TABASCO PEPPER SAUCES
The Tabasco pepper is a variety of chile pepper species Capsicum frutescens. Like all frutescens chilis, the tabasco plant has a typical bushy growth, which commercial cultivation makes stronger by trimming the plants. The tapered fruits, around 4 cm long, are initially pale yellowish-green and turn yellow and orange before ripening to bright red. Tabascos rate from 30,000 to 50,000 on the Scoville scale of heat levels. A large part of the tabasco pepper stock fell victim to the tobacco mosaic virus in the 1960s, and the first resistant variety (Greenleaf tabasco) was not able to be cultured until around 1970. The sauces featured in this category contain the specific pepper variety called tabasco among other pepper varieties and ingredients.