Underwood Ranches Vs. Huy Fong Drama - Which Sriracha Is Better

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en(upbeat guitar music)- Greetings, my beautiful lovelies.It's Emmy. How are you?It's great to see you and welcome back.Today I'm back with yetanother sriracha taste test.If you missed my previous onewhere I compared the newsriracha versus the old sriracha,be sure to check outthat video down below.I am back to compare sriracha.If you don't know this sauce.Sriracha's actuallynot a trademarked name,it's just a general name for a hot sauce.But when I think of sriracha,I think of this one.And this is the one with the green nozzle.It comes from Huy FongFoods. I grew up eating this.We always had a bottle of thisaround: had it on fried rice,noodles, eggs, and to this day,my mom reuses the empty sriracha bottlesas an oil dispenser, which Ithink is absolutely genius.If you go to my Mom's house,you'll see that she dispensesher oil when she cooksusing one of these.I love the sauce andbecause I grew up eating it,there are certain dishesthat I like to have with it,namely potatoes.I love to have home fries with this mixedwith a little bit of ketchup;stir-fried noodles...lovethis...sticky rice!I talked about this in the lastvideo I did about sriracha.And since having this as a kid,this has blown up into a bitof a cult following.There are T-shirts andeverything with the roosteror the cock sauce, some people call it,and that is sriracha.It's produced in Irwindale, California.And I never thought too much about itbecause it was just ubiquitous.The green top. We justhad it all the time.It never was a big deal to me.And then it really blew up.And then there was allthese other competitorstrying to do the plastic squeezy bottlewith different colored tops.And of the ones I tried,none of them tastedas good as this one.So, cue 2023, when therewas a sriracha shortage,you could not find this anywhere.And I knew it was a real thing when I wentto my local pho shop and nobody hadthe green capped sriracha.They had substitutes, and noneof them I felt tasted right.It was not the right combinationof flavors as the onethat I was used to until itcame back late last year.And then it was rumoredthat it did not tastelike the old formulation.And because I had an old bottle,I went and bought a new bottleand did a little comparison.So this is that newbottle that I purchased.And as you can see, in that time,we have eaten quite a bit of it.And today I'm gonna becomparing it with this sriracha.This sriracha is calledSriracha Premium Chili Sauce,and it is made by Underwood Ranches,which were, for 28 years,the almost exclusive supplierof red jalapeño peppers to Huy Fong Foods.Fascinating, right?So there's a lot of tea here.I'm gonna give you a littlesynopsis of what happened.So Huy Fong Foods sued UnderwoodRanches for $1 million,and then Underwood Ranchescounter-sued Huy Fong Foodsfor fraud and breach of contract.And Underwood Ranches wonthe judgment for $23 million.So from 1998 to 2016,over a period of 28 years,Underwood ranches supplied the bulkof the red jalapeño peppersneeded to make this sauce.Ten of those years therewas a written contract,and after that, theagreement was an oral one.But then in 2016, Huy FongFoods stopped buying peppersfrom Underwood Ranches and they losttons and tons of money.Apparently, they weresupplying about 50 truckloads,at their peak, of red peppers every dayto keep up with the demandof making this sauce.So you can imagine if 80% of their salescame from Huy Fong Foods,the company lost tons of money,and that's why they countersued.So lots of tea to spill here,but what I am most interestedin is how this sauce tastesand how it compares to the original.Now, I first learned about thisbecause I read an article thatCostco started carrying thisin a double pack, and theywere selling it for 9.95,which is a pretty good deal these days.So about $5 each.I think usually it retailsfor about $9.99...$8.99....So pretty pricey stuffcompared to the Huy Fong Foods,I remember buying it for so much cheaper,but these days it probablygoes to about the same price.I remember buying it for $3.99,but I think these days it's a lot more.Anyways, let's see what ittastes like, shall we already?Let's go ahead and get started.So here is the original.It has had this packagingsince I can remember,plastic bottle with thiskind of white printing on it,and eventually this kindof white printing comes offas I remember.So same label that I'vealways remembered translatedinto multiple languages andnutrition facts on the side.But that is the originalby Huy Fong Foods.Now, if we look at UnderwoodRanches version, their label,instead of having a roosteron it, they have a dragonand it is a stick-on labelrather than being printed onthe bottle itself.But very similar packagingin terms of diameter size,squeeze bottle nozzle.Of course, this is blackrather than the iconic green,but very similar packaging, I would say.So I bought this online,and the first thing I noticedwhen I opened the packagewas the color.This one is so vivid and red,while the Huy Fong Foods isa little bit more orange.See the difference in color?So let's compare ingredients.So Huy Fong Foods contains chili--it does not say specificallyred jalapeño. \"Chili, sugar,salt, garlic, aceticacid, potassium sorbate,and sodium bisulfite as apreservative, xanthan gum.Next, let's compare thatwith Underwood Ranches.They contain \"red jalapeño pepper.\"They say very specificallywhat kind of pepper.\"Sugar,\" ooh, \"and water.\"They include water. Thisone doesn't say water.