Sauces are an important part of Central American cuisine and no sauce better epitomizes Belize more than Marie Sharp's Habanero Pepper Sauce.
The flavorful habanero peppers that go into the sauce are all locally grown and harvested in southeastern Belize on a small 400-acre farm with just 17 employees.
Still mixed and blended under the personal supervision of Marie Sharp herself, this unique Belizean hot sauce available in 10 different heat levels is exported all over the world.
In April 2016, Marie Sharp was personally inducted into the New York City Hot Sauce Hall of Fame.
Starting in 1980, Marie Sharp began developing flavorful sauces made with the peppers, vegetables and fruits grown locally on her family's farm. Now exported to North America, South America, Europe and Asia, all of the sauces made in the factory are still made from locally-sourced ingredients by a small staff.
The word "factory" calls to mind a giant industrial complex with machines churning out thousands of gallons of product. The factory that makes Marie Sharp's famous sauces is Belizean in scale, a small and friendly workshop with just two dozen employees.
In typical Belize fashion, the employees are more than happy to greet visitors and explain how their famous sauces are made.