Tapatío is an American

hot sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa (sauce), salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of Mass production, mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other ho ...

produced in

Vernon, California Vernon is a city south of downtown Los Angeles, California, the nearest separate city to downtown Los Angeles. The population was 112 at the 2010 United States census, the least of any incorporated city in the state. Its population nearly doub ...

. It is popular in the United States, predominantly among

Mexican-American Mexican Americans are Americans of full or partial Mexican descent. In 2022, Mexican Americans comprised 11.2% of the US population and 58.9% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexican Americans were born in the United State ...

communities. The product is named after a term used to describe someone from

Guadalajara, Jalisco Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

, from where the company's founders emigrated. It is exported to

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, and elsewhere.

History

The Tapatío Hot Sauce company was started in 1971 by Jose-Luis Saavedra Sr. in a warehouse in

Maywood, California Maywood is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. A gateway city, at Maywood is the third-smallest incorporated city in Los Angeles County by area. It is bordered by the cities of Bell on the south, Vernon on the north and ...

.Tapatio Hot Sauce, Es una salsa...Muy salsa
Accessed January 2017. In 1985, the company moved to an 8,500-square-foot (790 m2) facility in

, from

Downtown Los Angeles Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) is the central business district of the city of Los Angeles. It is part of the Central Los Angeles region and covers a area. As of 2020, it contains over 500,000 jobs and has a population of roughly 85,000 residents ...

. Although larger than the first location, the new factory had a single loading dock and limited storage space, which created a new series of problems for the company. After a long search, a site was found for a developer to custom-build a new facility, which Tapatío presently occupies.

Product ingredients and details

The ingredients listed on the product label are

water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...

red peppers ''Red Peppers'', described as "an interlude with music", is a short comic play in two scenes by Noël Coward. It is one of ten short plays that make up ''Tonight at 8.30'', a cycle written to be performed in groups of three plays across three e ...

salt In common usage, salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl). When used in food, especially in granulated form, it is more formally called table salt. In the form of a natural crystalline mineral, salt is also known as r ...

spice In the culinary arts, a spice is any seed, fruit, root, Bark (botany), bark, or other plant substance in a form primarily used for flavoring or coloring food. Spices are distinguished from herbs, which are the leaves, flowers, or stems of pl ...

garlic Garlic (''Allium sativum'') is a species of bulbous flowering plants in the genus '' Allium''. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chives, Welsh onion, and Chinese onion. Garlic is native to central and south Asia, str ...

acetic acid Acetic acid , systematically named ethanoic acid , is an acidic, colourless liquid and organic compound with the chemical formula (also written as , , or ). Vinegar is at least 4% acetic acid by volume, making acetic acid the main compone ...

xanthan gum Xanthan gum () is a polysaccharide with many industrial uses, including as a common food additive. It is an effective thickening agent and stabilizer that prevents ingredients from separating. It can be produced from simple sugars by fermentat ...

and

sodium benzoate Sodium benzoate also known as benzoate of soda is the sodium salt of benzoic acid, widely used as a food preservative (with an E number of E211) and a pickling agent. It appears as a white crystalline chemical with the formula C6H5COONa. Pro ...

as a

preservative A preservative is a substance or a chemical that is added to products such as food products, beverages, pharmaceutical drugs, paints, biological samples, cosmetics, wood, and many other products to prevent decomposition by microbial growth or ...

. Tapatío comes in five sizes: 5, 10, and 32 U.S. fluid ounces (150, 300, and 950 mL) and , as well as in 1⁄4-ounce (7 g) packets. The sauce overall has a Scoville heat scale rating of 3,000, hotter than

Sriracha Sriracha ( or ; , ) is a type of hot sauce or chili sauce made from a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, pickled garlic, sugar, and salt. It was first produced in 1932 by a native of Si Racha, a town and district of Thailand, though ...

. The product slogan is ''"Es una salsa ... Muy salsa!"'' ("It's a sauce... Very saucy!").

Other products

In 2011,

Frito-Lay Frito-Lay, Inc. (; ) is an American food company that manufactures, markets, and sells snack foods. It began in the early 1930s as two companies, Fritos, the Frito Company and Lay's, H.W. Lay & Company, that merged in 1961. Frito-Lay itself merg ...

released a line of Tapatío-flavored

Doritos Doritos () is an American brand of flavored tortilla chips produced by Frito-Lay, a wholly owned subsidiary of PepsiCo. The concept for Doritos originated at Disneyland at a restaurant managed by Frito-Lay. In 1966, Doritos became the first ...

, Ruffles, and

Fritos Fritos is an American brand of corn chips that was created in 1932 by Charles Elmer Doolin and has been produced since 1961 by the Frito-Lay division of PepsiCo. Fritos are made by deep-frying extruded whole cornmeal, unlike the similar torti ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. Tapatío Ramen was introduced in 2018. In 2021, to celebrate the brand's 50th anniversary, they collaborated with

Gabriel Iglesias Gabriel Jesús Iglesias (born July 15, 1976) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He has produced a number of stand-up specials for television outlets such as Comedy Central and Netflix, including ''I'm Not Fat… I'm Fluffy'', and ''Ho ...

for a special edition of the hot sauce Tapatio X Fluffy.

References

External links

Tapatío official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tapatio Hot Sauce Brand name condiments Companies based in Los Angeles County, California Hot sauces Vernon, California Condiment companies of the United States

History

Product ingredients and details

Other products

See also

References

External links