Serious Huy Fong Sriracha sauce shortage

y_p_w

y_p_w

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Saw it at some Asian market. $20 for a 28 oz bottle. Supposedly due to massive shortages of the red jalapeños that they use. They used to be supplied by a single farm in Ventura County, but ended their relationship due to a dispute over payments. They now seem to source from Mexico where there are serious shortages.

www.usatoday.com

Oh pho! Huy Fong Foods warns of new Sriracha shortage. When will Sriracha be back in stores?

Huy Fong Foods says it is experiencing an “unprecedented inventory shortage” of Sriracha and it doesn't know when the shortage will end.
www.usatoday.com
 
huy fong is an interesting company. they chose who they sold to . even if you had money they would not sell to you if they wanted . got to give it to the founder. Came from vietnam with nothing and built a little empire.
 
Seems to me that authorities were investigating the manufacturing plant in California over a few complaints about the smell of the product around it from nearby residents. Maybe this plays a role in the shortage too.

Lots of knockoffs around now.
 
ekrampitzjr said:
Seems to me that authorities were investigating the manufacturing plant in California over a few complaints about the smell of the product around it from nearby residents. Maybe this plays a role in the shortage too.

Lots of knockoffs around now.
Click to expand...

That was resolved a while ago. I remember listening to a piece on someone who visited the Tabasco facility on Avery Island, LA and said that at first it stung like crazy just from all the fumes in the air. But then again that was an isolated location.

The company itself is rather complicated. Founded by a Vietnamese immigrant who named the company after the Taiwanese freighter that took him to the United States as a refugee. And a sauce named after a city in Thailand, but using ingredients available in the United States (and I suppose Mexico). I remember when it was all word of mouth back in the 80s.
 
I figure the company would have a few different farms/ growers to offset something like this. I'm surprised that the peppers they get are from Mexico, i would have thought Malaysia, vietnam, etc
 
I loved Hot sauce.
Well, still do, but now attempt to instead, add the spicy heat with actual diced peppers, and skip the sodium and 'other' that comes in hot sauce bottles.
 
97prizm said:
I figure the company would have a few different farms/ growers to offset something like this. I'm surprised that the peppers they get are from Mexico, i would have thought Malaysia, vietnam, etc
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the rumor was the owner would go to the farm every picking season and supervise the picking of the crop. the ones that met his expectations were made into sauce. if the peppers were not up to standard , he would use only those that did. once those were gone, had to wait till next season. huy fong has never been able to meet demand . his quality standards were high

i think its now into the 2nd gen of the family running it. they run it more like a bizness than a labor of love
 
97prizm said:
I figure the company would have a few different farms/ growers to offset something like this. I'm surprised that the peppers they get are from Mexico, i would have thought Malaysia, vietnam, etc
Click to expand...

He settled on red jalapeños. It was just an adaptation, and for years it was from a single supplier - Underwood Ranches. The founder said it was about the consistency although I remember when there were supply issues some years when they had poor growing weather. But that's not a variety grown in Asia. It was certainly cheaper than importing peppers from Asia.

At this point I think they have a variety of suppliers. This article says that one 450 acre farm in Northern California is one supplier. I saw something noting that they have suppliers in California, New Mexico, and Mexico.

www.abc10.com

Sriracha! From the fields of Woodland into the iconic green-topped bottle | Bartell's Backroads

Follow spicy peppers from a Woodland field to a SoCal factory where they're turned into Huy Fong Foods' famous 'Rooster Sauce.'
www.abc10.com www.abc10.com
 
Cropduster172 said:
Tabasco brand is excellent. So is the Texas Petes called Cha. Both are reasonably priced.
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I like Texas Pete on BBQ but I don't care for Tabasco. It's hot but doesn't have much flavor IMO. But Sriracha taste very different from either of them. I also happen to like Cholula hot sauce and it has a different flavor from the others.

For me: Pete of BBQ, Sriracha on Asian food and Cholula on Mexican food. I also like Cholula sprinkled on homemade peanut butter cookies!
 
Fla said:
I like Texas Pete on BBQ but I don't care for Tabasco. It's hot but doesn't have much flavor IMO. But Sriracha taste very different from either of them. I also happen to like Cholula hot sauce and it has a different flavor from the others.

For me: Pete of BBQ, Sriracha on Asian food and Cholula on Mexican food. I also like Cholula sprinkled on homemade peanut butter cookies!
Click to expand...
Srichacha is good, dont have any at home right now... Cholula is good,
but the Valentina brand stuff they sell at Walmart is even better.. at less than half the price.. and the black label Valentina is really warm..

Other Day my daughter bought me some Garlic Reaper sauce.. whew.. gotta be careful with that one. :)

https://www.walmart.com/ip/Valentina-Salsa-Picante-Mexican-Hot-Sauce-12-5-fl-oz/10422070
 
Fla said:
I like Texas Pete on BBQ but I don't care for Tabasco. It's hot but doesn't have much flavor IMO. But Sriracha taste very different from either of them. I also happen to like Cholula hot sauce and it has a different flavor from the others.

For me: Pete of BBQ, Sriracha on Asian food and Cholula on Mexican food. I also like Cholula sprinkled on homemade peanut butter cookies!
Click to expand...
Tabasco has a Siracha sauce that taste the same as the other brand is what I was getting at.
 
2strokeNorthstar said:
Tabasco has a Siracha sauce that taste the same as the other brand is what I was getting at.
Click to expand...
Oh, did not know that. Another sauce that I need to try. I think that I have one of just about every hot sauce ever made. My friends and family all give me hot sauces on just about every occasion.
 
Fla said:
Oh, did not know that. Another sauce that I need to try. I think that I have one of just about every hot sauce ever made. My friends and family all give me hot sauces on just about every occasion.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried it but there are several reviews that note that it's decidedly different. Supposedly sweeter along with less pronounced garlic.
 
Steve & Ed's hot sauce (cheap) is plenty good enough for my pedestrian pallet.
S&E made a thicker version (type competition with Siracha) which I preferred but it disappeared.
That's too bad as the entire S&E line is priced right.
Frankly, the selection of hot sauces makes me smirk as the plethora of steak sauces once did.

Aside from heat level, do they really differ?

What is amazing to me is the high price of "Cocktail Sauce" (commonly used for cold shrimp).
I guess if you buy the shrimp, you buy the sauce.
 
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