Edmund McIlhenny (/ˈmækəlhɛni/; 1815 – 25 November 1890) was an American businessman and manufacturer who founded McIlhenny Company, which was the first to mass produce Tabasco sauce. While company legend attributes the invention of the sauce to McIlhenny, plantation owner Maunsel White is said by some to have been the first to cultivate and make a sauce from tabasco peppers in the United States, and gave the recipe and pepper pods to his friend McIlhenny.