Crystal Hot Sauce is a brand of

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

hot sauce Hot sauce is a type of condiment, seasoning, or salsa made from chili peppers and other ingredients. Many commercial varieties of mass-produced hot sauce exist. History Humans have used chili peppers and other hot spices for thousands of years ...

produced by family-owned Baumer Foods since 1923. of Crystal Hot Sauce are shipped per year to 75 countries. The sauce is reddish orange with medium heat, and has been described as having "a more prominent dark chile flavor, and a slightly subdued vinegar profile" when compared to

Tabasco Tabasco (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tabasco ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Tabasco), is one of the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into 17 municipalities and its capital city is Villahermosa. It is located in ...

, another brand of Louisiana-style hot sauce.

History

Originally based in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, Crystal was famous for its lighted sign featuring a chef stirring a pot of hot sauce with steam from the factory venting out through the pot. The sign was a New Orleans landmark on Tulane Avenue in Mid-City, visible from

Interstate 10 Interstate 10 (I-10) is the southernmost cross-country highway in the American Interstate Highway System. I-10 is the fourth-longest Interstate in the United States at , following I-90, I-80, and I-40. This freeway is part of the originally pl ...

. The

preserves Fruit preserves are preparations of fruits whose main preserving agent is sugar and sometimes acid, often stored in glass jars and used as a condiment or spread. There are many varieties of fruit preserves globally, distinguished by the method ...

advertised on the sign were found in U.S military rations during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, but are no longer produced.

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

, which devastated the city in 2005, damaged much of Baumer Foods' New Orleans plant, including the sign. Following the storm, the company moved its plant to

Reserve Reserve or reserves may refer to: Places * Reserve, Kansas, a US city * Reserve, Louisiana, a census-designated place in St. John the Baptist Parish * Reserve, Montana, a census-designated place in Sheridan County * Reserve, New Mexico, a US vi ...

, in

St. John the Baptist Parish St. John the Baptist Parish (SJBP, french: Paroisse de Saint-Jean-Baptiste) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 census, the population was 42,477. The parish seat is Edgard, an unincorporated area, and the largest c ...

, located up the

Mississippi River The Mississippi River is the second-longest river and chief river of the second-largest drainage system in North America, second only to the Hudson Bay drainage system. From its traditional source of Lake Itasca in northern Minnesota, it f ...

from New Orleans. The iconic sign was replicated and placed atop a new apartment building, built on the same site as the old factory. As of April 2021, the company maintains its head office in Metairie, a suburb of New Orleans. The green wrapper that sealed the bottle had the word Crystal written on it previously; after Hurricane Katrina the writing no longer appeared on the label. Currently, the dark green over-wrap says both "Crystal" and "Louisiana" in white

cursive Cursive (also known as script, among other names) is any style of penmanship in which characters are written joined in a flowing manner, generally for the purpose of making writing faster, in contrast to block letters. It varies in functionalit ...

letters.

Ingredients

The ingredient list on the product's packaging is: aged red

cayenne pepper The cayenne pepper is a type of ''Capsicum annuum''. It is usually a moderately hot chili pepper used to flavor dishes. Cayenne peppers are a group of tapering, 10 to 25 cm long, generally skinny, mostly red-colored peppers, often with ...

s, distilled vinegar, salt.

In popular culture

American chef

David Chang David Chang (Korean: ; born August 5, 1977) is an American restaurateur, author, podcaster, and television personality. He is the founder of the Momofuku restaurant group. In 2009, Momofuku Ko was awarded two Michelin stars, which the restaur ...

has said that Crystal is his favorite hot sauce.

References

https://www.theadvocate.com/gambit/new_orleans/news/blake_pontchartrain/article_081c9c8f-c890-5f74-a4ed-c7009a69b4b7.html

External links

Baumer Foods
– Official website {{Hot sauces Hot sauces Brand name condiments Louisiana cuisine Products introduced in 1923 Food and drink companies of New Orleans Manufacturing companies based in New Orleans

History

Ingredients

In popular culture

See also

References

External links