A fixture at Vietnamese restaurants, sriracha sauce can lace aromatic pho with a jolt of heat. It’s the star ingredient in spicy mayonnaise zigzagging countless sushi rolls, and it has even inspired a legion of fans to dress up for Halloween each year like a red plastic squeeze bottle with green cap.
But this year, a shortage of red jalapeño chiles has threatened it all for sriracha, a beloved condiment made from sun-ripened peppers from Mexico and seasoned with vinegar, salt, sugar and garlic.
Huy Fong Foods, a company based in Irwindale, Calif., that produces one of the most popular sriracha sauces in the world, confirmed that it was experiencing an “unprecedented shortage” affecting all of its chile-based products, which also include chile garlic sauce and sambal oelek.
In a statement by email, a company representative said that the issue stemmed from “several spiraling events, including unexpected crop failure from the spring chile harvest.” Huy Fong Foods generally goes through 100 million pounds of chiles each year, the representative added.
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