Who founded the McIlhenny Company, the Louisiana maker of Tabasco sauce?

Edmund McIlhenny founded the McIlhenny Company, the Louisiana maker of Tabasco sauce.

McIlhenny developed the pepper sauce on Avery Island after moving to Louisiana. The original recipe used red peppers, salt, and vinegar, and the sauce was aged before bottling. The company began selling Tabasco commercially in the 1860s.

The McIlhenny family’s production site is on Avery Island, where the company still operates. Tabasco is made primarily from tabasco peppers, a variety whose name is also used in the brand’s identity.

A common mix-up is confusing Avery Island with a city or parish. It is a salt-dome island in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. The island’s association with Tabasco is distinct from the separate question of who founded the company: that founder was Edmund McIlhenny.