Climate issues might be the cause of their on-going issues now, but it's their fault they got into the situation in the first place. Huy Fong breached the contract they had with their singular...
Climate issues might be the cause of their on-going issues now, but it's their fault they got into the situation in the first place. Huy Fong breached the contract they had with their singular supplier (and ending that business relationship) back in 2016.
They screwed themselves by trying to form their own supply company and losing their one pepper supplier in the process, before having any sort of strong replacement supply chain to take their place.
That pepper supplier is Underwood Ranches. They sell their own sauces and I've read online that their version is closer to the original Huy Fong recipe than modern Huy Fong anyway. I've never been...
That pepper supplier is Underwood Ranches. They sell their own sauces and I've read online that their version is closer to the original Huy Fong recipe than modern Huy Fong anyway. I've never been a Siracha fan so I can't really comment on it, but I quite like some of their other offerings.
I much prefer the Underwood Farms version, as someone who uses sriracha regularly. It has a much nicer flavor that’s a lot less “chemically” tasting than the Huy Fong version, for lack of a better...
I much prefer the Underwood Farms version, as someone who uses sriracha regularly. It has a much nicer flavor that’s a lot less “chemically” tasting than the Huy Fong version, for lack of a better word.
I know exactly what you mean about the chemical taste. Turned me completely away. I did still buy their chili garlic sauce because it tasted much better and less "off". The last jar of that I...
I know exactly what you mean about the chemical taste. Turned me completely away. I did still buy their chili garlic sauce because it tasted much better and less "off". The last jar of that I bought had an off taste too though. Sounds like I need to order a few from Underwood Farms. Have you tried anything else from them?
Any idea when they changed the recipe? I got a bottle of a different brand (but not the one you mentioned) recently that reminded me of how the rooster sauce hit when I first started using it. I...
Any idea when they changed the recipe? I got a bottle of a different brand (but not the one you mentioned) recently that reminded me of how the rooster sauce hit when I first started using it. I thought my spice tolerance had just gotten enough stronger that the huy fong stuff may as well be ketchup, now I'm wondering if it's actually the sauce that's changed.
So I'm not crazy? Huy Fong really tasted weak last time I tried it and the last bottle I had was weeping water out like mustard, which I hadn't experienced from Huy Fong in the past. I, too,...
So I'm not crazy? Huy Fong really tasted weak last time I tried it and the last bottle I had was weeping water out like mustard, which I hadn't experienced from Huy Fong in the past. I, too, thought my heat tolerance must have been off but I couldn't get over how flavorless it also was.
Yep I work in the spice business and Huy Fong is having to buy peppers from Mexican farms that are pretty shit quality. The product is suffering and Underwood Ranches are positioned to take over...
Yep I work in the spice business and Huy Fong is having to buy peppers from Mexican farms that are pretty shit quality. The product is suffering and Underwood Ranches are positioned to take over the sriracha market.
I've made both the fermented and fresh versions of this Sriracha sauce recipe, and I've gotta say I don't miss Huy Fong for anything except the convenience of the squeeze bottle. The key is to use...
I've made both the fermented and fresh versions of this Sriracha sauce recipe, and I've gotta say I don't miss Huy Fong for anything except the convenience of the squeeze bottle.
The key is to use red-ripe peppers so there's no vegetal flavor from the green ones. Grocery stores rarely carry red-ripe Jalapeños, but red Fresno peppers are a good substitute at roughly the same spice level. There's a little more waste with Fresnos due to higher seed content, so bump up the quantity used by about 15 - 20%.
My home-brew runs hotter than Huy Fong because the least spicy garden peppers I've got are in the 10,000 - 30,000 Scoville range... Nonetheless, if you've got time for it, homemade usually beats store-bought hands down, and you get to tweak the results to your taste.
You might wish to try Sambal Oelek. It's an Indonesian chile paste that is much rounder and earthier than Sriracha. This doesn't mean Sambal Oelek is better than Sriracha, it's just different and...
You might wish to try Sambal Oelek. It's an Indonesian chile paste that is much rounder and earthier than Sriracha. This doesn't mean Sambal Oelek is better than Sriracha, it's just different and worth a try.
We've been struggling to find Sambal Oelek. I prefer it to Siracha for sure but now we can't find it anywhere. Probably going to resort to making it, doesn't look too hard. Oh and chili crisp....
We've been struggling to find Sambal Oelek. I prefer it to Siracha for sure but now we can't find it anywhere. Probably going to resort to making it, doesn't look too hard.
Oh and chili crisp. Can't get enough of it and so far no issues finding it.
I know I'm reviving a week-old thread, but I remember reading this thread last week and hearing about Underwood farms, and then today my news feeds are going crazy about climate change being the...
