“Texas Pete” is not the name of any real individual, but is known as the name of a hot sauce from…Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The name “Texas Pete” was trademarked in 1936. Thad Garner and the Garner family of Winston-Salem, North Carolina invented and promoted the hot sauce. The name “Texas Pete” was chosen because it sounded American and Western.
   
A silent movie called The Taming of Texas Pete was filmed in 1913, but it is not known if the Garner family had this in mind when the hot sauce was named. Texas Pete is considered a mild hot sauce; the hot sauce is featured in various recipes from Buffalo hot wings sauce to Texatini cocktails.
   
   
Wikipedia: Texas Pete
Texas Pete is a retail brand name for a Louisiana-style hot sauce in the United States manufactured by the TW Garner Food Company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The brand is best known for its 3.0 oz bottles with their bright red sauce, shaker top, and white and yellow label featuring the name in red and “Texas Pete”, a red silhouette cowboy.
 
History
Texas Pete was created by the Garner family, who operated “The Dixie Pig Barbecue Stand.” The sauce is Carolina style BBQ sauce and planned to be called “Mexican Joe” but renamed when Samuel Garner decided it should be an American name.
 
Production
The cayenne peppers used in Texas Pete hot sauce are aged for two years to soften their skins, and the company claims this also enhances concentration of capsaicin. The peppers are then combined with vinegar, salt, xanthan gum, and sodium benzoate. One of the controversies surrounding the sauce is the inclusion of xanthan gum, a thickener that allows for less overall pepper pulp in the recipe to achieve the desired texture, which some hot sauce fans find distasteful.
 
Heat
The sauce registers approximately 1,000 on the Scoville heat scale, compared to Tabasco sauce which registers 2,500-5,000. It is considered to be mild by hot sauce enthusiasts, but it has been suggested that its relative mildness accounts for its widespread popularity. The company also acknowledges this with the motto “Texas Pete Sauces are all about FLAVOR, not BURN!”

The Legend of Texas Pete
Back in ‘29, 16 year old Thad W. Garner was graduating fro, Mineral Springs High School on Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
 
By driving a school bus and delivering newspapers, Thad managed to save the considerable sum of six hundred smackeroos. The plan was to use the money for college.
 
But when a couple from Florida decided to sell their “Dixie Pig Barbecue Stand,” located just down the road apiece, the young buckaroo spied a real opportunity. For half his savings, Thad was to be the proud owner of the business, which could have just become another sandwich shop if it hadn’t been for the handwritten, unique barbecue Sauce recipe that came with the investment.
 
A fellow who owned a Barbecue stand in Mount Airy (that’s right, Mount Airy) asked if he could buy some of the special sauce to use in his restaurant. Thad agreed to sell him a gallon of the sauce.
 
Thad’s mother, “Mother Jane,” as she was affectionately known by family, began making the barbecue Sauce in pots on her cook stove in the family home. His father, Samuel was a natural-born salesman and began traveling the North Carolina roads distributing the sauce to restaurants and grocery stores.
 
Samuel, Thad, Ralph and Harold became known as the “Four Garners.” Customers soon began to request a spicier sauce for barbecue and the “Four Garners” developed the most famous brand of Hot Sauce in the Southeast. Rather than alter the original barbecue sauce recipe, they developed a new recipe with hot peppers, vinegar and salt.
 
The brothers struggled to name this mighty sauce. The three brothers had a consensus agreement on the name “Mexican Joe” and were satisfied until their father insisted that it should be an American name…“maybe Texas…,” but “Texas what?”... At that moment Samuel’s eyes fell upon his son Harold who was nicknamed “Pete.” And that was how “Texas Pete” became legend.
     
Internet Movie Database
The Taming of Texas Pete (1913)
Director:
William Duncan
 
Writers:
William Duncan (scenario)
Joseph F. Poland (story)
 
Release Date:
30 July 1913 (USA)
Genre:
Short / Comedy / Western  
   
Internet Movie Database
Sell ‘Em Cowboy (1924)
Also Known As (AKA)
Alias Texas Pete Owens USA (alternative title)
 
Director:
Ward Hayes
 
Writer:
Bennett Cohen (also story)
 
Release Date:
27 September 1924 (USA) more
Genre:
Comedy / Drama / Western
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark TEXAS PETE
Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: HOT SAUCE FOR USE AS A SEASONING ON PREPARED FOOD, CHILI SAUCE, BARBECUE SAUCE, WORCESTERSHIRE SAUCE, AND SEAFOOD COCKTAIL SAUCE. FIRST USE: 19360900. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19360900
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 72077367
Filing Date July 9, 1959
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Change In Registration CHANGE IN REGISTRATION HAS OCCURRED
Registration Number 0694334
Registration Date March 8, 1960
Owner (REGISTRANT) T. W. GARNER FOOD COMPANY CORPORATION NORTH CAROLINA 4045 INDIANA AVE. WINSTON-SALEM NORTH CAROLINA 27105
Attorney of Record G A AVRAM
Prior Registrations 0575486
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECTION 8(10-YR) 20000701.
Renewal 2ND RENEWAL 20000701
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark “TEXAS PETE”
Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: HOT SAUCE FOR USE AS A SEASONING ON PREPARED FOOD. FIRST USE: 19360900. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19360900
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 02.01.01 - Busts of men facing forward; Heads of men facing forward; Men - heads, portraiture, or busts facing forward; Portraiture of men facing forward
02.01.07 - Cowboys; Men, cowboys, and westerners; Westerners
26.01.06 - Circles, semi; Semi-circles
26.01.28 - Circles with irregular circumferences; Miscellaneous circular designs with an irregular circumference
Serial Number 71623247
Filing Date January 5, 1952
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Registration Number 0575486
Registration Date June 9, 1953
Owner (REGISTRANT) T. W. GARNER FOOD CO. CORPORATION NORTH CAROLINA 4045 INDIANA AVENUE WINSTON-SALEM NORTH CAROLINA 271154329
Attorney of Record ROBERT J. PATCH
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL-2(F)
Affidavit Text SECTION 8(10-YR) 20030816.
Renewal 3RD RENEWAL 20030816
Other Data THE NAME “TEXAS PETE” IS WHOLLY FICTITIOUS AND IS NOT THE NAME OF ANY KNOWN INDIVIDUAL; AND THE PORTRAIT IS LIKEWISE FANCIFUL AND IS NOT THE PORTRAIT OF ANY LIVING INDIVIDUAL.
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark TEXAS PETE
Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: [ Steak Sauce, ] Sea Food Sauce, Barbecue Sauce, Hot Sauce, Chili Sauce, [Chili Hot Dog Sauce with Meat, ] and Chili Hamburger Sauce. FIRST USE: 19530300. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19530300
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 02.01.02 - Men depicted as shadows or silhouettes of men; Silhouettes of men
02.01.07 - Cowboys; Men, cowboys, and westerners; Westerners
02.09.06 - Carrying items, humans; Humans, including men, women and children, depicted toting items, such as buckets or bags; Toting items, humans
09.01.13 - Braids; Clotheslines; Rope; Shoe laces; String; Tightropes
Serial Number 72168404
Filing Date May 8, 1963
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Registration Number 0781490
Registration Date December 8, 1964
Owner (REGISTRANT) T. W. Garner Food Co. CORPORATION NORTH CAROLINA 4045 INDIANA AVE. Winston-Salem NORTH CAROLINA 27105
Attorney of Record HENRY C. ROEMER, III
Type of Mark TRADEMARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECTION 8(10-YR) 20050106.
Renewal 2ND RENEWAL 20050106
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE