A Redditor Asked Why Huy Fong Sriracha Is Now Green. Here's The Explanation

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Sriracha has become one of the most beloved condiments in the kitchen in the last 15 years, thanks in no small part to the efforts of David Tran and his company Huy Fong Foods. Huy Fong makes the most famous sriracha on store shelves, the kind featuring that rooster logo, and has been producing it in California since 1980. Recently, however, customers have noticed a startling change in their Huy Fong sriracha, and it bodes very poorly for the company. That famous red sauce is now muddy green.

Redditor JS1040 posted a photo asking others why sriracha was suddenly green with no explanation on the label, and wondered if it was supposed to be a different product. What followed was a long and complex story stretching back over 10 years about Huy Fong and the farm that supplied the peppers for its very versatile hot sauce.

Huy Fong had been buying its peppers exclusively from Underwood Ranches since 1988. Underwood was growing hundreds of acres of peppers exclusively for Huy Fong. After about a decade, the two businesses stopped formalizing their agreements in writing. They had worked together so long that they were relying on oral deals, like partners. In 2014, Huy Fong put into motion plans to stop relying on Underwood for peppers, but never told Underwood about it until late 2016. The results are only fully becoming public knowledge now, especially since Huy Fong sriracha is showing up differently on store shelves.

Huy Fong was paying Underwood based on acreage used rather than the number of peppers harvested, meaning it would pay even for bad crops. For a farmer, that's an attractive deal with little risk. Huy Fong pushed for Underwood to expand and focus only on this one crop. Since they were paying, Underwood obliged and leased more land.

Huy Fong agreed to pay $13,000 per acre for 1,700 acres of peppers in 2017 and then immediately breached the contract, buying no peppers. Instead, they entered a secret agreement with a new supplier, Chilico, which was started by David Tran. Huy Fong tried to get Underwood to sell its peppers to Chilico at a massive loss. Chilico, basically a shell company, had no assets. Underwood had no desire to work with them because there was a fear of non-payment.

Huy Fong sued Underwood to try to get 2016 payments back. The court sided with Underwood and awarded the farm over $23 million in compensatory and punitive damages. Huy Fong appealed and lost, with the court noting that the sriracha makers had committed fraud.

Underwood, struggling to find a use for all of its peppers, started making its own sriracha called Dragon Sriracha (although at the time of publishing, this seems to be sold out across the board). Huy Fong, meanwhile, is unable to find fresh, red peppers on a consistent basis. Because the supplies aren't fresh, that red color is lost. Sometimes they even get green peppers in. The result is a product that doesn't look the way it's supposed to, and won't taste the same, either.

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