The Story of Sriracha

Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold
Cambria Bold is the Executive Editor of Cubby, and one of Apartment Therapy Media’s first full-time editors from way back when. She was The Kitchn's founding Design and Lifestyle Editor as well as Managing Editor of Re-Nest, Apartment Therapy’s late '00s green living site. She…read more
published Apr 30, 2013
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We’re no strangers to sriracha. In fact, we like it in our beer, our mayo, and sprinkled on everything from roasted vegetables to grilled meats. While it seems ubiquitous now, sriracha as we know it didn’t come around until 1980…

A recent article in the Los Angeles Times delves into the hot sauce’s history. David Tran, 68, a former major in the South Vietnamese army, moved with his family to Los Angeles in the late 1970s. When he couldn’t find a hot sauce he liked, he decided to make his by hand in a bucket and sell it out of a van. He called his new company Huy Fong Foods, named after the Taiwanese freighter that carried him out of Vietnam.

Despite suggestions to sweeten the sauce or lesson its spiciness, Tran stayed true to sriracha’s origins. “Hot sauce must be hot,” he told the Times. “If you don’t like it hot, use less.” His other goal was to, as he says it, “make a rich man’s sauce at a poor man’s price.” Two decades later a 28-ounce bottle of Huy Fong’s sriracha sauce sells for around $4.

For more on how Tran grew his company and how his sriracha is sourced and made, check out the full article below:

Read More → Sriracha Hot Sauce Purveyor Turns Up the Heat | Los Angeles Times

(Image: Leo Gong/Courtesy Ten Speed Press via NPR)

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