How it all Started!

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We are Husband and Wife livin' the Hawaiian life! We left San Diego, CA in March of 2021 and headed to Maui to enjoy the beauty of the Hawaiian Islands.  Little did we know we would end up living here in about a year. we learned so much about Island life and fell in love with their food, land and their people. We left Maui and headed back to San Diego with a goal to live life with Aloha every day. Shortly after returning, we added another member to our Ohana, our beloved pup Wilbur. He has been our little traveling pup ever since, traveling to 16 states and been on 50+ hikes. We are now living on the island of O'ahu and loving the Aloha spirit we are surrounded by.

Mr. Hot T was a bartender back in the day. He loved to experiment with recipes and put his own twist on the drinks he served up. His favorites were always the spicy drinks (Bloody Marys, Micheladas, Spicy Margaritas..etc). Hot T’s love of heat carried over into dinner time, as well. He was known to mix sauces, creating spicy concoctions to elevate the flavor in every meal. Mrs. Hot T would always ask, "why can't you just eat your food how it is"?… Mr. Hot T’s response? "Because I like it SPICY and with lots of FLAVOR". Mrs. Hot T became curious as to where this obsession came from and went to Hot T’s Dad for answers. Papa Hot T proudly replied "I used to put a drop of Tabasco in his mouth when he said a bad word, it quickly got to the point where I was putting a spoon full in his mouth because he seemed to enjoy the heat too much as a child". It was at that moment, Mrs Hot T knew exactly what to get him for his upcoming birthday.
A few months later, Mrs. Hot T found out she was going to be stationed in Hawaii, but first had to go to an Expeditionary Combat School in Mississippi en route to her next command.  The Hot Ts packed up for one last road trip on the Mainland. The day before they left San Diego CA, Mrs Hot T decided to give Mr Hot T his present. It was a hot sauce making kit! Hot T was ecstatic about it. They  took the kit to his family's house so the whole Ohana could take part.  They busted open the kit to find peppers, spices, bottles and recipes. In true Hot T fashion, they tossed the recipe book and freestyled. That evening, the first 4 Hot T’s sauces were born! The sauces were bottled and left to settle overnight. That next day Mr. Hot T popped up like a child on Christmas morning, anxious to try the new hot sauce. The Hot Ts whipped up some breakfast burritos to christen the brand new hot sauces… THEY WERE DELICIOUS!!! Those hot sauces were used on every meal from that point forward! And thus Mr. Hot T’s love for making hot sauce began.

Fast forward to Mrs Hot Ts training, they got in the packed car and began their road trip. They hit Tucson AZ, Las Cruces NM, El Paso, San Antonio, and Houston TX, Baton Rouge and New Orleans LA, until finally (2,000 miles later) arriving at Mrs. Hot T's Expeditionary Combat school in Gulfport MS. The road trip was filled with thoughts of what sauces and recipes to make next, as well as trying the most recent batch on different cuisines. By the time the Hot Ts arrived in Mississippi, the hot sauce supply was very low. Mrs. Hot T started school, but Mr. Hot T couldn’t contain his excitement around thoughts of a possible budding hot sauce business.  Day 1 in Mississippi, he drove to a store, bought some cooking materials and some fresh produce, and began making sauces there in the hotel room. When Mrs. Hot T came back from school, she was greeted by an overwhelming amount of spice in the air (she wound up airing out the room for 10 min before finally coming in!). The Hot Ts worked tirelessly to refine their hot sauce making skills. Each new batch was shared with new friends made on the base! By the time they had to leave, a little over a month later, 13 different hot sauces had been made! Now the Hot T’s were stocked up on hot sauce for the other half of their road trip. This trip was a bit different.  Rather than seeing how much food they could try their sauces on, the focus became giving the sauces to others to enjoy.
So off they went hitting Mobile AL, Pensacola and Jacksonville FL, Savannah GA, and Charleston SC, Charlotte NC, Richmond VA, Washington and Baltimore MD, Philadelphia PA, Columbus, Cleveland and finally Akron OH, (another 2200 mile trip). In Akron, the Hot Ts sold their vehicle and Flew back to where they belonged: O'ahu HI! All together it was an 11,350 mile trip, give or take.

Along the way the Hot Ts visited many friends and family members and shared their delicious sauces. Once on the Island they planned to immediately start a business using fresh ingredients and produce grown by local farmers. These hot sauces would be different then all the other sauces made on the mainland… they would be a product of Hawaii and all the beauty and delicious flavors the land has to offer. Within 2 months of trial and error (and lots of flavor experimenting), the Hot Ts came up with a base of 6 delicious hot sauces. The rest is history. The motto is simple, make it with Aloha and make it burn!

This map shows just how many places we visited during our trip. It puts into perspective how many different places we visited, handing out hot sauces along the way.