Hot, tangy, and a flavour bomb add-on, the slender bottles of Tabasco sauce have for long been a familiar fixture — right next to the sweeter ketchup — on tables at American eateries, cafés and fast-food diners across the world. Meaning “a place where the soil is humid” or “place of the coral or oyster shell”, the word ‘Tabasco’ is of Mexican-Indian origin, and was picked as the brand name by founder Edmund McIlhenny who started growing the capsicum frutescens peppers on Avery Island in South Louisiana, USA, in the 1800s. But it was on this day in 1870 that McIlhenny patented the improved method for making the pepper sauce which went on to become a world- famous accompaniment.