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+How it All Started
Maya Mike founder Michael Touby used Tabasco sauce by the teaspoon at an early age growing up in Miami. While attending Loyola University in New Orleans, his taste for capsicum blossomed into love and he used Louisiana-style sauces religiously at every meal.
Touby started importing pepper sauce from Belize, Central America in the late 1980's with some friends from college. It was a carrot-based recipe created by Marie Sharp that used a non-fermented form of this "new" pepper called the red habanero. Soon, America also fell in love with Marie’s sauces and the habanero pepper moved into the mainstream. Michael went on to work in other industries.
Capsaicin coursed through my veins at an early age. Growing up in Miami, I was transfixed by the power of the chili pepper. After graduation, an opportunity to visit #Belize vaulted me into the hot sauce business. It was 1988 and the Habanero pepper had not yet penetrated the US market. Marie had been making hot sauce since 1981. Fresh out of college with a mind full of mush, I met Marie at her farm in December of 1988. She is the most dynamic entrepreneur, tough and tender with an elegant air unexpected to find off the hummingbird highway on the outskirts of Mayan ruins. I cajoled her into permitting me and some friends to import her products into New Orleans. We had ZERO experience in international trade, let alone, specialty food marketing.
- Michael Touby
Twenty-eight years later, I had the privilege of celebrating Marie’s induction into the Hot Sauce Hall of Fame in 2016 (the first and only woman to receive this honor) and a new collaboration was born.
The Maya Mike brand started development in 2016. Our mission is discovering and creating Mindfully Made products resulting in clean, delicious flavors. Marie Sharp’s tried and true methods of using freshly picked whole ingredients from local village farms provides the perfect platform for developing and bottling interesting, complex and tasty products. No thickeners, stabilizers or preservatives are ever used. Simply naturally delicious results are captured in every bottle!
Michael Touby (aka Maya Mike) & Marie Sharp in April 2016
Why is Maya Mike highlighting Belizean Barbacoa as its first product?
America & BBQ are discovered simultaneously
The first indigenous tribes European explorers encountered on the island later named Hispaniola had developed a unique method for cooking meat over an indirect flame, created using green wood to keep the food (and wood) from burning. Reports indicate that the Spanish referred to this new style of cooking as barbacoa: the original barbecue. As the Spanish explorers who followed Columbus turned their expeditions north, they brought the cooking technique with them. In 1540, close to present-day Tupelo, Mississippi, the Chicksaw tribe, in the presence of explorer Hernando de Soto, cooked a feast of pork over the barbacoa. Eventually, the technique made its way to the colonies, traveling as far north as Virginia.
Maya Mike's Belizean Barbacoa Sauce. The pit barbecue, a worldwide cooking method, was revered by the Maya and was used to prepare the sacred foods. The word “Pib” is Maya for the earth oven known elsewhere as "pit barbecue" or "luau."
Cooking in earth ovens is a pre-Hispanic technique common to all of Mesoamerica.
- In the Huasteca region it is called a texcal and in Central Mexico it is an horno de barbacoa (barbecue oven).
- The food is usually cooked 60 cm below ground level.
A pib is an underground oven of Maya origin. It is constructed by digging a hole and putting a layer of bricks in it covered by firewood. When the oven is hot (200oC), the food wrapped in banana leaves is placed in it.
Although the pib under this name belongs to the Mexican southeast—mainly Campeche and Yucatán—the technique is used throughout a large part of the country to prepare traditional dishes, such as barbecue in Hidalgo.
Kickstarter Video
By Michael Touby
MayaMike.com | Marie Sharp's USA Headquarters | Global Pioneer of habanero pepper based products.
Products
Belizean Barbacoa All Purpose Sauce, 3-Pack
$29.99 $39.99
👋Goodbye A1 | So Long Heinz 57 Get all three Belizean Barbacoa All Purpose Sauces, 100% plant based. The pack consists of three sauces: WHITE LABEL NO HEAT 🏆 TASTES...
Belizean Barbacoa All Purpose Sauce, MEDIUM, 10 oz
$12.99
Hand-picked fresh green mangoes, fresh tamarind, scorched raisins, fresh ginger, cane sugar, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, fresh roasted garlic, red Belizean habanero peppers and spices. Medium Heat Index....
Belizean Barbacoa All Purpose Sauce, ORIGINAL, 10 oz
$12.99
Hand-picked fresh green mangoes, fresh tamarind, scorched raisins, fresh ginger, cane sugar, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, fresh roasted garlic, red Belizean habanero peppers and spices. Very mild heat...
