article- The prolonged shortage of a certain red sauce is making the black market go wild.
Prices of Sriracha sauce are as high as $70 on eBay as people look to snap up the spicy sauce — and they’re even steeper on Amazon, up to $124. Huy Fong Foods, which makes the rooster-adorned bottled sauce, has been dealing with a years-long shortage of the chilis, which is hurting production and causing some shortages.
A search on eBay shows prices for various sized bottles ranging from $39.98 for 17-ounce bottles to a 28-ounce bottle for nearly $70. In both instances, shipping is an additional fee, jacking up the price even more.
Prices are even higher on Amazon, where one seller is offering a 2-pack for $124. Of course, it’s unclear if anyone is actually paying these exorbitant prices, considering a 17-ounce bottle typically costs around $5.
The company recently told CNN that it’s still experiencing a shortage of raw materials. “Although some production did resume this past fall season, we continue to have a limited supply that continues to affect our production. At this time, we have no estimations of when supply will increase,” a Huy Fong spokesperson said.
“We are grateful for your continued patience and understanding during this unprecedented inventory shortage. We are currently working on trying to avoid future shortages,” the company added.
There’s been a shortage for the past three years, as Huy Fong has said that its chili peppers have consistently been in short supply. Last year, it temporarily stopped orders because of the shortage, which also affected its Chili Garlic and Sambal Oelek products.
Huy Fong’s Sriracha, created in 1980 by Chinese immigrant David Tran, has made its way to the shelves of huge retailers like Target and Whole Foods and has been a fan favorite of consumers since its inception.
I used to be devoted to Huy Fong sriracha, but once they screwed over their grower, I started looking for alternatives. I really love Healthy Boy brand, but I can’t find their red any more. I have a bottle of Healthy Boy black sriracha, which has tamarind in it, which is good, but different. A friend picked me up a bottle of Ox Brand sriracha, which I actually think is better than Huy Fong, too.
I also tried the Underwood Ranches sriracha, but it just didn’t do it for me, though their Roja sauce is delicious.
I admire your conviction
Do you have any links regarding them screwing over their grower? I thought I remembered reading something about that in the past few months but looking now all I can find is that they switched from Underwood in 2017 following a lawsuit.
Why would people pay so much money to cross a picket line?
Just buy sriracha from the people who grow the peppers that Huy Fong used.
I have some of both and they aren’t really similar. Sriracha is sweeter and has more garlic flavor. They seem to have a different vibe. Both are tasty though.
Sriracha is sweeter and has more garlic flavor.
Just to clarify, which sriracha is this? That sounds pretty good and if it’s the growers’ one I’d like to pick up a bottle.
I was describing the original.
What’s the other kind like? Just more toned-down?
Better yet, make your own! Growing peppers is easy, and if you like hot, Carolina Reapers are amazing in small doses.
and they make great urethral sounds
Oh what a day to have been cursed with being literate.
What is the difference between the Premium Dragon Siracha and the Regular/normal Siracha that they offer?
What is the difference between the Premium Dragon Siracha and the Regular/normal Siracha that they offer?
To be completely certain you would have to ask them.
Just going by the information we both have by looking at the bottles,
The “Premium Dragon” contains
Red Jalapeño Pepper, Sugar, Water, Salt, Acetic Acid,
Garlic, Natural Flavor, Xanthan Gum, Sodium Metabisulfite
(Sulfiting Agent/Preservative), Potassium Sorbate (Preservative)The “Regular, I Guess” contains
Red Jalapeño Pepper, Distilled Vinegar, Sugar, Garlic, Water,
Salt, Xanthan GumThe Premium Dragon contains a higher percentage of Sugar and Water compared to the Regular. Premium Dragon also contains Natural Flavor while Regular does not and Premium Dragon contains Acetic Acid as opposed to Regular’s use of vinegar (which is at least 4% acetic acid by volume).
We can also see that the Premium Dragon comes in an opaque bottle (mirroring a tactic I hate) and if you look closely is on a slightly offwhite [f5f5f5] background as opposed to Regular’s just [ffffff]-uckin’ white background. Both of these are techniques I believe are intended to make your brain think of the product as more premium or substantial, as unbleached paper is used when a store brand wishes to sell itself as “homestyle” “hand crafted” “organic” “select”, et. cet.
Further, Premium Dragon’s label uses an offshoot of Chop Suey font. Since Craig Underwood does not appear to be Asian, I have my doubts its use is intracommunal or in any way ironic, therefore I would state another difference is Premium Dragon comes in a more racist bottle.
Also you will note that while both bottles say, “Distributed by Underwood Ranches Camarillo, Ca 93012”, every other bottle on the page says “Product of USA” while Premium Dragon conspicuously does not.
There is a chance Underwood Ranches does not even make the Premium Dragon version.If I had to guess I’d say Premium Dragon attempts to be closer to the taste profile of their former client’s sauce than the sauce they make to their own tastes but I base that on instinct, not any information.
Over all, ingredient wise, Premium Dragon seems much more …clinical? Industrial? Made by a chemist as opposed to a Chef.
