After the meeting , the president 's eyes grew moist as she described how the 105-year-old condiment maker had felt it must take such action if it was to ensure its survival .
Though the condiment is sold in 165 countries and has been taken into space , every drop is aged , distilled and bottled on the island just as it has been since edmund mcilhenny came up with the recipe in 1868 .
It has elements of horror , but they exist almost as a condiment for something that 's partly a tightly researched historical novel , partly a love-story , and always a musing on the nature of time and the past .