Belizean Heat, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original Belizean Heat Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz (50ml) - Hand selected, fresh red Belizean habanero, natural vinegar, hand chopped carrots, sea salt, hand chopped white...
Belizean Steak Sauce, Exotic, 5 oz
$4.49 $6.99
Marie Sharp's Original Belizean Steak Sauce, 5 oz., (148 ml) - Hand-picked Green mangoes, fresh tamarind, juicy raisins, fresh ginger, cane sugar, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, fresh roasted...
Fiery Hot Habanero Carrot, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original, hand chopped, carrot-based Fiery Hot Belizean red Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar,...
Fruitwood Smoked Habanero, 10 oz
$4.89 $7.99
Marie Sharp's Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - 10 oz. (296 ml) - Fruitwood smoked fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, natural...
Fruitwood Smoked Habanero, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - 5 oz. (148 ml) - Fruitwood smoked fresh red Belizean habanero, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, natural sea...
Fruitwood Smoked Habanero, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz (50ml) - Fruitwood smoked fresh red Belizean habanero, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, natural sea...
Grapefruit Pulp Habanero, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's Original, Freshly squeezed Grapefruit pulp, Belizean yellow Habanero pepper sauce - 5 oz. (148 ml) - Freshly squeezed Grapefruit pulp, yellow Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand chopped...
Grapefruit Pulp Habanero, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original, Freshly squeezed Grapefruit pulp, Belizean yellow Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Freshly squeezed Grapefruit pulp, yellow Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand...
Hot Habanero Carrot, 10 oz
$4.89 $7.99
Marie Sharp's Original, hand-chopped, carrot-based Belizean red Habanero pepper sauce - 10 oz. (296 ml) - Fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions,...
Hot Habanero Carrot, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's Original, hand-chopped, carrot-based Belizean red Habanero pepper sauce - 5 oz. (148 ml) - Fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions,...
Hot Habanero Carrot, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original Hot, hand-chopped, carrot-based Belizean red Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, hand chopped carrots, natural vinegar, hand chopped...
Mild Habanero Carrot, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's MILD, hand-chopped, carrot-based Belizean red Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Fresh hand chopped carrots, chopped white onions, natural vinegar, Select red Belizean habanero...
Orange Pulp Habanero, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's Original, Freshly squeezed Orange pulp, Belizean yellow Habanero pepper sauce - 5 oz. (148 ml) - Freshly squeezed Orange pulp, yellow Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand chopped...
Orange Pulp Habanero, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Original, Freshly squeezed Orange pulp, Belizean yellow Habanero pepper sauce - Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Freshly squeezed Orange pulp, yellow Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand...
Pineapple "Pure Love" Habanero, 5 oz
$5.99
EXPECTED DELIVERY MID MAY 2019 Pre-order now Marie Sharp's NEW "Pure Love" Pineapple Habanero sauce is made from Freshly squeezed Estate Grown Pineapple pulp, water, Belizean yellow habanero pepper, natural...
Prickly Pear Green Habanero, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's Prickly Pear Green Habanero pepper sauce, 5 oz. (148 ml) - Hand chopped fresh Belizean nopales, green habanero pepper, natural vinegar, freshly squeezed key lime juice, sea salt,...
Prickly Pear Green Habanero, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's Prickly Pear Green Habanero pepper sauce, Mini 1.69 oz. (50 ml) - Hand chopped fresh Belizean nopales, green habanero pepper, natural vinegar, freshly squeezed key lime juice, sea...
SMOKIN' HOT Belizean Craboo-Wood Smoked CONCENTRATE, 10 oz
$12.99 $14.59
CRABOO WOOD SMOKED Red Belizean habanero peppers, Hand-picked green mangoes, fresh tamarind, scorched raisins, raw ginger, cane sugar, natural vinegar, hand chopped white onions, fresh roasted garlic, secret spices. Smokin...
Smokin' Marie Habanero, 10 oz
$4.89 $7.99
Marie Sharp's "Smokin Marie" Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - 10 oz. (296ml) - Fruitwood smoked, aged, fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand chopped carrots, sea salt, hand...
Smokin' Marie Habanero, 5 oz
$3.69 $5.99
Marie Sharp's "Smokin Marie" Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - 5 oz. (148 ml) - Fruitwood smoked, aged, fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand chopped carrots, sea salt,...
Smokin' Marie Habanero, Mini 1.69 oz
$1.99 $2.49
Marie Sharp's "Smokin Marie" Original Smoked Habanero pepper sauce - 1.69 oz (50ml) - Fruitwood smoked, aged, fresh red Belizean habanero pepper, natural vinegar, hand chopped carrots, sea salt, hand...