Birth of Tabasco
Capsicum frutescens pepper seeds are the central ingredient in Tabasco sauce. -- OMAR TORRES/AFP/Getty Images
"My great, great grandfather was a banker, an entrepreneur and a monster chili head and he didn't like the way food tasted," says Anthony "Tony" Simmons, the president and CEO of the McIlhenny Company, which is now in its fifth generation as a family-run business.
"He created Tabasco to enliven the flavor of his own food."
While it's unclear exactly where he obtained the capsicum frutescens var. tabasco pepper seeds that became the main ingredient in Tabasco sauce, they are thought to have come from Mexico or Central America.