Did You Know?
- In North America, Tang was made popular in the 1960s when astronauts took Tang along on their space missions.
- A special drink dispenser was designed for the product on its flight into space.
- Tang was also one of the sponsors of the 1968 ABC-TV network coverage of the first manned flight around the moon, Apollo 8.
Honestly, I am not particularly a fan of the stuff (and didn't even have a tin of it in the house to photograph for this blog) however in 11 years (10 running and 1 judging) on the trail I have drank gallons and gallons of the stuff - and I enjoyed every single gulp (mushers don't sip!).
After my first Iditarod I did buy a contain of Tang for the house. I had enjoyed it so much on the trail that I wanted some for home but it turns out that the 'ambiance' of the trail is needed to fully appreciate the product!!!!
Each checkpoint on the Iditarod is pretty different from the next. Services and amenities available in each checkpoint on the Iditarod are very different but EVERY one has Tang for the mushers.
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| Thanks to Tom Marple for this sketch of Tang on the Iditarod Trail! |
Hot, cold, weak, strong....it doesn't matter. Mushers will stand next to the large coolers full of the super sweet liquid and knock back cup after cup. I think if blood work were done on mushers post Iditarod all that would be there would be orange flavor crystals!!
In Shageluk this year our supplies inexplicably contained only one small jar of Tang. We wasted no time in getting word back to HQ that we were almost out of Tang!!!!! The next plane that landed at the Shageluk 'airport' contained resupplies for us!! Phew!!! Crisis adverted!!!
So next year when you are following the race on your computer, bypass that coffee cup (CANNOT believe I just said that!) and give TANG a go to make your experience much more authentic!!!
And then you may want to try some of these 'Tang recipes' to use up the leftovers!
Hot Spiced Tea
Tang Pie
or best yet, this one
Orange Vodka
Enjoy!
3 comments:
I have drunk Tang for YEARS - either hot of cold. I mix the dry Tang with dry lemon-flavored iced tea then stir it into hot (in winter) or cold (in summer) water. I prefer the sugar-free version but that has become difficult to find lately. So what do we have to do to get Tang to be a North Wapiti sponsor? Can we mount some kind of a campaign?
Who knew that something I grew up on was used in the Iditarod! When ever I went to my grandparents, Tang was one of the breakfast staples! I LOVED that stuff!
Tang also goes into one of my OTHER fave beverages - Russian Spice Tea!
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