I know I'm reviving a week-old thread, but I remember reading this thread last week and hearing about Underwood farms, and then today my news feeds are going crazy about climate change being the cause of Huy Fung's woes.
old 2019 LA Times article - "California: Jalapeño farmer wins $23.3 million in heated dispute with Sriracha maker"
The grower filed a cross-complaint in February 2018, alleging that Huy Fong caused the breach in the partnership and that as a result, Underwood Ranches sustained more than $20 million in losses.
a quick look at the headlines today don't mention this story at all -- most are "here's why" click bait, and the rest blame climate change
"What The Sriracha Sauce Shortage Can Teach Us About Climate Change" - Forbes
"Can't find Sriracha? Here's why the shortage is a sign of our harsh climate reality" - LA Times ( with 1 sentence mention of the breakup with Underwood )
"Sriracha prices soar amid ongoing supply shortage linked to droughts" - The Hill
A lot of the "news" are just regurgitating scant info from one another: wow look at the prices on ebay, and tsk tsk tsk climate change, without mentioning that Huy Fung is short 4000 acres worth of Underwood peppers every year since 2016.
I wouldn't have been informed of this at all if I hadn't read the comments from @unsorted and @j3n by chance. How much of what I read and what I think I know suffer from this kind of info gap? How do I stay better informed if thousands of "news" articles are just word-shuffled garbage?
This, strikes me as an interesting prompt for a discussion post
I wouldn't have been informed of this at all if I hadn't read the comments from @unsorted and @j3n by chance. How much of what I read and what I think I know suffer from this kind of info gap? How do I stay better informed if thousands of "news" articles are just word-shuffled garbage?
This, strikes me as an interesting prompt for a discussion post
I agree! @chocobean it would be lovely as an entire topic. From a library science perspective this is something I'm constantly thinking about and working with generally (information literacy and...
I agree! @chocobean it would be lovely as an entire topic. From a library science perspective this is something I'm constantly thinking about and working with generally (information literacy and how to evaluate sources) and your question gets to the even deeper question of unknown unknowns and how do we know what we DON'T know - and more crucially, how do we know when to dig deeper?
With the increase in lazy journalism and circular citations spreading misinformation, this becomes a more important facet of information literacy to concentrate on.
I think some robust debate about this would be wonderful!
Gochujang is great for making sauces and stuff but I don't find it works well as a stand-alone condiment like sriracha does. Gochujang, mayo, honey, rice vinegar, gochugaru, bam you got yourself a...
Gochujang is great for making sauces and stuff but I don't find it works well as a stand-alone condiment like sriracha does.
Gochujang, mayo, honey, rice vinegar, gochugaru, bam you got yourself a delicious little sauce :)
I found a slightly sweetened gochujang a couple weeks ago and I've been eating it nonstop. I put it on pretzel chips and hummus, mix it into ramen (the sauced noodles kind, not the soup kind), and...
I found a slightly sweetened gochujang a couple weeks ago and I've been eating it nonstop. I put it on pretzel chips and hummus, mix it into ramen (the sauced noodles kind, not the soup kind), and started making burgers with the sweetened gochujang and some kimchi as the condiments.
It's basically like "ketchup, but peppers instead of tomatoes" and it's amazing.
Out of curiosity, do you normally have access to gochujang that isn't loaded with sugar/corn syrup? Where i'm at (in North America), I've only ever found a single imported jar in a specialty shop...
Out of curiosity, do you normally have access to gochujang that isn't loaded with sugar/corn syrup?
Where i'm at (in North America), I've only ever found a single imported jar in a specialty shop that wasn't full of refined sugar. It was (understandably) fairly pricey, so I'm curious about other possible sources of gochujang made of more traditional ingredients.
The last gochujang I had was in a rectangular tub, not a squeeze bottle, and had a VERY thick consistency - similar to that of Better Than Boullion (but less sticky), if you're familiar. It looks...
The last gochujang I had was in a rectangular tub, not a squeeze bottle, and had a VERY thick consistency - similar to that of Better Than Boullion (but less sticky), if you're familiar. It looks like the store I got it from doesn't carry it anymore, and similarly-packaged ones I'm seeing do have corn syrup as one of the top ingredients, but it wasn't anywhere near as sweet as the bottle of ketchupy gochujang I've got now. It was great for mixing in as an ingredient, but I wouldn't spread it on a burger or use it as a dip.
This is in the US, in a city with a population of a bit over 100k, from a regular grocery store (Safeway). You can find some good-looking ones online by searching for "buy traditional gochujang paste" but they seem fairly expensive. If you have an Asian market (like an H Mart) near you, they've probably got options.
Thanks! It's good to know it's out there. I do buy the thick paste in a tub but, like your most recent experience, the options I've found generally leave me choosing the 'least worst' in terms of...
