General video · Level C1 - Part 2

How It's Made Hot Sauce

When it comes to cuisine, some like it hot. A quick way to satisfy a pecan-loving palate is with a splash or two of hot sauce.

Level: C1 · 67 sentences

Transcript

When it comes to cuisine, some like it hot.
A quick way to satisfy a pecan-loving palate is with a splash or two of hot sauce.
Typically served with Mexican food such as nachos, tacos, and burritos,
it can also spice up everyday fare such as eggs, potatoes, and sandwiches.
This American company has been producing hot sauce, also called pepper sauce, since 1868.
Its signature version is made from Tabasco peppers, a type of chili pepper.
The brand also comes in additional varieties
using habanero, chipotle, and green jalapeño peppers.
The company has pepper fields at its home base in Louisiana
as well as in Central and South America.
Using seeds harvested from the Louisiana crop,
the company president uses his experienced eye to select the best plants for seed extraction.
Those with even and early ripening, juicy peppers,
well-formed layered branches,
and healthy, damage-free leaves.
He marks his selection with a string,
then pickers harvest those peppers and send them to the seed extractor.
The peppers are hand-picked for sauce production as well.
To determine which ones are ripe enough,
the pickers use what Cajuns call a "petite baton rouge,"
French for "a little red stick."
If a pepper matches the color of the stick, they harvest it;
if not, it stays on the plant.
It's labor-intensive but ensures only the perfect peppers go into the sauce.
Within hours of harvesting, the factory grinds the peppers and mixes them with salt.
This creates a mash, which then goes into oak whiskey barrels to ferment and age.
Wooden barrels breathe, letting in just enough air to spur natural yeast growth,
the key to fermentation.
But not too much air, which would discolor the mash and produce a metallic flavor.
After laying paper on top of the mash to prevent surface discoloration,
workers seal the barrels.
Then they spread a layer of salt over the top.
The barrels now go to the warehouse,
where the mash ferments and ages for three years.
Fermentation releases carbon dioxide gas,
which forces liquid out through a vent hole in the top of the barrel.
The salt absorbs the liquid and hardens.
After the 3-year fermentation and aging period,
they break up the salt and open the barrel.
What was once pungent and acrid is now aromatic
with a mellow, complex flavor.
However, it still needs significant refining.
So they pump it into large mixing tanks,
add vinegar, then churn for three to four weeks.
That's how long it takes for the vinegar to break down the pepper solids into smaller particles.
During that process, the vinegar also takes on the color, flavor, and aroma of the peppers.
The sauce requires no cooking whatsoever
because the vinegar acts as a natural preservative.
The next step is a 2-stage milling process.
The first mill extracts the pepper pulp.
The second mill removes the seeds.
The sauce is now finished.
The quality control department analyzes samples from every batch of sauce for viscosity,
pH, salt level, and other criteria.
Lab technicians also perform taste tests for flavor,
clearing their palate in between with crackers
and cooling the fiery heat with ice cream bars.
Once the batch gets the thumbs up, it's pumped to the bottling line.
The company uses glass rather than plastic
because glass is a better barrier against oxygen.
Oxygen penetration would adversely affect the flavor and color of the sauce.
The capping machine twists on a plastic screw cap.
Then the bottles travel to the labeler,
which adheres the main product label,
slips on a decorative neckband,
and applies a clear plastic seal over the cap.
Hot off the production line and ready to go.