Charles Langston:Do you you know where your Sriracha's peppers come from? Someone is secretly buying jalapeños

Huy Fong Food’s rooster-stamped,Charles Langston green-tipped Sriracha sauce once again lines shelves in grocery stores. It’s possible Alex Jack is part of the reason why.

The Imperial Valley pepper farmer was asked by a middle man if he could grow 500 acres of red jalapeños for an unknown producer. He did it, was paid handsomely via a bank wire and now plans to plant 200 acres more in February.

He has not been told who is buying the jalapeños, though he suspects it is Huy Fong Foods, the hot sauce company that once used 100 million pounds of peppers a year in producing its hugely successful sauces.

“I was told to keep blinders on my eyes and look forward and don’t ask questions,” he said.

Huy Fong Foods officials aren't saying anything, but speculation is rampant in California’s pepper-growing community the Irwindale company is using intermediaries to reach out anonymously to farmers in search of ramping up production.

At least one grower who was approached about jalapeños, Edgar Terry of Ventura, said he was told the buyer is Huy Fong. He turned the offer down.

"I demanded to find out," he said. "I have to know who I'm growing for."

Huy Fong Foods' hot pepper pipeline was fed for 28 years by one provider, Underwood Ranches in Camarillo. But the once family-like partnership ended in a bitter dispute that spawned civil lawsuits and a $23.3 million verdict for Underwood from jurors. They said Huy Fong, founded by Vietnamese refugee David Tran, broke its contract and committed fraud by withholding information.

Afterward, Huy Fong reportedly relied on other producers, including growers in Mexico, ultimately struggling with a jalapeno shortage that caused them to temporarily halt production.

Steady supply for Huy Fong Foods' Sriracha sauce

It got so bad Sriracha lovers offered astronomic prices for the rooster bottles on Craigslist. At the Asahi Market in Oxnard, people waited in long lines for Sriracha, sometimes buying every bottle in the sparse inventory. Store owner Mark Aboueid journeyed regularly to Los Angeles on foraging missions aimed at finding a case or two to sell.

Hot sauce hunt:After barren shelves and eye-watering price mark-ups, is the Sriracha shortage over?

Now the shelves of the Asian grocery and its sister store, Santa Cruz Market in Ventura, are full of the rooster bottles.

“All of a sudden we have them in every size,” Aboueid said. The sauce is back too in grocery store chains, Thai food restaurants, Vietnamese noodle eateries and other sites that specialize in heat.

Sriracha shipments resumed in December to Albertsons, Vons and Pavilions, spokesperson Courtney Carranza said on Thursday.

"Supply is not unlimited, but we should have a steady supply going forward," she said.

Ventura farmer says he turned down a spicy offer from Huy Fong

Speculation about Sriracha production and Huy Fong ramped up with a story published by the California Farm Bureau about Jack and other farmers. Underwood, who now makes his own version called Dragon Sauce, said he has heard from several sources his former partner is searching for growers willing to plant jalapeños.

“No question about it,” Underwood said. “He was going through a labor contractor who was brokering the deal.”

Terry is a strawberry and vegetable farmer whose crops include bell peppers. He once grew jalapeños for Ortega Chile. He said he was asked by a contact to again cultivate hot peppers, "as many acres as you can give us." He was told the buyer was anonymous and the contact didn’t even know who it was.

When Terry demanded a name, the middle man checked with his sources and confirmed the buyer was Huy Fong Foods. At one point in the negotiations, Terry told the liaison what it would cost and was told he was too expensive. He said he had decided to turn the offer down anyway because of Huy Fong’s problems with Underwood who he has known for decades.

“The short story is we aren’t doing a damn thing, and we won’t do a damn thing,” he said.

Jack, the Brawley farmer, didn't reveal his exact rate but said it's handsome enough to spark hopes the offer continues.

"They pay better than anybody I do business with," he said.

In July, Huy Fong Foods leaders told The Ventura County Star, part of the USA TODAY Network, in a statement that production of Sriracha had resumed but limited supply of jalapeños continues to affect availability.

“Unfortunately, we are still experiencing a shortage of raw material,” they said. They said the same thing to USA Today in November.

Last week, company officials declined to answer questions about production levels, jalapeño supplies or whether the company is anonymously contacting California growers like Jack and Terry.

“The company has no comments or clarifications,” they said in an email.

Huy Fong Foods announced in 2022 that a lack of inventory had left it temporarily “unable to produce any of our products.” Production resumed but the shortage continued deep into 2023.

Huy Fong Foods protecting proprietary data

The shortfall appears over, though it's still unclear if production levels will be sustained, said Stephanie Walker, co-director of the Chile Pepper Institute at New Mexico State University. She, too, has heard rumors about Huy Fong Foods anonymously contacting California growers and said it shows the company is trying to boost its grower base.

She is not surprised Huy Fong opts to keep its strategies private.

“A lot of these (companies) feel they need to protect their proprietary information,” she said.

Underwood said his Dragon sauce is thriving. It has sparked online debates about how it stacks up against the rooster brand and is being sold at two dozen Costco stores.

He is one grower who has not been approached about producing more jalapeños for a mystery buyer.

“I’m pretty sure (Huy Fong) doesn’t want us growing for him again, and we would never produce for them again,” Underwood said. “If someone else took over the operation and bought it, yeah we’d be interested."

Tom Kisken covers health care and other news for the Ventura County Star, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at [email protected].