Thanks! It's good to know it's out there. I do buy the thick paste in a tub but, like your most recent experience, the options I've found generally leave me choosing the 'least worst' in terms of corn syrup content :D
I'll keep searching, and trying poking around online.
I can recommend the Tabasco brand Sriracha. It's not as spicy but has a really nice fruity flavor. I've got a deep hot sauce shelf and it's become a staple.
I can recommend the Tabasco brand Sriracha. It's not as spicy but has a really nice fruity flavor. I've got a deep hot sauce shelf and it's become a staple.
That would explain why when I went to my local pho place, the usual large bottle of Sriracha was replaced by packets instead. I wonder if the shortage will force pho restaurants to raise prices...
That would explain why when I went to my local pho place, the usual large bottle of Sriracha was replaced by packets instead.
I wonder if the shortage will force pho restaurants to raise prices and by how much.
The originally submitted The Hill article was basically just a series of quotes from the CBS article, so I have changed the link to the CBS source. /offtopic
The originally submitted The Hill article was basically just a series of quotes from the CBS article, so I have changed the link to the CBS source.
Climate issues might be the cause of their on-going issues now, but it's their fault they got into the situation in the first place. Huy Fong breached the contract they had with their singular supplier (and ending that business relationship) back in 2016.
They screwed themselves by trying to form their own supply company and losing their one pepper supplier in the process, before having any sort of strong replacement supply chain to take their place.
That pepper supplier is Underwood Ranches. They sell their own sauces and I've read online that their version is closer to the original Huy Fong recipe than modern Huy Fong anyway. I've never been a Siracha fan so I can't really comment on it, but I quite like some of their other offerings.
I much prefer the Underwood Farms version, as someone who uses sriracha regularly. It has a much nicer flavor that’s a lot less “chemically” tasting than the Huy Fong version, for lack of a better word.
I know exactly what you mean about the chemical taste. Turned me completely away. I did still buy their chili garlic sauce because it tasted much better and less "off". The last jar of that I bought had an off taste too though. Sounds like I need to order a few from Underwood Farms. Have you tried anything else from them?
Just their spicy BBQ sauce. It’s definitely good, but a little heavy on the spicy pepper flavor vs the BBQ flavor.
They have two listed on their site, which one do you go for?
Whoops, didn’t realize they had 2 versions. I’ve only tried the one that’s just called Sriracha.
I didn't realize until I went to order. The dragon one wasn't listed anywhere I saw until the "choose your sauce" page
Thanks for this info and link to their site. I bought a 6 pack of their sauces to try. I'll report back after I try them.
Any idea when they changed the recipe? I got a bottle of a different brand (but not the one you mentioned) recently that reminded me of how the rooster sauce hit when I first started using it. I thought my spice tolerance had just gotten enough stronger that the huy fong stuff may as well be ketchup, now I'm wondering if it's actually the sauce that's changed.
So I'm not crazy? Huy Fong really tasted weak last time I tried it and the last bottle I had was weeping water out like mustard, which I hadn't experienced from Huy Fong in the past. I, too, thought my heat tolerance must have been off but I couldn't get over how flavorless it also was.
Yep I work in the spice business and Huy Fong is having to buy peppers from Mexican farms that are pretty shit quality. The product is suffering and Underwood Ranches are positioned to take over the sriracha market.
Thank you for the backstory. I guess this is a market opportunity for different hot sauce.
I've made both the fermented and fresh versions of this Sriracha sauce recipe, and I've gotta say I don't miss Huy Fong for anything except the convenience of the squeeze bottle.
The key is to use red-ripe peppers so there's no vegetal flavor from the green ones. Grocery stores rarely carry red-ripe Jalapeños, but red Fresno peppers are a good substitute at roughly the same spice level. There's a little more waste with Fresnos due to higher seed content, so bump up the quantity used by about 15 - 20%.
My home-brew runs hotter than Huy Fong because the least spicy garden peppers I've got are in the 10,000 - 30,000 Scoville range... Nonetheless, if you've got time for it, homemade usually beats store-bought hands down, and you get to tweak the results to your taste.
Thanks for this. I'm going to try to ferment some at home.
This looks like a great recipe, I bookmarked it and your comment so I can try it out later. Thanks for sharing!
Go to an Asian grocery. Shark brand is delicious and won't break the bank.
Second the recommendation for Shark brand. Tastes great, plus it has a sweet shark on the label.
You might wish to try Sambal Oelek. It's an Indonesian chile paste that is much rounder and earthier than Sriracha. This doesn't mean Sambal Oelek is better than Sriracha, it's just different and worth a try.
Yes, I have switched to this myself. Very tasty and available everywhere (if you live in a metropolitan area).
We've been struggling to find Sambal Oelek. I prefer it to Siracha for sure but now we can't find it anywhere. Probably going to resort to making it, doesn't look too hard.
