"But I got a solution!"
Posted on 05/10/2024 2:14:46 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The rooster bottle won’t get shipped anywhere until at least September.
Marnie Shure is a writer and editor with over a decade of experience. For the past six years, she has been primarily focused on food publications, covering restaurant reviews, recipes, breaking news, fast food and grocery taste tests, industry trends, and more. She previously helmed The Takeout, a Midwest-based food website.
Over the past few years, fans of Huy Fong Sriracha, the hot and garlicky chili pepper sauce in the iconic rooster bottle with the green cap, have experienced a roller coaster of emotions and heartbreak typically reserved for sports fans and soap opera viewers.
The Washington Post reports that after years of wavering availability and recipe changes, Huy Fong is facing severe weather that threatens its pepper supply — conditions that could lead to yet another sriracha shortage.
Bottles of Sriracha Are Selling for Over $30 as the Shortage Enters Its Second Year Huy Fong recently canceled all forthcoming shipments to wholesalers and notified them that sriracha production is on pause until after Labor Day — nearly four months from now. There is currently a severe drought in Mexico, where Huy Fong’s red winter jalapeño peppers are grown, and the high temperatures and dry conditions can cause the plants to stop ripening altogether, never achieving their prized red color. According to a letter obtained by the Post, the company says the peppers haven’t achieved the ideal shade (they’re still too green), and it would affect the hue of the finished product. As such, Huy Fong will wait until the next growing season later in 2024.
To the casual observer, this shortage might not seem like the biggest deal. After all, there are dozens of varieties of sriracha available in most supermarkets and specialty shops whose supply doesn’t appear to be threatened as Huy Fong’s is. Yet the prevalence of Huy Fong is arguably the reason that any other brands have proliferated in the United States at all. The product debuted in 1980 at a time when America’s global cuisine was more siloed, and it took decades for Huy Fong to make the leap from Asian supermarkets to the American mainstream.
Even now, in the age of endless fusion and experimentation, the rooster bottle’s sweet heat and garlicky punch maintains a dedicated fandom, which is why it’s so important to get the look and feel right. A greener pepper just wouldn’t achieve the desired effect.
Sriracha Chicken Wings “It’s a double-edged sword when the success of this particular sauce comes from a jalapeño that can only be produced in California or Mexico,” climate scientist Guillermo Murray-Tortarolo told the Post. Yes, California: Until a protracted legal dispute dissolved the partnership in 2016, Huy Fong’s peppers were supplied by Underwood Ranches, a California-based business that now produces its own competing sriracha.
The Huy Fong Foods Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce factory is seen on May 14, 2014 in Irwindale, California. Huy Fong is facing severe weather that threatens its pepper supply—conditions that could lead to yet another sriracha shortage. DAVID MCNEW / GETTY IMAGES This is far from the first hiccup Huy Fong has experienced in recent years. In 2020, like so many other consumer packaged goods, the sriracha experienced shortages due to a combination of COVID-spurred supply chain issues and a drought that was affecting the crops. However, when the company suspended production again in 2022 citing similar climate issues, Underwood Ranches told CNBC in 2023 that it could have met the demand had it still been Huy Fong’s supplier. The latter had instead been sourcing its peppers from Mexico and was thus facing down Mexico’s drought. Now, the same issue appears to be plaguing the pepper supply.
The Best Hot Sauces, According to F&W Editors Where does this cycle of disappointing jalapeño harvests leave us? Consumers might have to seek heat elsewhere until the rooster returns to shelves. There are plenty of other brands that can help fill the void — Yellowbird, Ninja Squirrel, Fix, Three Mountains, and others — but if nothing but Huy Fong will do, prepare to pay dearly on the secondary market once they disappear from store shelves.
Best sauce ever...Sriracha.
I still have a bottle left of the four that I bought during the last sriracha shortage. Maybe I’ll buy another bottle or two, even though I don’t use it every day.
I don’t think they can blame the weather.
The Farm That Grew Chiles For Everyone’s Favorite Sriracha Brand Now Makes Their Own. But Is It Any Good?
Eight years after Underwood Ranch had a legal falling out with Huy Fong Foods, the jalapeño farm is now making their own sriracha sauce. We broke down the taste, ingredients, and look of the bottle compared to the San Gabriel Valley classic.
https://lataco.com/underwood-farms-sriracha
Don’t jump!
Uh-Oh! I better buy some Sriracha. While we were on our recent cruise, my wife ordered chicken wings while we were at a beach club on Bonaire. Those wings had the BEST sauce ever. I asked the chef what was in that sauce and he told me Sriracha and BBQ sauce but beyond that he refused to tell me. Judging from the taste I think I can guess what else was in that sauce and will probably do a video about it when I cook up a batch of chicken wings next month.
Screw Huy Fong Sriracha. Their pepper shortage issue is self made as they sued (and lost after a couple years in court) their sole supplier from California. Because of that they had to source from New Mexico and Mexico which supposedly had shortages because of Climate change don’t you know.
The California supplier now had hundreds of acres of Jalapenos and no Huy Fong to buy them. Problem solved they started their own brand and it is very good. Underwood Ranches Sriracha . More expensive than Huy Fong which I’m fine with out of principle as Huy Fong got real nasty with their California supplier. I’m not seeing a shortage of the Rooster sauce as Amazon has all kinds available as well as Wally World as of a week ago. Fan boys of Huy Fong claim it is not as good nor looks the same with the new suppliers of Peppers.
My sister sent me two bottles! I prefer the chili garlic sauce with the rooster on the front but will use the sriracha in recipes. I am not understanding the shortages.
Tag me in on this, please!
Not good news. We’re gonna need it as a sauce for the crickets.
"But I got a solution!"
Oh yes, Underwood Ranches Sriracha is being carried in Costco. Not sure about nation wide but in So Cal for sure. Support this 150 year old family owned farm.
Um... Sriracha is available in all of our local stores for under $5 for the big bottle. Btw: The Tabasco version isn’t bad and it’s slightly hotter.
DIY SRIRACHA / Makes 2¼ cups super-fast
Ing: 1½ pounds fresh red jalapeño or Fresno peppers, stemmed, seeded, and roughly chopped 8 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar 3 tablespoons tomato paste 3 tablespoons honey or fave sweetner 2 tablespoons Red Boat fish sauce 1½ tsp k/salt can add Korean hot pepper powder
Steps-- Throw everything into a high-speed blender (like a Vitamix) or a turbocharged food processor – in smaller blender you’ll want to cut the peppers and garlic into smaller pieces, and blitz the ingredients longer. Otherwise, your sauce may end up chunky. Purée smooth----froth on top – cooks off. Pour the purée into a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce the heat to low and maintain a simmer for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. By cooking the sauce, you concentrate and deepen the flavors, and cut the sharpness of the raw garlic. Once the foam subsides, the sauce should be a vibrant red color, and you shouldn’t be able to detect any raw vegetable smell. Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.
notes---The sriracha will keep for about a week in the fridge in a sealed container ....can freeze in silicone ice cube trays to last a few months---just pop a cube out for spicy goodness.
During the last shortage, I used the sriracha from the Tabasco people. It grew on me, it was good.
Definitely! I love this on avocado toast, eggs, and other foods. Spicy enough to give a zing & it’s got flavor, not just heat.
Is it?
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