Your food could be decidedly blander this summer, with a major sriracha producer warning it is suspending production due to a shortage of the main ingredient in Thai chili sauce: hot peppers.
Huy Fung Foods, which makes a popular sriracha hot sauce, said it will stop producing the condiment until September because the red jalapeño peppers used to make it are “too green,” according to a company memo obtained by CBS MoneyWatch. USA Today was first to report the news.
“After re-evaluating our chili supply, we have determined that it is too green to continue production as it affects 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 halt production until after Labor Day, when our next chili season begins,” the company added, noting that all customer orders from the 6 May have been cancelled. Huy Fung Foods sells its products to retailers, restaurants and other businesses rather than to consumers.
The company declined to comment on its production pause or its note to buyers.
A red jalapeño that’s too green usually indicates that it’s not completely ripe or ripe, according to Stephanie Walker, a chili pepper expert at New Mexico State University.
“If too many peppers are green jalapeños, that means they have the immature color of red ones,” she told CBS MoneyWatch. “They haven’t reached proper maturity, so it could be a timing issue, like maybe they were planted too late or unfavorable environmental conditions slowed maturity.”
It is not the first time sriracha supplies have been threatened, with Huy Fong Foods last year facing production challenges linked to poor harvests.
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The warning comes as more frequent and severe weather events increasingly shape the food supply. Although environmental conditions can harm jalapeño pepper production, Walker said temperatures have not been hot enough in Mexico to have affected pepper production.
Yet some experts blame climate change for poor chili growing conditions that have limited the supply of sriracha in recent years. Mexico is suffering from a drought, with the most severe impact being felt in northern Mexico, where most peppers are grown, according to a map from Mexico’s National Water Commission.
California farmer Craig Underwood, who once supplied Huy Fung Foods with peppers for its sriracha sauce, said he produced 100 million pounds of red jalapeño peppers for the company on 2,000 acres. The sauce’s distinctive taste is due to the fact that 90 percent of its contents are fresh red jalapeños, he explained.
“That’s why it’s such a good product,” Underwood told CBS MoneyWatch.
Underwood, who makes his own sriracha, also said he has an ample supply of jalapeño peppers, while noting that he produces the sauce on a much smaller scale. He said using green peppers would give the sriracha a brownish color instead of its typical bright red hue.
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