Sriracha is a beloved hot sauce made by Huy Fong Inc., a company based out of California.
There has been an ongoing and massive shortage of Sriracha in grocery stores because Huy Fong claim they don’t have enough peppers to make it due to California droughts which has led to people selling the sauce for hundreds of dollars online.
However, Chef Vince Capitano of Island Island Chef Pepper Co. says that the company lacks the peppers due to short-changing their pepper farmers.
“There’s no actual shortage of peppers,” Capitano told Victoria Buzz. “They got greedy.”
“It’s all capitalistic, corporate greed from that company, trying to shave money off the workers and costing them billions because now they’ve created their own shortage.”
Chef Capitano has since risen to the occasion and created a Sriracha that he says is better and can be found at select retailers and grocers around Greater Victoria.
“The reason we created our Sriracha is we found there was enough need and we wanted to make a Sriracha that is locally produced from local peppers with farm partnerships that benefit the Vancouver Island community,” Capitano said.
“It’s fair-trade Sriracha, if you will,” he laughed.
One thing that sets his product apart from the competition is his use of Fresno peppers, rather than the peppers Huy Fong uses in their hot sauce.
“[Huy Fong] uses red jalapenos and serranoes,” Chef Capitano said. “I’m using Fresnos, because that’s just a signature pepper that my company likes to use.”
“[Fresnos] are like a red jalapeño variant that’s a little fruitier.”
Capitano says the Fresnos make his Sriracha hotter, a bit fruitier and overall better than Huy Fong’s sauce.
Island Chef Pepper Co. products may cost slightly more than the big names, but that cost goes towards paying local, Vancouver Island-based farmers fair wages and working toward making their products entirely locally produced.
At the moment, due to high demand Capitano uses one farmer in Tennessee when he has exhausted his local supply.
“My ultimate goal is to make our product 100% island produced,” Capitano explained. “But at the same time I have to keep making sure that we have consistent streams of product that meet our standards.”
“That will mean until we plateau or find a solution where we basically have like, 17 farms only growing peppers for us, during our shoulder season when we can’t grow anymore its going to be supplied from the States.”
Chef Capitano has carefully crafted 12 different sauces, three of which are award-winning hot sauces. He also has several spice blends and some jellies and spreads available through Island Chef Pepper Co. and around town.
In the near future, Capitano will be collaborating once again with Big Wheel Burger to create a Buffalo chicken sandwich using his sauce and spice blend.
Island Chef Pepper Co.’s Sriracha can be found online and at a few locations in Greater Victoria including Market on Yates, Market of Millstream, Glenwood Meats and My-Chosen Café.
