $32,800!



Here are a few pictures of the property. Some of the oaks are over 300 years old. Many were over 100 years old when the home was built.

The thing over the table is a fan. A young Negro boy would stand in the corner and pull the cord continuously during a meal to keep the diners as comfortable as possible.

Crawfish Boil!

How To Have a Crawfish Boil

Purchase (or catch) two 35 lb bags of live crawfish

Obtain 1 large pot--about 80 quarts--for this particular recipe.

                                                           



Give the little guys a bath. Rinse them real good, drain off the icky water, then cover them with water again and add about 2 lbs of salt. That'll cause them to do things I don't want to explain.

 Let your children and grandchildren play with them. If you hold them from the back they can't reach around and pinch or bite you.

Season the water. First with Zatarin's Crab Boil--about half the jar, next comes hot sauce, then the red pepper. Don't inhale any of the seseasonings!









Add about 10 lbs of potatoes in a mesh bag. Hang it over the pot handle so it doesn't fall to the bottom. Then drop in about 5 lbs of unpeeled onions, cut in half. Add salt--maybe another pound.

Stir with a large paddle about the size of an oar.

Now pour in about half of the crawfish! Stir again, then squeeze the juice from about a dozen lemons. Drop in lemon halves and shucked ears of corn. Cover and boil till done--maybe 4 minutes. Turn off the heat and let them sit and soak up the flavor.









When it's time, lift the pot liner out, drain the water off, then pour everything back into the tub where 20 minutes ago they were living happily in the cool, fresh water.

Pile everything on big platters and dig in.  Elder F acts like it's no big deal to put on a "boil," but trust me, it's a ton of work. But he and Sister F are so gracious and generous with their time and talents, and we're the beneficiaries of it all.  Good people the Fontenot's!

Swamp Boat Tour

Monday morning began with the most fantastic swamp tour on an air boat. We were seriously praying that the rain would hold off for a few hours so we could relish the whole experience. A drizzle would have been fine, but lightening and tin boats are a very bad combination. I'll just mention now that we weren't 3 minutes down the road after our tour when the rain began. Another miracle that we were so grateful for.

Captain Curt Guidry maneuvered us through the Atchafalaya Basin, over water hyacinths (and sometimes a little ground), down the channels and back waterways--all in search of the alligators. He must know where they all live and went directly to an area where a mama gator resides with her 10 babies, 10 months old. It was another National Geographic experience. These pictures can never do justice to the beauty that we experienced today.

What a delight to be together with family and enjoy this whole incredible experience. This is something that Marc has wanted to do all his life. If it's not on anyone's bucket list, it should be!

So here's the mother gator and one of the 10--the only one that wanted to be photographed! Yes, they were almost as close as it looks. Mother gator came right up within a few feet of the boat. Captain Curt threw out some beef fat for her. I think she knew it was coming. When and if I get around to a bit about gators I'll come back and fill in the information.

This was so much like being on the California Delta, but even more beautiful. Many of the cypress trees had what looked like green lines on them--all in the same place. What we discovered is that was the water level in 2011! I'm not sure how it could've been so high. It already looked like it was going to flood the banks.

These are just a few pics of the beauty of nature that we enjoyed.

Next stop was Avery Island, the Tabasco Factory and Jungle Gardens.

There's something fascinating about watching anything in an assembly line. It seems to be mesmerizing. I seriously could have stood forever watching little bottles get filled, lidded and labeled. This is the only place in the world where Tabasco is bottled. I have a whole dissertation on how it's done, but that will also have to wait until I have more time.

After the factory tour we drove around the Jungle Gardens and saw more alligators. We were about 10' away from this little guy. He really wasn't very large--maybe 4'--so we quietly moved over to get a few shots.

I honestly don't know where the crawfish came from. There was no hole in the ground and he was a long way from the water. He was a feisty little guy and clawed at Jaie's foot when taunted.

A New Elder & Plaquette

Transfer day gave Plaquemine Branch 2 new missionaries. Sister Weiidmann is the lovely Temple Square Sister from Switzerland. It'll be fun getting to know her.

Elder Allred is our new Elder. He seems to be quite a character & I don't think he has one shy bone in his body!

Kimberlee made fast friends with Sister Harris. Mutual admiration, I'm sure.

Took a little drive down to White Castle to show Nottoway to the Jordan's. We just did a drive-by and took a few pictures since it's Sunday. I have no idea what this little shack is. We just passed it on our excursion, but it was so picturesque and calling out to me, "Take my picture!"


Supposedly this is the worlds smallest church that's been converted to a doctor's office. That may or may not be true. It didn't look large enough for a doctor let alone a patient.

We made a stop at LSU to introduce Calli & Paige to Mike the Tiger.