French Market Hot Sauces
New Orleans and its surrounding areas have historically served as fertile ground for a rich sampling of trends and products.
The Creole and Cajun cuisines for which the territory is famous proved to be healthy fodder for the creation of a thriving market for fiery seasoning mixes, such as Tony Chachere’s and Zatarain’s blends, and pepper and vinegar condiments, such as McIlhenny’s Tabasco sauce.
The Chachere’s, Zatarain’s and Tabasco product lines became so wildly popular among both locals and others that they were expanded to include spin-off products, some of which made sense. Other product incarnations were simply flights of fancy that have magically worked.
Logically, Chachere’s and Zatarian’s incorporated their secret spices into fish fry, mixes for red beans and rice, etouffee, crawfish and shrimp boil, jambalaya, dirty rice and other regional favorites. People grab them off the shelves, both here and afar, because they are good-tasting facsimiles of their homemade cousins, they save plenty of time in the kitchen and the person you’re cooking for will always be impressed.
When the McIlhenny family added hot pepper jelly, jalapeno sauce, pickled green beans and spicy mayonnaise to their offerings, they were met with applause. The new products, like their predecessor, made even the most boring foods interesting. When the McIlhennys added boldly-colored silk neckties emblazoned with varying themes on the Tabasco logo, they started flying off the shelves too. What is the correlation? Wandering droplets of Tabasco hot sauce have destroyed many a necktie.
The products that come from Louisiana are desirable all over the world because they have a special personality. Our coffees are blended with chicory, for example. That isn’t done anywhere else. Because
Louisianians live to eat, the majority of products made here for export are food-related— unless you include crude oil and those neckties. Our products are found in grocery stores and specialty markets around the country and in some cases, the world: beers, teas, coffees, candies, spice blends, a multitude of condiments, rice, bread and even potato chips. To experience a bit of the spirit of Louisiana, look for some of these products the next time you’re in the grocery store and want to escape the humdrum.
Camellia As far as people in Louisiana are concerned, there’s only one brand of dried beans: Camellia. They are packaged in several varieties— black, navy, split pea, lentil, lima, field pea, crowder pea— but the reigning king locally will always be the red kidney bean, the basis for red beans ‘n’ rice. The rest of the country agrees: Sales of Camellia red kidney beans top sales charts all over the nation. What makes them so popular? Perhaps it’s the convenient, foolproof recipes Camellia is good enough to print on the back of each package.
Abita Beer Brewed with pure water from the nearby artesian wells in Abita Springs, Abita Beer was received with pounding steins upon its debut in the early 1980s. Aiming for the import and premium beer-drinking market, the master brewers at Abita produce Golden, Amber and Turbodog varieties for everyday consumption and Mardi Gras Bock, Wheat, Red Ale, Christmas Ale and Fall Fest seasonally. Golden, Amber and Turbodog are distributed all over the east and southeast and in Texas and California. For the younger crowd and teetotalers, Abita now brews a yummy root beer using Louisiana sugar cane.
Dixie Beer A landmark on Tulane Avenue, Dixie Brewing Company distributes Blackened Voodoo lager and Jazz Amber Lite nationally. The former is a dark, German-style lager that, despite the overwhelming flavors tossed within, still bears that unmistakable, unidentifiable taste that Dixie longnecks are known for.
Southern Comfort In 1874, M. W. Heron, a bartender at McCauley’s tavern just off Bourbon Street, developed a beverage he called “Cuffs and Buttons,” serving it directly from a whiskey barrel. A decade later, the concoction was renamed “Southern Comfort” and described as “The Grand Old Drink of the South” at the World’s Centennial Exposition in New Orleans. By 1889, Heron was bottling Southern Comfort, with a label proclaiming, “None genuine but mine.” (The home depicted on the label since the 1930s is Woodland Plantation in West Pointe a la Hache, Louisiana— now a bed and breakfast.)
In 1939, Southern Comfort became the first alcohol to jointly promote a movie and a beverage: the “Scarlet O’Hara,” made with cranberry juice, was introduced to coincide with the release of Gone with the Wind. It’s still one of the most popular Southern Comfort drinks.
Community Coffee and Tea Community Coffee and Tea suffered humble beginnings indeed. When Henry Saurage founded the Full Weight Grocery in the early 1900s in Baton Rouge, he began to package the ground and roasted coffee he prepared for his regular customers. Family members delivered the goods by horse and buggy to grocery stores throughout the state. The product line grew to include bagged and iced teas, the latter of which are available in a variety of fruit flavors. Community is now a firmly established, favorite product throughout the South. New Orleans is dotted with locations of their cozy coffeehouse, CC’s.
French Market Coffee A favorite among old-timers, since 1890 French Market has been shipping coffee all over the nation. French Market Coffee is blended with chicory, a root first grown in France. The incorporation of chicory makes the coffee taste stronger and smoother.
Luzianne Now the second largest independent coffee company in the United States, Luzianne was founded in 1903 by William Reilly. Reilly provided his customers with already ground, roasted, ready-to-brew coffee, cutting down considerably on the time it took to indulge, making him a pioneer in the “convenience food” industry. Today, William B. Reilly Company owns Standard Coffee and CDM coffee and chicory.
New Orleans Coffee Company New Orleans Coffee Company is continuing the great coffee tradition of the City while adding a stroke of genius to the time-honored coffee brewing methods of the South. The company developed CoolBrew, a cold dripped coffee concentrate that makes a fresh, delicious cup of hot or iced coffee in a matter of seconds. New Orleans Coffee Company created a product that would enable coffee lovers to save time and get themselves percolating— without the percolation— on post-party mornings. The goal was to create a great tasting, fresh cup of coffee that could be prepared in an instant without any bitterness. The signature ingredient, chicory, gives the coffee a New Orleans regional flavor. The awardwinning CoolBrew Fresh Coffee concentrate not only wakes up New Orleans but also carries a piece of our rich flavor and history to coffee drinkers nationwide.
