The Soap Museum

What a great looking antique novelty soap! This cute horse shaped castile rope soap is very detailed and well designed. The box says "Texas Pete". We believe that this was an early promotional soap for the Texas Pete brand. According to Wikepedia; Texas Pete hot sauce was introduced in 1929 by Thad Gardner, operator of the Dixie Pig barbecue stand in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Customers began asking for a spicier sauce, and the Garners concocted one with cayenne peppers. When the Gardners were trying to come up with a name for this new sauce, a marketing advisor suggested "Mexican Joe" in order to connote the spicy cuisine of Mexico. However, Thad's father Sam Gardner opposed this, saying that the name should be American. Because Texas is similarly known for its spicy food, the state's name was combined with Pete, the nickname of Thad's brother Harold Gardner, to form the name of the sauce. Texas Pete is the third best selling hot sauce in the United States as of 2004.