The Brief

Now that the anxiety-inducing Sriracha shortage is over, and the bottles are back on the shelves, we’ve been noticing fans of the famous red chili sauce expressing concerns online. They say there’s a difference in taste between the pre-shortage bottles, and the bottles that are now on the shelves.

Some Instagram users commenting on the taste of the post-shortage Sriracha under a photo from the account @asiansneverdie

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@asiansneverdie on Instagram

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Some say it doesn’t have as full of a flavor, has a slightly stale aftertaste, and just doesn’t seem like the Sriracha they know and love.

We, as hungry journalists (and not food scientists, keep this in mind… for later), and hometown stans of the pride of Irwindale, wanted to take the people’s words and put them to the test.

So, we bought a new bottle of the sauce, and borrowed a bottle that had been sitting in our colleague Briana Lee’s fridge since the before times.

For our taste test, we wanted to answer the question — do current Sriracha and pre-shortage Sriracha taste different?

Sriracha taste test materials

We poured each of the sauces into a row of clear disposable condiment cups and hid the bottles from the eight LAist colleagues who volunteered for the taste test, including the author.

We also brought a bag of organic yellow corn tortilla chip rounds from Trader Joes that the participants could use to taste the sauces or cleanse their palates in between.

Once all of the participants gathered around the taste test table in the LAist newsroom, we gave everyone one cup of each of the sauces.

The clear condiment cups of sauces each participant was given for the taste test.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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When everyone was set up, we asked them to take their first taste of the sauce on their right. That was current-day Sriracha.

Current-day Sriracha

“It’s not spicy,” said editorial intern Anne To immediately after taking a bite.

Others said it tasted light, sweet, and more “ketchupy.”

“I’m really surprised, I feel like it really doesn’t taste like what I remember Sriracha to taste like,” said engagement producer Stefanie Ritoper.

Editor Karina Gacad felt like she had to keep trying the sauce (or maybe she was very hungry — it was lunchtime). She said this version tasted more like Sriracha the more bites she took.

“Just keep eating more of it,” Gacad added.

Pre-shortage Sriracha 

After the first sauce was sampled, we asked everyone to take a sip of water or eat more tortilla chips to get the taste out of their mouths.

Once our palates were clear, the participants took their first taste of the sauce on the left. That was the pre-shortage Sriracha.

The group had a visceral reaction.

“What did I just put in my mouth?” said managing editor Jason Wells. “This is not even close to the first one.”

“Now I’m super confused… this definitely does not taste like Sriracha," said senior reporter Elly Yu.

“It is significantly spicier than the first one," added the author.

“I feel like I’m being pranked right now,” Wells said.

The group also pointed out the difference in the color of the sauces. The pre-shortage sauce was closer to a deep burgundy while the post-shortage version seemed much more red.

What was going on?

It was then we realized we had a problem. We hadn’t been as rigorous in our methodology as we should have been — as I said, we’re journalists, not food scientists after all.

While the current-day bottle had been sealed before we used it, the pre-shortage bottle had not. It had been opened and sitting in Brianna's fridge for, it turned out, two years. Ahem.

The fact that it had been opened for so long had clearly changed the flavor. We realized we were no longer comparing like with like, so in the spirit of fairness, we declared the taste test null and void (much to our disappointment).

But we were still left pondering — what exactly had happened to the open Sriracha bottle while it had been in the fridge? How had the taste been affected?

So we asked Bryan Le, a food scientist from Pacific Lutheran University.

Sauce storage 101

Le said because the bottle had been opened and the seal broken, it had allowed oxygen to enter, which creates a lot of challenges.

Le said the good thing about Sriracha and most other hot sauces is that they have a lot of vinegar in them, and they are also pre-fermented, which helps them hold off a lot of spoilage and pathogens.

However, he said there are some very resistant microorganisms that can survive in these really acidic conditions, which often produce savory notes that can come across as off-putting.

“If you've got something that's already opened, there's not a huge concern in terms of food safety, but you've got all these chemical reactions occurring and these fermentation processes occurring as well,” Le added.

Once a bottle has been opened, Le said after about six months is when you might start to notice flavor defects (reminder: ours had been open 4x longer than that).

Overall thoughts

The two lines of clear condiment cups each filled with a different version of Sriracha for the LAist taste test.

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Makenna Sievertson

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LAist

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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that almost everyone in the taste test was able to correctly identify the old sauce and the new sauce because of the noticeable differences in color and taste.

But the most interesting finding in all of this — coming out of the test, no one could quite remember what the sauce actually tasted like originally.

The test plunged a few people into an almost existential crisis at the table in the middle of the newsroom as they wondered to themselves – what is “real Sriracha” anyway?

Company’s stance on the sauce

We spoke to Huy Fong Foods, the company behind the sauce. It turns out that there may be no "real Sriracha" after all.

While it insisted in a statement that the recipe doesn’t change, the company did say the taste may vary with every batch.

“We would like to note that because we use fresh chili peppers in all our sauces from various sources, there will occasionally be variations on our final products depending on the chili harvest time and place it was harvested,” the statement added. “Some batches can vary in color, level of spiciness and even consistency.”

So, dear internet, you all may be right. Or wrong. Who knows. Just don't ask us to run a double-blind clinical test at any point in the near future.

