The once common sight of the iconic green-capped bottle and signature rooster of Huy Fong’s Sriracha hot sauce has become a rare sight in grocery stores due to a shortage. 

The main culprit behind the shortage: a the lack of red jalapeños, a key ingredient in Sriracha.

Red jalapeños are infamously difficult to cultivate and harvest. The climate needed for peppers makes them even more vulnerable to the severe droughts in Mexico, fueled by the depleted water supply in the Colorado River. 

For AP Biology and AP Research teacher Chris Ham, the use of these jalapeños is what makes the sauce unique.

“I feel like a lot of the other sauces are very vinegar-based, and Sriracha is chili-based, so it has a really unique flavor,” he said.

The origins of the sauce date back to the 1930s in the coastal town of Si Racha in Thailand. A Thai cook named Thanom Chakkapak first developed the sauce for her kitchen but began producing the sauce commercially, marketing the sauce under the name of Sriraja Panich. The thin vinegar-based sauce became the best-selling chili sauce in Thailand until she sold her company in 1984 to Thai Theparos Food Products.

Being a fan of Chakkapak’s sauce, Vietnamese entrepreneur David Tran wanted to create a thicker version of the condiment, calling it rooster sauce. Tran later founded Huy Fong, selling the sauce to customers in America.

Since production in the early 1980s, Sriracha has steadily grown in popularity in America, becoming a staple in many households and Asian cuisines.

“It’s a key ingredient in a lot of Asian cuisine, so we are very familiar with the flavor,” Ham said. “It’s spicy [and] there’s not a lot of options for spicy sauces or condiments, at least in America. It’s just one of the best spicy condiments we have. I don’t have any Sriracha in my kitchen right now, so it’s kind of a big problem.”

In addition to the lack of Sriracha in home kitchens, senior Saanvi Nair has noticed how the shortage has impacted restaurants. 

“They used to keep Sriracha on the table at restaurants, but they don’t do that anymore,” Nair said. “I’ve noticed [that] they ration it now.” 

The shortage has left senior Grace Ajayi resorting to off-brand bottles for her Sriracha fix, finding little success.

“I love Sriracha, and I have been having to find off-brands from Walmart and Kroger, but none of them hit the same,” Ajayi said.

Ham shares this sentiment, still looking for a good replacement for the iconic sauce. 

“I’ve actually been looking for alternatives. There’s a brand called Yellowbird that I’ve been trying out that’s habanero-based,” Ham said. “It’s not as good, but the shortage is kind of forcing me to try different kinds of sauces.”