Here's your Forbes Daily Briefing for Monday, February 24th.

Today on Forbes, meet Mexico's first Chilean air.

Surrounded by the mountains of Halisco, Mexico, the entrance to the 20-acre manufacturing

headquarters of Chili Spice Maker Industrias Tah, features a half-mile-long driveway

lined with Montezuma bald cypress trees.

Halfway there, it wraps around a massive Molcahete,

a mortar and pestle weighing 70,000 pounds

made from a single piece of volcanic rock.

Three giant flags, 26 feet long by 13 feet tall, fly over the glass headquarters.

One has the Tahin logo with its signature chili pepper substituting for the eye. In the center is the

Mexican flag, and to the left is the stars and stripes. To see such a huge symbol of America a thousand miles south of

Houston is somewhat disorienting, unless you know the backstory. Oracio Fernandez, the 66-year-old

founder and CEO of Tahin, explains, quote, The American Dream motivated me. You build the business

with your work, with your mind,

with your innovation. In Mexico, it's difficult. Fernandez created the seasoning blend

40 years ago in his kitchen, taking cues from what his grandmother used, with the goal of selling

genuine Mexican flavors in the U.S. market. It was an audacious plan in an era when

some American supermarkets didn't even stock jalapenos, and Chi-Chi's, founded in Minneapolis,

was among the country's most popular, so-called Mexican restaurants. He succeeded by creating

a Mexican product aimed squarely at Americans, while simultaneously

helping preserve, through commercialization, a heritage pepper, key to Mexico's national

identity, Chile de Arbol de Halisco, featured in Tahin's logo.

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