TABASCO Brand Original Red Sauce Helps Chefs Reduce, Replace Sodium

“Salt to taste” may have a new meaning when December rolls around and New York City’s new sodium warnings hit menus. Restaurants with 15 or more units nationwide will now need to add salt shaker emblems on menu items that exceed the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium (about a teaspoon).1

To avoid these sodium warnings on your menu, start by reducing salt gradually and replacing with naturally flavorful ingredients like fresh herbs, citrus, vinegar, chili peppers, ginger, garlic and spices, to name a few. Fermented foods have become increasingly popular due to their subtle, salty umami flavor. Many people don’t realize that common flavor enhancers like ketchup, soy sauce, miso, Worcestershire sauce and even the iconic TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce have umami characteristics.

TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce has long been used as a “chef's secret ingredient,” where a small amount provides a magical flavor enhancement to many foods. That magical flavor comes from a three-year aging process. During this process, fermentation takes place and gives the sauce its umami characteristics. Therefore, TABASCO® Sauce is often used to draw out flavor and piquancy in food while adding a savory quality.

“At McIlhenny Company, we consider ourselves a flavor company where TABASCO® Sauce is used as an ingredient to make foods taste better,” says Judson McLester, executive chef and ingredient sales manager. “Whenever you remove sodium, there is some loss of flavor. Since TABASCO® Sauce has umami-like properties, you can use it to help elevate or lift the other flavors giving you the same sodium perception.”

TABASCO® Sauce contains only 3 ingredients—distilled vinegar, red peppers and a small amount of salt. The peppers used in TABASCO® Sauce are handpicked at the peak of ripeness and then ground into pepper mash where a small amount of salt is added to act as a preservative. This is the only time salt is added to the product. Pepper mash is then sealed in white oak barrels and topped with salt mined on Avery Island to act as a natural seal, then moved to the barrel warehouse to age for up to three years. The pepper mash is then blended with distilled vinegar for up to 30 days in large vats. After mixing, the sauce is immediately bottled in the Avery Island bottling factory. This time-honored method assures the unique flavor of TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce and eliminates the need to add sodium for flavor.

Without question the American palate has evolved. Today’s consumers want big, bold flavors and are more adventurous with the food they eat. You can easily satisfy demand and reduce sodium in recipes simply by substituting flavorful ingredients for salt. So, get creative and dial up the spicy, savory and smoky notes in your cooking.

1 New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene

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About McIlhenny Company

McIlhenny Company produces TABASCO® brand products, which are sold in more than 165 countries and territories around the world and labeled in 22 languages and dialects. The 147-year-old company makes a line of pepper sauces, including its world-famous TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce, Green Jalapeño, Chipotle, Buffalo Style, Habanero, SWEET & Spicy and Garlic Pepper Sauces. The pepper sauce that Edmund McIlhenny created in 1868 is the same TABASCO® brand Original Red Sauce that is produced today. It's still made from tabasco pepper mash that's been aged up to 3 years in white oak barrels and mixed with premium distilled vinegar and a small amount of salt. This unique aging process delivers unmatched concentration and piquancy. Visit www.TABASCOfoodservice.com for more information.

Source: McIlhenny Company