Posted on 06/28/2021 6:25:09 AM PDT by mylife
The Sriracha story traces back to the 1930s.
In a Thai town called Sri Racha, a housewife named Thanom Chakkapak created a paste of chili peppers, distilled vinegar, garlic, sugar and salt.
Variations of this recipe have travelled across the globes in the decades since.
2/ One variation was created by David Tran, a major in the South Vietnamese army.
In 1978, the Tran family joined 3k+ refugees and fled Communist Vietnam on a Taiwanese boat called the Huey Fong (means "Gathering Prosperity”). The boat inspired the business name Huy Fong Foods. Image 3/ Tran landed in the US and ended up in LA.
At the time, Sriracha was absent from California. So Tran brought his recipe, swapping out chilis for a local ingredient: jalapeños.
He filled recycled baby jars and sold product out of a Blue Chevy Van, making $2.3k the first month. Image 4/ To really make the product stand out, Tran slapped a Rooster logo on everything he sold.
Why? He was born in 1945: The Year of the Rooster.
He would later design the famous squeeze bottle and added a green cap as a sign of "freshness". Image 5/ The sauce's popularity took off in the early-1980s among Asian restaurants and grocers. He kept upgrading manufacturing to meet demand:
7/ With so few ingredients, Tran prioritizes the best ones to win the market.
Timing fresh jalapeños is tough: the ripening window (green to red) leaves no room for error.
Due to the harvesting seasons, Huy Fong may make a whole year's supply of Sriracha in a 10-week span. Image 8/ For 28 years, Huy Fong was able to maintain its exacting quality standards with one exclusive jalapeño supplier.
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Love the stuff.
L
As do I.
amazing that he never trademarked it.
I first encountered Sriracha sauce in a little Cambodian Restaurant in Revere MA, across the street from the Jewish Community Center where I conducted the Senior Citizens Choir.
After rehearsal, I would go across the street, point to a picture of something on the Khmer Language Menu, and have an adventurous lunch. There was a bottle of Sriracha on every table, and I fell in love with the stuff.
Now, all the La-di-da restaurants invent appetizers that use the sauce, and it is all the rage in “Haute cuisine”.
And I knew what it was long before everyone else caught on.
My evening bloody Mary doesn’t exist without it.
I learned this cuisine from a cambodian as well
I had some on stir fry this weekend.
I love the story behind it as well!
Of course, some NIMBY Neighbors don’t like the smell of the sauce being made and have tried to sue the factory out of existence.
I can’t complain. I grw up near a CHOCOLATE Factory. Sometimes the aroma was overpowering...but it was CHOCOLATE.
The Tran family have lived the American dream.
The refugees that came here after the Vietnam war are one of the best examples of what immigration can do. They have built businesses, have conservative values, and have been a great asset to the country.
It shows the flaws in our migration system that we don’t favor more immigrants like them.
beats the hell out of a turkey farm ...peeyew...
agreed
they came here with nothing, moved into ghetto and barrios and killed the animals there
they took crap from no one and prospered
Oh yeah...we got lots of them in Plymouth County.
The fake Sriracha sauce brands that have popped up lately are terrible.
I recall the city of Irwindale, CA. tried to shutdown the factory because the residents complained of the smell.
I am planning to make my own sriracha, so something close to it, when my garden peppers ripen. I want to play some fermenting games - a very long ferment - to see how that turns out.
Amen, bro. I like it on sunny side up eggs.
Now he is big enough that he will need to start buying off Democrats to survive.
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