For the last three years, the record store and music venue Healing Force of the Universe has been operating on a sleepy street corner not far from Pasadena City College. Nearby businesses include a shoe repair store, a nail salon and several auto shops.

“We're kind of in a dead corner,” owner Austin Manuel said. “No offense if anybody lives here, but not a very foot-trafficked area, kind of a hard place to have a store.”

In spite of the location, Manuel said Healing Force has become a home away from home for musicians and music fans. One of them is Bobby Bradford, a jazz trumpet legend who lost his house and personal archive in the Eaton Fire. He performs regularly at the venue. (Healing Force has also partnered with LAist on fire recovery events.)

Its current location is set to close this month, but Manuel and his team are already raising funds to cover a move to another space: G-Son Studios in Atwater Village. The repurposed ballroom was the Beastie Boys' home base when they recorded their classic albums Check Your Head and Ill Communication. Run-DMC and Biz Markie stopped by at one point, and Beck also laid down tracks for his album Odelay there.

Inside Healing Force's space in Pasadena.

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The vibe

Healing Force sells records, of course, but these days it’s more of a nighttime performance space. Manuel said he wants people to feel comfortable striking up conversations after a show.

“I grew up in the church in the South, and I was like, ‘How do I design this so that it feels like a Southern church lady could come in here and feel welcome?’" Manuel said. “ I didn't want it to be too cool.  I wanted it to feel kind of suburban in a way.”

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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Though the name might call to mind a cult slogan — and Manuel said they lean into that aesthetic on purpose — it’s actually a reference to the 1970 album Music Is the Healing Force of the Universe by saxophonist Albert Ayler.

At the venue, “people can kind of get … into a meditative zone,” Manuel said. “After the [January 2025] fires, it felt so good to come back together in this room and feel the healing of community.”

Healing Force's stage setup.

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Kevin Tidmarsh/LAist

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The performances

The shows Healing Force puts on share a common thread: They’re meant to promote peace and relaxation, as well as deep, careful listening on the hi-fi sound system. But they’re an eclectic mix of genres. On one night, you might see L.A. spiritual jazz band Phi-Psonics, who turned a residency at the venue into a live album, Expanding to One.

On another night, you might catch a spaced-out electronic set, an up-and-coming singer-songwriter or a group of session musicians who’ve played with the likes of Paul Simon, Elton John and Lucinda Williams.

About the fundraiser

With the new space on Glendale Boulevard, Manuel said, Healing Force would triple its capacity for concerts, get a bar space and be closer to other venues in Northeast L.A.

“If 1,000 people gave $25, we would get there,” Manuel said – though he also said most people have been giving more.

You can read more about the fundraiser and donate at Healing Force’s GoFundMe.

See the Pasadena space before it closes

The venue is still open at 1200 E. Walnut Street and is holding events through this Halloween weekend. You can see their events calendar on their website.

The racist DNA of Jim Crow discrimination may be embedded in your housing documents.

The language in housing documents that restricts sale or use of a property only to a person of the white race is called a “restrictive covenant,” and in California the practice goes back to the 19th century and continued into the mid-20th century. While housing discrimination persists, the practice was found unconstitutional in 1948.

California counties are reporting mixed progress in meeting the demands of a 2021 law to excise the language from property records.

According to Sylvia Manzo, deputy recorder in the Orange County Clerk-Recorder’s office, the county finished the job in March of this year, removing racist language from more than 27,000 property documents with the help of computer software.

This 1924 property document from Bakersfield includes racist language limiting use of the property in question to people of "the white or Caucasian race."

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Screenshot from CSU Bakersfield

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L.A. County is far from done. It says that with the help of an outside company hired in 2024, 50 million pages will be examined yearly, which would take about 10 years to finish the job.

Public agencies could use the public’s help.

Language examples

Here’s a 1924 example from a property in Bakersfield. The text reads, “That the lands herein conveyed shall never, at any time, be sold to or rented to or occupied by any person not of the white or Caucasian race.”

Or this language from a 1936 document relating to a Costa Mesa property: “That said premises shall not be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased to, or occupied by any person of African, Mexican, or Asiatic descent.”

How to get it taken out

The Restrictive Covenant Modification Form is at the heart of the effort to remove the racist language from housing documents. Each county has its own process. Some charge a fee; others don’t. Some require a notary certification for the signature; others don’t.

L.A. County:

Registrar-Recorder officials recommend these steps:

• Highlight or underline the unlawful provision on the recorded document
• Complete the Restrictive Covenant Modification Form
• Submit the form and the recorded document by email: RCM@rrcc.lacounty.gov or in person at the Norwalk headquarters at 12400 Imperial Highway in Norwalk
• Mail instructions are here.

Orange County:

The Orange County spokesperson says there may be some properties not caught by its software and urges the public to report them. Here’s the form

Riverside County:

Here’s the Riverside County form

San Bernardino County:

Here’s the San Bernardino County form

San Diego County:

Here’s the San Diego County form

Santa Barbara County:

Here’s the Santa Barbara County form

Ignoring the racist language in property documents, some say, reinforces the legacy of segregation, while taking steps to remove restrictive covenant language is a way individuals and organizations can repudiate policies that sought to discriminate.