William Simpson
Your food could be decidedly milder this summer, with a major sriracha producer warning that it is suspending production due to a shortage of the main ingredient in Thai hot sauce – chili peppers.
Huy Fung Foods, which makes a popular sriracha hot sauce, said it will stop producing the condiment by September because the red jalapeño peppers used to make it are “too green,” according to a company memo obtained by CBS MoneyWatch. USA Today First reported The news.
“After reevaluating our chili supply, we determined that it is too green to continue production as it is affecting the color of the product,” Huy Fung Foods said in an April 30 letter to wholesale buyers.
“We regret to inform you that we have decided to pause production until after Labor Day when our next chili season begins,” the company added, noting that all customer orders starting May 6 will be canceled. Huy Fung Foods sells its products to retailers, restaurants and other businesses, not to consumers.
The company declined to comment on the production pause or the memo to buyers.
A very green red jalapeño pepper usually indicates that it is not fully ripe or underripe, according to Stephanie Walker, a pepper expert at New Mexico State University.
“If many peppers are green jalapeños, that means they are the immature color of red ones,” she told CBS MoneyWatch. “They have not reached adequate maturity, so it may be a matter of timing, as perhaps they were planted too late or adverse environmental conditions delayed maturation.”
It is not the first time Sriracha supplies have been threatened, with Huy Fong Foods last year facing production challenges related to crop failures.
Joe Raedle/Getty Images
The warning comes at a time when more frequent and severe weather events are increasingly shaping the food supply. While environmental conditions can harm jalapeño pepper production, Walker said temperatures have not been high enough in Mexico to affect pepper production.
Still, some experts blame climate change for below-average chili pepper growing conditions, which have restricted sriracha supplies in recent years. Mexico is experiencing a drought, with the most severe impact being felt in northern Mexico, where most of the peppers are grown, according to a report. map of the National Water Commission of Mexico.
California farmer Craig Underwood, who previously supplied peppers to Huy Fung Foods for its sriracha sauce, said he used to produce 100 million pounds of red jalapeño peppers for the company on 2,000 acres. The sauce’s distinctive flavor is due to the fact that 90% of its content is made up of fresh red jalapeños, he said.
“That’s why it’s such a good product,” Underwood told CBS MoneyWatch.
Underwood, who makes his own sriracha, also said he has a sufficient supply of jalapeño peppers, while also noting that he produces the sauce on a much smaller scale. He said that using green peppers would give the sriracha a brownish color instead of its typical bright red hue.