\"Salt--\" oh, this one doesn't say salt.Oh, yes, it does.Salt, the same.Acetic acid, same.Garlic, same.Natural flavor, that's different.Xanthan gum, same.Sodium metabisulfateand or sodium bisulfite,which is a preservativeand potassium sorbate.So the list is nearly identical,except Underwood Ranchesthat say they use some water,which is not listed here,which I find unusual.Usually when you make a hot sauce,you need to add some waterto it to make it flowunless you're making a chili paste.So... Interesting, right?Let's do a taste test.I have not tasted thissauce yet. Let's open it up.So, caps here, seal in the top.Now I remember back in theold days when I would openthe bottle, it would alwayskind of burp and fartand always would squeeze out some sauce.Does this one do that? No.Oh, it smells great. (sniffs)Wow.Nice chili fragrance.Definitely smell garlic.Smells terrific. Okay,let's compare that with OG.(sniffs) Ooh, kinda similar.This one smells funkier,but pretty similarlike garlic chili combo,although this smells really chillied.Really great chili pepper smell.I'm excited about this.Okay, so first I'm goingto taste it straight up,and then I'm gonna haveit on some noodles.Let's squirt them andcompare their consistency.Let's shake 'em up, so OG.(hot sauce splattering)Yep, exactly how I remember.And this one. Wow, that is so red.So this looks maybe a little thinner.See how it's pooling a little bit more?That would be consistent to water.And this one's a little bit thicker.See how it's sittingup a little bit taller?So maybe more thickenersor just less water.But look at that color.That color is very striking.It's almost fluorescent in color.Well, this one looks alittle bit more faded.Alrighty, since this is the benchmark,let's taste that first.Here we go. Itadakimasu!Mm-hmm.Tangy, garlicy, delicious.Tastes a little metallic,but I think it's because of the spoon.Mm, delicious.Now let's compare that.The competitor.(sniffs) Smells very similar.Ooh, it's spicier.And it's different.It's spicier. I like that.The amount of heat level is spicierand more reminiscent to what Iremember sriracha being like.And that's what I enjoyed as a kid.It had a little heat toit, a good amount of heat.It wasn't just playinglip service to this ideaof being hot sauce,like there was some heatand this one has more heat.It's definitely spicier.Sweet, salty, maybe a little less garlicy.It is different than the OG.OG is garlicier,a little bit thicker and not as hot.Hmm, having said that, I like it.It's also a little bit more acidic.A little bit more tartness; less garlicky,and a nice amount of heat.Hmm, it's delicious, but itis different than sriracha.But having said that,of the sriracha dupesor competitors I've tried,this one is the best.This one is the closest,yet it is still different.But what I really likeis the amount of heat.This has a very pleasant kick to it.Much more so than this.I would say maybe a littlebit spicier than Tabasco.Completely different flavor than Tabasco.Tabasco has a deep kind of smokiness.Well, this is moregarlicy, tangy, and sweet,but not tangy like aLouisiana-style hot sauce,not like a watery vinegarkind of hot sauce.This has some substanceto it, but I like it.Alrighty, now let's try them on a dish.I'm gonna heat up some padsee ew that I picked upand we'll give it a contextual taste.Alrighty, so I've got some pad see ew,delicious rice noodle, stirfried with some vegetables,and let's try it with both of the sauces.Wow, look, again, how vivid that red is.Underwood Farms versussriracha. It's just so vivid.Alrighty, here's theoriginal. Itadakimasu!Mm-hmm.Such a great compliment to these noodles.Pad see ew is made with rice noodles,which are nice and wide andhave a nice chew to them.It has a little bit of scrambledegg in there, some soy,some beef, broccoli,delicious combination.Mm-hmm.It's a little bit sweet;goes well with the noodles.It's so interesting nowthat I have the old srirachawith the Underwood Ranches sriracha,I realized how less spicyit is than I remember.I remember putting asignificant amount like thisand it would give you apleasant kind of burn,but now it doesn't.Mmm.But still delicious.The flavor is exactly what I remember.Now, let's try Underwood Ranchesversion on the pad see ew.Mmm.Pretty good, but the heatis what I really like.Mm-hmm.It's different though. It's more tart.And less garlicy.Mmm, while this is more acidic,I feel like it's a verywell-balanced sauce.It goes really great with the noodles,love the level of heat,and it is less garlicy,which might appeal to somepeople that are lookingfor a sauce that has alittle less assertive flavor.I've met friends before whosaid they don't like srirachaso much because it tends to betoo flavorful or too garlicy.And I a hundred percent understand,and in some cases agree,it can be overpowering.And in that sense, this mightbe the sauce for a personwith those taste preferencesbecause it's less garlicy,but it still has plenty of heat.Hmm. Oh, I'm so hungry.Alrighty my lovelies, there you have it.The Underwood Ranchessriracha is delicious.I feel like it is a greatcompetitor to the Huy Fong Foods.It is different. It is not as garlicy.It is more acidic, but itis tasty, well balanced,and most importantly, in my opinion,it has a good amount of heat.While this is not as hot as I remember,and that was only becauseI had this to taste,I'm like, \"Oh yeah, thisisn't very hot at all.\"But if you don't like that spicy kick,maybe then this is where to go.So in my short little lifespan,this still is the original sriracha,but I would buy this as well.I really like thewell-balanced nature of itand the level of heat.Alrighty my lovelies,thanks so much for watching.I hope you enjoyed that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media,like this video, subscribe.And I shall see you in the next one.Toodaloo.Take care. Bye.(upbeat classical music)All right, can I finish my lunch please?Oh my gosh, I'm so hungry.My Rolodex of memoriesand experience still says this is the one,because I've had somuch of this in my life.You know what I mean?Mm-hmm. (munching)(Emmy giggles)(plate and chopsticks clang)Mmm.\n"