Lucky Dog Vendor
Blue Plate Mayonnaise The cottonseed oil used to made this mayonnaise is grown on Louisiana soil. The mayonnaise, which retains a primarily regional following, was formulated in 1927 when the company was owned by Hunt Wesson Oil.
Crystal Condiments In the late summer and early fall, if you drive by the Baumer Foods (established 1923) plant in New Orleans, your nose will soon tickle and your taste buds tingle, roused by the scent of hot pepper mash cooking and fermenting. Milder than Tabasco but similarly piquant, Crystal Hot Sauce is exported to 75 countries. The Crystal brand also includes mustard, teriyaki and fruit preserves.
Magic Seasoning Blend Magic is brought to you by Chef Paul Prudhomme, the man who started the national Cajun food craze back in 1984 at his restaurant, K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen, in the French Quarter. Made in the suburb of Harahan, Magic is available in nine varieties, and Chef Paul promises there’s one to enhance just about anything you cook. Check out Seafood Magic, Poultry Magic, Vegetable Magic, Meat Magic, Pasta Magic and more.
Melinda’s Original Habanero Pepper Sauce
One of the best-selling pepper sauces in the country, Melinda’s differs from other brands because it’s made with hell-hot habañero peppers instead of jalapeño or cayenne and is available in several, increasingly lethal strengths. Instead of relying simply on vinegar as a base, Melinda’s combines fiery peppers with a blend of lime, onion, garlic and carrot purée. The bottled sauce from Metairie packs more than a dollop of heat.
Rex Pure Foods and Horse Shoe Pure Products Both produced by Rex Pure Foods, Rex and Horseshoe products have been seasoning and dressing Louisiana foods since 1888 and are enjoyed by fans throughout the nation. Look for a variety of hot sauces, chow chow (pickle and mustard mixture), cocktail onions, horseradish sauce, remoulade sauce, Creole mustard, fish fry and seafood boil. The company started exporting in 1978 with overseas sales now comprising over 30 percent of the business.
Steen’s Syrup Since 1910, Steen’s syrup has been produced in Abbeville and is now sold throughout Texas, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. The company’s molasses is what gives the sweet taste to many commercial varieties of oatmeal cookies as well as K.C. Masterpiece sauces.
Tabasco Blazing both tongues and trails alike, Tabasco is enjoyed by people in more than 100 countries, with labels printed in over 19 languages. Established in 1868 by the family that still owns it today, McIlhenny Tabasco is still produced on Avery Island, west of New Orleans. In addition to the little bottles of hot pepper sauce, look for spicy mayonnaise, hot/sweet pepper jelly, pickled beans, okra, loud neckties, and hot boxer shorts.
Tony Chachere’s Usually the product comes first and then the cookbook follows, but in the case of Tony’s Seasoning, it was the other way around. In 1972, the seasoning company was founded in Opelousas (the heart of Cajun Country) after Tony hit it big with his “Cajun Country Cookbook,” now in its 25th printing. Tony’s grandson Don says the company is experiencing steady growth and is currently developing several revolutionary new food products— but no neckties or boxers. Look for a couple of varieties of fish fry and “quick fix” Cajun boxed dishes.
Zatarain’s Products from this spice-maker, established in Gretna, Louisiana, on the West Bank of the Mississippi, have been a staple in New Orleans kitchens since 1889. Zatarain’s jambalaya mix is said to be the country’s favorite (But then again, how many jambalaya mixes are there?). About ten years ago the company jumped-up its distribution to a national level, supplying people in all parts with mixes for fried fish, etouffee, red beans and rice, boiled seafood and, of course, jambalaya.
French Market Seafood Vendor
Watermaid and Mahatma Rice Both names synonymous with New Orleans cooking, Mahatma, a long-grain rice, and Watermaid, a medium grain rice, are distributed nationally and internationally by Riviana, their parent company, located in Abbeville. People here will say the quality of Mahatma and Watermaid rices is superior to any other.
Reising and Zip Bread The G.H. Leidenheimer bakery in New Orleans has been providing New Orleanians with Reising and Zip breads for their muffulettas and po-boys since 1896 and still finishes each loaf by hand. For years, the Leidenheimer slogan was “That’s French for fresh bread!” (Yes, we know it makes no sense.) The company ships fresh loaves to Arizona and Hawaii as well as all over the South.
King Cakes Local and visiting revelers alike know that their Mardi Gras experience isn't complete without indulging in at least one piece of New Orleans' famous dessert, the king cake. This delicious combination of flour, butter, sugar, eggs, and cinnamon was introduced to the city in the 19th century, and takes its name from the three kings who visited the Christ child on Epiphany.
Local baking dynasties such as Haydel, Gambino, and Randazzo have royal status because of their original recipes and variations, including pecan praline, cream cheese, and German chocolate. All first-time king cake feasters beware; you may hear the person next to you exclaim, "I got the baby!" In every cake, a plastic baby about the size of your thumbnail is baked in. If the piece you're given yields this surprise, you are responsible for providing the next king cake. When the time comes, don't worry if your plans prevent you from getting to New Orleans. All of the above mentioned bakeries ship their confections nationally to accommodate out of town Mardi Gras celebrations.
This material may be reproduced for editorial purposes of promoting New Orleans. Please attribute stories to New Orleans Metropolitan Convention and Visitors Bureau. Fall 2004.
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