 To ensure ripeness, pickers compare peppers to a little red stick ("le petit bâton rouge"); peppers that match the color of the stick are then introduced into the sauce production process.Peppers are ground into a mash on the day of harvest and placed along with salt in white oak barrels previously used for whiskey of various distilleries.To prepare the barrel, the inside of the barrel is de-charred (top layer of wood is removed), torched, and cleaned, to minimize the presence of any residual whiskey.