Texas Pete

Texas Pete is a popular American hot sauce, and is currently the third best-selling hot sauce in the USA. The first bottle of Texas Pete was sold in 1929 by Sam Garner, a barbecue stand vendor from North Carolina. The customers were not completely satisfied, and they wanted the sauce to be spicier, so the Garner family made a version with cayenne peppers, and the legendary sauce was born.

A marketing advisor suggested that they name the sauce Mexican Joe, but the Garners refused and demanded that the sauce should have an American name. Sam named the dish after his son Harold, whose nickname was Pete, and chose Texas due to its reputation for spicy cuisine.

Today, the sauce is used in a wide variety of vegetable and meat dishes, and even in the preparation of some cocktails.