{"id":18063,"date":"2022-03-29T13:12:47","date_gmt":"2022-03-29T20:12:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hungryhuy.com\/?p=18063"},"modified":"2022-05-06T11:52:25","modified_gmt":"2022-05-06T18:52:25","slug":"what-is-sriracha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hungryhuy.com\/what-is-sriracha\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is Sriracha Sauce? What It’s Made Of & How To Use It"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"sriracha<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It’s no secret that sriracha, a red hot sauce famous in Southeast Asian cuisine, has become a national sensation in recent years. It was made famous by Huy Fong Foods, the company that helped popularize it using sun-ripened chilies pureed into a smooth paste. Although sriracha sauce is spicy and peppery, sriracha itself is not a pepper. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be precise, it’s a blend of jalapeno, chile peppers, and other spices and ingredients. It is also commonly referred to as the “rooster sauce” because of the rooster logo on the label. Huy Fong Foods use roughly 100,000,000 pounds of red jalapeno-hybrid chile peppers annually to make sriracha, produced at a 650,000-square-foot facility in Irwindale, California. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where is sriracha from?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"sriracha<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Sriracha, pronounced as “see-rah-jah,” is just a generic term like “ketchup” or “catsup.” Si Racha, a seaside province in Thailand, is where the sauce was first invented and named after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Si” is the modern Thai translation of the Sanskrit “Sri,” which has a root meaning “old.” “Si” can also be translated into Thai as “honor” or “glory.” Racha is a Sanskrit word that means “royal” or “regal” in English.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So if you put it all together, you get a town called Si Racha, which means “The Glory of Our King.” As a result, Sriracha sauce could mean “Sauce of the Glorious Ruler” or “Sauce of the Glorious King” if taken literally. However, it simply means “sauce from the town of Si Racha” informally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanom Chakkapak, a Thai woman, is credited with inventing Sriracha sauce in 1949. All of Chakkapak’s guests became addicted to the bright, garlicky chili sauce she served with her meals. So when her friends and relatives begged her to sell the product, she decided to give it a try. It’s now known as Sriraja Panich after her sauce recipe. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, David Tran of Vietnam began making his own hot sauce in 1975. Three years later, Tran and his family fled their homeland aboard the Huy Fong, a Taiwanese freighter translating to “gathering prosperity” in English. He decided to make and sell his hot sauce after settling in California with his family, among many Southeast Asian immigrants. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Initially, he would bottle the sauce in baby food jars from his blue Chevy van. After a few years, Tran successfully opened his own manufacturing facility and produced more hot sauce. He eventually improved his recipe to create what is now the most popular Sriracha sauce worldwide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is sriracha made of?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"sriracha
ingredients label on Huy Fong Foods sriracha bottle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Many store-bought and homemade hot Sriracha sauces share a few of these basic ingredients. The sauce is surprisingly mild in terms of heat. Here’s what sriracha is typically made of:<\/p>\n\n\n\n