Hello HSB:
Our hot sauce journeyed to the bottom of the ocean last month to a team of six aquanauts who were on a nine-day research/educational mission where they would live, eat and sleep in the world’s only underwater habitat. The Hot Honcho had read an article about how the meals for the aquanauts taste bland and how the pressure significantly alters the texture and flavor of foods. He thought we should send some hot sauce to spice up their meals.

Here’s an e-mail from the project’s chief scientist:
From: Ellen Prager Date: Sun, Sep 23, 2007 8:18 am
To: riff@pepperpotions.com
Dear Mark and Julie

Thank you from all of us here at Aquarius Reef Base for the hot sauce.
Our folks are so excited, it was such a thoughtful and fun surprise for all. We are potting down one of the bottles this morning for the crew, look for it in the mainlock web cam (www.uncw.edu/aquarius) or on the live show today at noon at www.oceanslive.org. Already we are getting rave reviews!

Thanks again….

Ellen

Dr. Ellen Prager
Chief Scientist, Aquarius Reef Base
NURC/UNCW
515 Caribbean Dr
Key Largo, FL 33037
pragere@earthlink.net, 305.720.7070
www.uncw.edu/aquarius

They were able to successfully lower our Daily Red flavor and we enjoyed seeing one of the aquanauts spicing up his lunch. Yesterday, we received this message:

Hello Folks,
I wanted to thank you for the assortment of hot sauces that you sent to the Aquarius crew. I was topside for the last mission and sampled them all. I’m in the habitat for this mission and just enjoyed your Daily Red on my freeze dried omelette. Delicious! I’ll be placing an order when I get back to the surface.
Thanks again!
Mark “Otter” Hulsbeck

Mark W. Hulsbeck
Oceanographic Field Operations Manager
515 Caribbean Dr.
Key Largo,FL 33037
305-451-0233

The research they are doing at the Aquarius Reef Base is fascinating. We watched the webcams daily during last month’s mission and we’re enjoying reading the blogs and “Ask An Aquanaut” series from the current mission. We’re grateful for what these scientists are doing to educate us all about climate change and the impact our choices have on the environment. When you get a chance, check out the blog from their current mission:
http://www.nurc.net/blog/archives/category/october-2007-saturation/

We thought it might be interesting to ask other hot sauce manufacturers on the Hot Sauce Blog to send a bottle or two to the Aquanauts of the Aquarius Reef Base. The aquanauts couldn’t endorse products, of course, but they would be appreciative of having a selection of sauces for upcoming missions. It was a real thrill for us to learn that our hot sauce journeyed 63 feet under the sea.

Cheers,
Mark and Julie Riffle
Palmetto Pepper Potions, LLC
PO Box 6126
Forest Acres, SC 29260
FAX/PHONE 803-782-8020
riff@pepperpotions.com
www.pepperpotions.com
“Make Every Day Sizzle!”