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posted by hubie on Saturday June 11 2022, @04:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the ice-cold-chili-peppers dept.

California-based Huy Fong Inc says the shortage is due to drought affecting its peppers – will it lead to battles in condiment aisles?

A looming Sriracha shortage has hot sauce lovers feeling fiery, after the maker of the popular condiment said it was suspending sales over the summer due to a shortage of chili peppers.

Southern California-based Huy Fong Inc confirmed that its beloved products, including Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek, would be affected, according to Bloomberg.

In an April email to customers, the company described the pepper shortage as "severe" and related to the climate. The company sources its peppers from various farms in California, New Mexico and Mexico, and said that weather conditions were affecting the quality of the peppers and deepening the chili pepper shortage.


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  • (Score: 1) by pTamok on Saturday June 11 2022, @05:13PM (11 children)

    by pTamok (3042) on Saturday June 11 2022, @05:13PM (#1252552)

    Where am I going to get my capsaicin hit from now?

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday June 11 2022, @05:20PM (1 child)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 11 2022, @05:20PM (#1252558) Journal

    My peppers aren't growing well this year, either. Tomatoes are doing great, but the peppers are puny little things. I'm investigating the idea of a fall crop of peppers, which I've never done before.

    --
    “I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 13 2022, @02:42PM

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday June 13 2022, @02:42PM (#1252955)

      It's not just a poor crop yield, it's also supply chain shocks. Modern agriculture in 2019 was predicting consumer demand within historically precise targets, meaning farmers were growing basically just enough (close as possible) produce to meet market demands. In 2020 consumers became less predictable, by a large fraction. In addition to shortages, there were also overages of other crops that had to be recycled without ever attempting to market, because of the new variations in market demand.

      Throw a poor crop yield on top of that landscape and now you've got a hot sauce shortage.

      The one I really don't understand is the grape jelly shortage. I mean: really? Did PB&J consumption spike _that_ much?

      --
      🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by looorg on Saturday June 11 2022, @09:21PM (5 children)

    by looorg (578) on Saturday June 11 2022, @09:21PM (#1252602)

    I didn't notice any shortage. Shelves was stocked with it and all the other similar products. So so far no shortage and it's two months after the warning was sent out. That said one would assume they could source their peppers from someplace else. I doubt you can taste the California in them or whatever.

    But if you are a afraid of running out I guess it's as good as time as any to start growing or making your own. Also Sriracha just isn't all that hot from a Scoville unit perspective. So there is ample room to kick it up a notch. After all it's spicy ketchup with a crapton of suger in it.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 11 2022, @11:33PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 11 2022, @11:33PM (#1252624)

      Sriracha is not a spicy ketchup, because it has no tomatoes in it. It is a spicy replacement for ketchup.

      $3 for 28 oz is a good price normally, but I was able to snag markdowns once in a while for even cheaper. I still have at least a gallon of the stuff so I am chuckling at this shortage. Could use some Sambal Oelek though.

      • (Score: 2) by looorg on Sunday June 12 2022, @01:18PM (1 child)

        by looorg (578) on Sunday June 12 2022, @01:18PM (#1252720)

        You are correct. A "spicy" ketchup replacement. I look at it when I was in the store today, there are a few different once and all the various Sriracha copies and it seems that the core ingredient tho is still suger. So perhaps it's more suger-water-with-pepper flavoring. But it's no surprise that a lot of people like it with all that suger in it. I wonder what has more suger in it tho if it's Heinz Ketchup or the Srirachas. Still there are a lot of copies now, the one from Huy Fong is not just one of many and it's not the cheapest one they had.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:03PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:03PM (#1252787)

          I wasn't aware that was the case with these sauces. I'm very familiar with barbecue sauces with sugar as the predominant ingredient because I specifically search out for bottles where it isn't. However, the more popular brands (Sweet Baby Rays, Heinz, Famous Dave's, etc.) all list HFC has the first ingredient. When bbq sauce is used on the grill, that sugar can be an important part where it caramelizes and carbonizes and can become an important part of the flavor profile, but I use these sauces as a condiment on a lot of things so I'd prefer to go with brands where sugar is down the chain a bit.

    • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday June 13 2022, @02:47PM (1 child)

      by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday June 13 2022, @02:47PM (#1252956)

      Another possibility is that there is actually a Sriracha surplus, but they're circulating this "warning" to attempt to free up some storage space by getting consumers to store their product for them.

      --
      🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2022, @02:33PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 14 2022, @02:33PM (#1253181)

        Nice theory but how does it explain the empty shelves?

  • (Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday June 11 2022, @09:58PM (10 children)

    by Snotnose (1623) Subscriber Badge on Saturday June 11 2022, @09:58PM (#1252606)

    It was better than the store bought. Too bad it only lasted 1-2 weeks (after 1 week I kinda looked at it funny and I mostly did a 'yeah, no' when it deveoped white fuzz above the liquid line).

    I've also made my own horseradish, mustard and ketchup. Both suffered the same fate. Both are better than store bought, but the shelf life is measured in days, not months. I dunno about you but I have a hard time consuming 1 cup sriacha/mustard/horseradich/ketchup the week before it goes bad.

    --
    Of course I'm against DEI. Donald, Eric, and Ivanka.
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by captain normal on Saturday June 11 2022, @10:36PM (2 children)

      by captain normal (2205) on Saturday June 11 2022, @10:36PM (#1252615)

      Likely not enough vinegar, these type of sauces need acid to stop the mold.

      --
      The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:13AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:13AM (#1252695)

        Or higher salt content with lactic acid generated by halophiles, good for you [researchgate.net]

        • (Score: 2) by captain normal on Monday June 13 2022, @02:59AM

          by captain normal (2205) on Monday June 13 2022, @02:59AM (#1252892)

          Yes of course, for some reason I had assumed he used salt.

          --
          The Musk/Trump interview appears to have been hacked, but not a DDOS hack...more like A Distributed Denial of Reality.
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 11 2022, @11:24PM (2 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Saturday June 11 2022, @11:24PM (#1252622)

      You can put sriracha on damn near anything. Fried rice, pizza, curry, whatever.

      • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:01AM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:01AM (#1252692)

        Try putting some up your arse, tell us if you could.

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @04:07PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @04:07PM (#1252756)

          Tricky put some Deep Heat on his dick before he went into class just to see if he could handle it.

          The joke here is that Deep Heat is an analgesic, so of course he put it on his dick.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @02:35AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @02:35AM (#1252650)

      who knew that all those preservatives they put in stuff were actually necessary /s

      • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:22AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:22AM (#1252699)

        They may be sufficient but aren't necessary. Choosing the right fermentation regime is another solution. Pasteurizing the sauce and keeping it in closed bottles is yet another.
        Not like people were using exotic preservatives in their sauces. [redhousespice.com]

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:27AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @07:27AM (#1252700)
      Indeed, I used to make my own harissa [wikipedia.org], much better than those cans of it I get at the gourmet grocery, which don't last much longer than my homemade stuff either. It's the hot sauce that works best with Mediterranean cuisine, and I usually make a batch when I make kebabs or souvlaki. You really have to use up the stuff within a week or so of making it if you don't have the facilities to do proper canning or other methods for preserving it.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @04:10PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday June 12 2022, @04:10PM (#1252757)

      Ace [tmi-comic.com]? is that you?

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