WHY SRIRACHA WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND AND NOW TASTES BAD
If you like hot sauces and the like you probably have been a big fan of sriracha... specifically the sriracha made by Huy Fong Foods. But, you may have noticed that since 2020 there have been noticeable times where it was sold out for months and months. Even worse - now that it is back on shelves it tastes like crap.
I did some digging.
All of the peppers for Huy Fong Foods Sriracha were grown on Underwood Ranches in Ventura County, CA. Family-owned farm (since the 1800s) that grew along with Huy Fong Foods. Starting at 400 acres and growing to almost 4000 to support the popularity of sriracha. This was when it tasted good. In the late 20-teens Huy Fong decided to demand money back from the farm for... no one really fully understands why. They then severed the contract leaving Underwood with 4000 acres of hot peppers and no one to buy them.
Meanwhile Huy Fong approached a number of other farms scattered across southern California and had them quickly spin up pepper concerns. This put a massive dip in their supply and they lost a year of sauce-making basically. Then bad weather knocked out a lot of these farms and they lost another season or two. Also the quality and flavor across multiple farms was inconsistent.
Meanwhile Underwood sued Huy Fong, won, received 23 million dollars, hired back their workers, and got back to growing. Additionally they were able to mitigate a lot of the weather issues the last few years through better technique and had bumper crops.
So they made their own sauce - Underwood Dragon Sriracha...
and lord strike me down if it doesn't taste much more like the older sriracha than whatever Huy Fong Foods is making now. Anyways, they don't seem to sell to stores but you can buy directly from their website. I did and I've been putting it on everything.
I wasn't paid to write this... I just like doing exhaustive research about things I enjoy.
(EDIT to adjust Underwood Farms to Underwood Ranches, and change location from Ventura to Ventura County)

Good


Not so good (notice the color change from their old original?)

I had heard about this & felt the pain of hoarding my last couple of bottles during the drought. Some of my favorite restaurants had tried different brands & all were horrible. One pho place put an off brand into the empty huy fong bottles (uh, fuk that place!).
I'm on my last bottle of the "old" stuff, I'm disappointed that it has come to this. I'll try the new stuff.
From all the Sriracha heads thank you for the update Sir.

I was chatting with a guy about this just the other day ---- he was picking up a bottle and commented 'glad to see its back on the shelves.... but whats up with the brownish/orange color?" I had surmised that it was a 'quick' fermentation due to the farmer's dispute....

Good for them making their own sauce! Thats what happens when you fuck over your 'sole supplier'....

the tabasco sriracha is pretty tasty, I'd recommend giving that a try.

Huy Fong Foods
Contact Us
Address: 4800 Azusa Canyon Rd.
Irwindale, CA 91706
Phone: (626) 286-8328 Fax: (626) 286-8522 Email: customerservice@huyfong.com Hours: 7:30am - 4:00pm PST Monday - Friday

I don’t use hot sauce/chili peppers but do not judge those who do, to each their own.
I was interested in the manufacture of the Sariracha sauce thinking they were Asian but come to find out they’re a Cali company.
Caveman is it whip to burning his tastebuds but he sure loves him some Yum Yum sauce.

Sambal sauce has much the same story. Good chili sauce... gone from shelves... now back again. Seems thinner and looks paler (I haven't opened the bottle yet)
Same company.

Sriracha is a sad story of how win win can go south.

They got greedy and pulled the rug not only on the grower but ultimately themselves.

All for making cheaper and making more profit. Talk about stirring the mash. Unfortunately for them. It’s their own doing.

I will go with the grower - they were blindsided by the move and came out with a better product.

If I recall correctly, Tran did something similar with the plastic bottles he uses.

Had big contracts with suppliers, then decided to make his own & cut them off mid-contract…

Gochujang

Doesn't really affect me --- I'm still in the 'Franks' stage - haven't work my way up to sriracha yet.
Thats what happens when you realize you like Franks thru 5oz bottles and then buy a 64oz bottle for $3 to refill them.... It NEVER goes bad.
I'm kinda bummed..... I haven't used any for quite some time

I would say grab a packet and cut a tiny hole in the corner and lightly squirt it. Sriracha used to add flavor to a dish. Now I swear it just adds sugar and heat. Definite difference in flavor and texture to me.

I'm going to have to try the grower's brand next time I need some.

The Underwood Ranches is available on Amazon, I just ordered some.

Thanks for the writeup Rick.

Amazon is actually a buck cheaper than the Underwood website, but Underwood has free shipping too. (I have Prime, so Free for me on Amazon.

In hindsight, I will order direct from Underwood for future orders though, I'm sure more money goes to them that way.

https://underwoodranches.com/

Just happened to see this new review of the two sriracha sauces....

Havent noticed. Im still working on the CASE of old recipe Sriracha that I bought a few years ago when I seen the shortage starting to happen.

Mira Safety (they make gasmasks and more ) new tee shirt schwag.