Texans Staring Down Summer-Long Shortage of a Favorite Condiment

This is bad news for Texans who enjoy a little extra kick in their food, and the worst part is this bad news will last all summer long.

According to reports, we will likely soon be seeing another Sriracha shortage in Texas and across the U.S. California-based Huy Fong Foods, the company that produces the popular condiment, says it will not be producing any more of its hot sauce until after Labor Day.

Once again the company is citing pepper production. It's because the red jalapeño peppers they use are too green this year, and using these green peppers would affect the color of the Sriracha. The pepper they use, red winter jalapeño peppers, are grown in Mexico which has been experiencing severe drought conditions.

But this isn't the first time.

It was just two years ago in '22, Huy Fong Foods, Inc., sent a letter to customers telling them to prepare for the then-impending shortage.

It almost seems as if the sauce has become too popular and they aren't able to keep up with the demand. The company first started experiencing shortages of its coveted chili pepper inventory in July 2020.

It's a very 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? It only really caught on in the U.S. after 2011.

We should note that no other Sriracha makers, aside from Huy Fong Foods, have reported pepper shortages.