While we generally have a disdain for Tabasco sauce as a mass-produced version of spicy vinegar, there’s no escaping the interest and lore around the brand. With the recent publication of a book about the history of the Tabasco brand, more attention (if that’s even possible) has been focused on the little island in Louisiana which is the center of the Tabasco universe.

Avery Island, La.: Tabasco and wildlife
By MARY FOSTER Associated Press Writer
Article Launched: 10/29/2007 12:32:15 PM PDT

AVERY ISLAND, La.—Not long after you cross the little bridge leading over Bayou Petite Anse—”Little Cove’” in the Cajun French spoken in these parts—whiffs of the spicy fragrance of Tabasco pepper drift through the air.

Stand next to the factory where they pump out the hot sauce at the rate of 600,000 bottles a day, and the powerful essence is enough to make your eyes water and start you coughing.

E.A. McIlhenny invented the blend of peppers, salt and vinegar here after the Civil War, and everything on 2,200-acre Avery Island, from the bayou bridge on, belongs to his descendants. Visitors can tour the factory where the family still produces the famous condiment, which now generates $250 million in annual revenue, according to the just released book, “McIlhenny’s Gold: How a Louisiana Family Built the Tabasco Empire.”

But there’s another tourist draw here in addition to the Tabasco factory – a 250-acre wildlife refuge called Jungle Gardens that is also part of the McIlhenny family legacy.

Click here to read the rest of the source article from the San Jose Mercury News