The other day me and the old hen decided we needed to take a short walkbaout. So we loaded up the Kia pony and headed out of Riversdale. Headed west out Placencia Road,and turned north on the Southern Highway to the Dangriga Junction. Once there we turned onto the Hummingbird Highway and about a mile or so up there is Melinda road with this sign pointing off to the east.
So we took a right and headed up Melinda Road through the Orange Grove to Marie Sharp's Factory.
And out there in the middle of The Sharp's huge farm, is the factory
The beautiful Ms Ixza' met us as we parked. She gave us the history of the factory and then a tour of the premises. I knew a bit about the history of how Marie started, but Ixza' gave us some info that is not on the web sites. I won't tell you those so you will just have to go there your self.
But before heading into the factory working area, we got to enjoy samples of many of Marie's great products. All kinds of hot sauces, jams, jellies, and more. Good stuff for the belly.
Here's a look at part of the kitchen where they mix and cook fruits and vegetables for the products. A lot of the material is grown right there on the farm
Yup, this is gonna be good!
Since many of the ingredients are seasonal they have a huge chill room for storage.
These huge tanks are where the different kinds of sauces are stored pending delivery into bottles to reach our hungry mouths.
Now comes the bottling, capping, and labeling.
These folks are putting the plastic wrap that seals the top. Kind of like shrink wrap it's heated and shrinks to seal.
Shipment for order just about ready to be loaded for transport.
When full, this truck will go to the port in Belize City for product to shipped to the customer.
Japanese consumers are the lucky recipients of this load
Well, all good times come to an end, but we didn't leave before going to the gift shop and stocking up on all kinds of tasty treats.
headed back to Melinda Road.
Continued eastward about eight miles to DangrigaTown
It was a fun little excursion. Nothing fancy like colonial buildings or Mayan ruins. But I have to say "Big UP!" to Ms. Marie and her husband. She started with a home garden and has grown a business which gives people jobs buys from local farmers which in turn creates jobs, same with bottling, wrapping, boxes and on and on. Then gives a product sold here and all over the world. This is what we desperately need in middle and southern Belize.