Less “natural” if that’s the sort of thing that bothers you (and there’s no reason it should).I imagine it is also sweeter but I have never tasted either one.
Such an amazingly thorough and impressive analysis! You are a credit to humanity and should definitely do something nice for yourself soon with that in mind.
There were articles that this was going to happen a year ago. I’m glad I bought enough to last a while. Another fantastic hot sauce is Secret Aardvark. It’s hotter than Sriracha but has great flavor.
For a minute there you could get 1 gallon squirt/spout tops of Secret Aardvark on amazon. It was like $30-40 last time I got one and it’s still riding. 1 out of 3 jugs will arrive completely smashed though.
Secret Aardvark is great, but it’s not really a replacement for sriracha. They’re very different sauces.
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Those prices are bonkers. But—as someone who bought a knock-off brand of sriracha the other day—it doesn’t totally surprise me. The knock-off stuff is terrible.
My local grocery store carries an alternative, Lee Kum Kee brand, that I’ve found to be adequate. There’s some stuff that I eat regularly that sriracha flavor profile works better than anything else, so I’ll take what I can get for now. Not having tried the Lee Kum Kee brand before the shortage, I’m eager to actually do a side by side once I can get a bottle of Huy Fong.
I don’t know anything about their siracha but their oyster sauce is on point. Make sure you get the one with the kid in the raft on the label.
Got some Badia version… disgusting.
Mine was T&T brand but yeah, awful.
We got a Tobasco brand Sriracha and weren’t disappointed at all.
I was curious about the Tabasco one. I saw it last week, but wasn’t sure about it so I passed it up. I’ll have to grab a bottle when I head back to the store
Yeah, it has a different “kick” to it. It didn’t take me long at all to warm up to it.
“sriracha” sauce is pretty easy to make. It’s a garlic & pepper sauce w/vinegar, salt, and sugar. Fermented if you prefer but not necessary.
I got the Kroger brand sriracha and I like it just fine. It wasn’t anywhere near $70, just Kroger-level overpriced.
I bought a random brand the other day and only looked at the ingredients after getting home. Not a single sriracha pepper, just regular jalapeños and red dye. Felt kinda ripped off honestly. Not quite the same as Huy Fong but it’s still tasty on eggs.
My understanding was that the traditional chilis used were Thai or birds-eye chilis, and ripe red jalapenos were used by immigrants to North America when thai chilis weren’t available. The “sriracha pepper” is a modern invention to capitalize on the popularity of the sauce, rather than the source of it - and it is still just a close relative of the jalapeno.
Pretty sure the original huy fong siracha is also just jalapeños.
I also got ripped off by a knock-off recently. I assumed it was the same, but it’s a pale imitation.
There seems to be a specific taste to sriracha though. We picked up a rando bottle at Whole Foods recently and it was nowhere near as good as the usual sriracha. Tasted like a different kind of sauce.
They changed pepper distributors a couple years back, so the taste did change.
I highly recommend trying gochujang sauce as an alternative in the meantime. It’s different but scratches a similar itch.
Gouchujang really is the king of all chili pastes.
Mine is very pasty. I don’t see myself adding it to food after it is cooked like I’d do with Sriracha. But I never tried it. Maybe if it’s warm enough it’ll mix well.
There’s one called Bibigo which comes in a squirt bottle and has the right consistency for the job.
The crazy thing is it isn’t even as good now that they fucked over and lost their chili source. The new chilis just aren’t as good.
Hot take: Sriracha is mid.
Are there superior Sriracha-like options out there (not counting things like Cholula, Texas Pete, etc…which are a different category, to me)?
Not sure how available they are in the US (or other non-SEA countries in general), but here in Thailand sriracha is kinda outclassed by many other chili sauces and pastes.
Someone in here mentioned Secret Aardvark, which is spicier, less sweet and overall better in my opinion. The other money maker is Yellowbird Ghost Pepper Condiment, which I consider the final boss of a Sriracha like sauce and has been my go to for a few years. It’s smokey, same sort of consistency and sweetness, good flavor and really adds a kick. Both are excellent but you need to watch yourself or you can really fuck up with the level of spice they bring.
I’m fully open to the possibility that my taste is just trash, but I’ve never really liked it and couldn’t ever understand the hype.
Is the US sauce somehow different than the one sold in Western Europe/Germany? I don’t see any price change.
Most EU sriracha is made in Thailand from Thai peppers, while the affected company in the US grows their peppers there. Totally separate supply chains, so it makes sense that ours aren’t affected.
That is utterly crazy.
There are better hot sauces out there…
Another vote for Underwood Ranch
Anyone have a good recipe for a shelf stable garlic hot sauce without sweetness?
Of-fucking-course CNN and the dumpster fire they’ve become wouldn’t even mention that Huy Fong did this to themselves by lying to and defrauding their exclusive pepper grower:
https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-sriracha-lawsuit-underwood-ranches-20190712-story.html
The peppers are what made the sauce, literally. Without them, there’s many better chili sauces…
As a Thai, this is both puzzling and amusing to me. That price is insane. It’s two AAA games worth. But while it is a staple here the sauce (at least our version) is overshadowed by other kinds of local sauces and other spicy condiments.
