This could be the third year in a row there may be a sriracha shortage. As it was in 2022 and 2023, the culprit is a shortage of the chili sauce’s main ingredient, red hot peppers.
According to CBS News, Huy Fung Foods, who make the Sriracha hot sauce, said they are forced to stop production of the condiment because the red jalapeño chili peppers used to make it are “too green.”
In a letter to its wholesale buyers, Huy Fung Foods said they have decided to halt production until after Labor Day.
Stephanie Walker, professor and vegetable specialist at New Mexico State University suspects that Huy Fong Foods has not established solid relationships with dependable jalapeño growers, reported USA Today.
“I’ve been hearing third hand that they have tried to enlist new growers so they would have a reliable stream of jalapeños and it sounds like they haven’t been entirely successful yet,” Walker, who is co-director of her university’s Chile Pepper Institute.
Others attribute this shortage to the changing climate that have constrained the growth of chilli peppers in recent years. According to CBS News, Mexico is currently suffering from a drought that has severely impacted northern Mexico, where most peppers are grown.
AsAmNews is published by the non-profit, Asian American Media Inc.
We are supported through donations and such charitable organizations as the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. December 3 is Giving Tuesday. Will you please consider a donation to Asian American Media Inc and AsAmNews?
Follow us on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and X.