Might Maunsel White’s and Edmund McIlhenny’s peppers been of the same variety?
Although it’s possible that White’s and McIlhenny’s peppers were the same variety, it’s also equally possible that their peppers were different varieties of red pepper that merely bore similar names (or different spellings of the same name). It is known, for example, that the words “tobasco/tabasco” were used as geographically descriptive terms in the antebellum period to refer to peppers thought to hail from the Tabasco region of Mexico, and that the words did not necessarily refer to one variety. Moreover, during the early 1800s a spice was exported in large quantities from Mexico and was referred to geographically as “tabasco,” even though the spice in question was obtained from the berry of the myrtle tree (indigenous to the Tabasco region of Mexico), and not made from capsicum peppers at all. (This spice is now known in the market as “allspice.”) Thus, the geographic terms “tobasco/tabasco” were used quite loosely during the antebellum period. Later, in 1888, Edmund McIlhenny’s pe
Related Questions
- Did a man named Maunsel White produce a pepper sauce prior to Edmund McIlhenny’s introduction of Original TABASCO® brand Pepper Sauce?
- Does history record that Edmund McIlhenny obtained his peppers or pepper sauce recipe from Maunsel White?
- Might Maunsel White’s and Edmund McIlhenny’s peppers been of the same variety?
