We are Facing a National Sriracha Shortage, But It’s Not Why You Think

With gas prices taking off higher than Elon Musk's rockets, and inflation at a forty-year high, it's no wonder that folks here in East Texas and across the US are facing a Sriracha Sauce shortage. But it's actually not directly connected to rockets, inflation nor gas prices.

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Back in April, Huy Fong Foods, Inc., the nation’s leading sriracha sauce manufacturer, sent a letter to customers telling them to prepare for the impending shortage.

If you didn't know, the popular hot sauce is made from sun-ripened red jalapeño-hybrid chili peppers. As it turns out the company started experiencing a shortage of  their coveted chili pepper inventory nearly two years ago, in July 2020. Due to poor weather conditions negatively affecting the chili crop this year that shortage has worsened.

It's due to the weather.

As it stands for now all Sriracha Sauce orders are being put on hold until September, it's then that they hope they'll be able to get the chili peppers needed.

"Unfortunately, this is out of our control and without this essential ingredient we are unable to produce any of our products," the letter reads. "Therefore, all orders submitted on or after April 19, 2022, will be scheduled AFTER Labor Day (September 6, 2022) in the order it was received."

It is a quite popular condiment, especially here in the US. According to Fox News, "sale records show the company typically sells more than 20 million bottles of hot sauce per year."

Did you know that the sauce saw its beginnings in Thailand in the 1920s, and only really caught on in the US after 2011.