Oh and chili crisp. Can't get enough of it and so far no issues finding it.
I know I'm reviving a week-old thread, but I remember reading this thread last week and hearing about Underwood farms, and then today my news feeds are going crazy about climate change being the cause of Huy Fung's woes.
old 2019 LA Times article - "California: Jalapeño farmer wins $23.3 million in heated dispute with Sriracha maker"
a quick look at the headlines today don't mention this story at all -- most are "here's why" click bait, and the rest blame climate change
"What The Sriracha Sauce Shortage Can Teach Us About Climate Change" - Forbes
"Can't find Sriracha? Here's why the shortage is a sign of our harsh climate reality" - LA Times ( with 1 sentence mention of the breakup with Underwood )
"Sriracha prices soar amid ongoing supply shortage linked to droughts" - The Hill
A lot of the "news" are just regurgitating scant info from one another: wow look at the prices on ebay, and tsk tsk tsk climate change, without mentioning that Huy Fung is short 4000 acres worth of Underwood peppers every year since 2016.
I wouldn't have been informed of this at all if I hadn't read the comments from @unsorted and @j3n by chance. How much of what I read and what I think I know suffer from this kind of info gap? How do I stay better informed if thousands of "news" articles are just word-shuffled garbage?
This, strikes me as an interesting prompt for a discussion post
I agree! @chocobean it would be lovely as an entire topic. From a library science perspective this is something I'm constantly thinking about and working with generally (information literacy and how to evaluate sources) and your question gets to the even deeper question of unknown unknowns and how do we know what we DON'T know - and more crucially, how do we know when to dig deeper?
With the increase in lazy journalism and circular citations spreading misinformation, this becomes a more important facet of information literacy to concentrate on.
I think some robust debate about this would be wonderful!
Gochujang is great for making sauces and stuff but I don't find it works well as a stand-alone condiment like sriracha does.
Gochujang, mayo, honey, rice vinegar, gochugaru, bam you got yourself a delicious little sauce :)
Bibimbap tends to just have a scoop of gochujang on top. I do find it's not something I'd just put on random foods though.
Allow me to introduce you to my close friend, Chili Crisp.
I keep finding new brands and variants to try at local groceries, it's a fun and delicious game. Most recently: Mr Bing
I found a slightly sweetened gochujang a couple weeks ago and I've been eating it nonstop. I put it on pretzel chips and hummus, mix it into ramen (the sauced noodles kind, not the soup kind), and started making burgers with the sweetened gochujang and some kimchi as the condiments.
It's basically like "ketchup, but peppers instead of tomatoes" and it's amazing.
Out of curiosity, do you normally have access to gochujang that isn't loaded with sugar/corn syrup?
Where i'm at (in North America), I've only ever found a single imported jar in a specialty shop that wasn't full of refined sugar. It was (understandably) fairly pricey, so I'm curious about other possible sources of gochujang made of more traditional ingredients.
The last gochujang I had was in a rectangular tub, not a squeeze bottle, and had a VERY thick consistency - similar to that of Better Than Boullion (but less sticky), if you're familiar. It looks like the store I got it from doesn't carry it anymore, and similarly-packaged ones I'm seeing do have corn syrup as one of the top ingredients, but it wasn't anywhere near as sweet as the bottle of ketchupy gochujang I've got now. It was great for mixing in as an ingredient, but I wouldn't spread it on a burger or use it as a dip.
This is in the US, in a city with a population of a bit over 100k, from a regular grocery store (Safeway). You can find some good-looking ones online by searching for "buy traditional gochujang paste" but they seem fairly expensive. If you have an Asian market (like an H Mart) near you, they've probably got options.
Thanks! It's good to know it's out there. I do buy the thick paste in a tub but, like your most recent experience, the options I've found generally leave me choosing the 'least worst' in terms of corn syrup content :D
I'll keep searching, and trying poking around online.
Ox brand from Kroger been keeping me company, bless off brands.
Bless Kroger in general. Cheese blocks and shredded cheese are 1.49 a pack with the digital coupon this week which is insane.
I can recommend the Tabasco brand Sriracha. It's not as spicy but has a really nice fruity flavor. I've got a deep hot sauce shelf and it's become a staple.
Shouldn't this say linked to inflated prices of everything? I mean most plants don't like missing water and to much heat.
That would explain why when I went to my local pho place, the usual large bottle of Sriracha was replaced by packets instead.
I wonder if the shortage will force pho restaurants to raise prices and by how much.
I just tried Yellowbird Sriracha for the first time and it's delicious. It was recommended by a few friends and glad I gave it a shot.
The originally submitted The Hill article was basically just a series of quotes from the CBS article, so I have changed the link to the CBS source.
/offtopic