Produced just outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the small city of Reserve, Crystal Hot Sauce is a staple of Louisiana and Southern cooking. And something truly special about this beloved brand is that it has been using the same hot sauce recipe since 1923.
Crystal Hot Sauce Has Been Using the Same Recipe Since 1923
How Crystal got its coveted recipe was actually a stroke of luck. According to the brand’s website, Alvin Baumer moved to New Orleans and bought a sno-ball syrup production company called Mill’s Fruit Products. Inside a drawer at Mill’s, Baumer found a recipe labeled “Crystal Pure.”
He renamed the company Baumer Foods, Inc., and began producing the Crystal Pure hot sauce recipe. The company quickly grew, relocated, and became an institution. Crystal is simply made from aged red cayenne peppers, distilled vinegar, and salt, but the ratios and process are what make it special.
Doug Wakefield, vice president of operations at Baumer Foods, said the following in an interview with Eater in 2017: “Part of the beauty of Crystal is that it’s the same formula that we’ve been making since we started.”
While some hot sauces might be too strong for any spice-averse eaters, Crystal is actually made to not be too spicy. “Controlled heat level keeps the accent on flavor,” is what the website says. This makes sense to me: A company originally from New Orleans would never dream of overpowering delicious flavor and hard work in the kitchen with a sauce that’s got too big of a kick.
It’s perfect for just about everything — from bloody Marys and spicy Palomas to gumbo and fried chicken. I actually always have a bottle in my fridge. It’s just part of the culture of being from New Orleans (kind of like how people from Winston-Salem, North Carolina, tend to use Texas Pete because it’s produced there).
The brand started in the Big Easy, but actually had to relocate to Reserve, Louisiana, after Hurricane Katrina destroyed its factory in Mid-City. A replica of the factory’s sign was built and placed near the old factory as a reminder of the city’s indestructible spirit.
No matter the effect of time, some things never change. That can be said about New Orleans and, apparently, the taste of Crystal Hot Sauce.
