(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 yet
another sriracha taste test. If you missed my previous one where I compared the new
sriracha versus the old sriracha, be sure to check out
that video down below. I am back to compare sriracha. If you don't know this sauce. Sriracha's actually not a trademark 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 Fong
Foods. I grew up eating this. We always had a bottle of this
around, had it on fried rice, noodles, eggs, and to this day, my mom reuses the empty sriracha bottles as an oil dispenser, which I
think is absolutely genius. If you go to my mom's house, you'll see that she dispenses
her oil when she cooks using one of these. I love the sauce and
because I grew up eating it, there are certain dishes
that I like to have with it, namely potatoes, I love to have home fries with this mixed with a little bit of ketchup, Stir fried noodles, love this sticky rice. I talked about this in the last
video I did about sriracha. And since having this as a kid,
this has blown up into a bit of a cult following. There are T-shirts and
everything with the rooster or the cock sauce, some people call it, and that is sriracha. It's produced in Irwindale, California. And I never thought too much about it because it was just ubiquitous. The green top. We just
had it all the time. It never was a big deal to me.
And then it really blew up. And then there was all
these other competitors trying to do the plastic squeezy bottle with different colored tops. And of the ones I tried,
none of them tasted as good as this one. So Q 2023, when there
was a sriracha shortage, you could not find this anywhere. And I knew it was a real thing when I went to my local pho shop and nobody had the green capped sriracha. They had substitutes, and none
of them I felt tasted right. It was not the right combination
of flavors as the one that I was used to until it
came back late last year. And then it was rumored
that it did not taste like the old formulation. And because I had an old bottle, I went and bought a new bottle
and did a little comparison. So this is that new
bottle that I purchased. And as you can see, in that time, we have eaten quite a bit of it. And today I'm gonna be
comparing it with this sriracha. This sriracha is called
Sriracha Premium Chili Sauce, and it is made by Underwood Ranches, which were for 28 years, the
almost exclusive supplier of red jalapeno peppers to Huy Fong Foods. Fascinating, right? So there's a lot of tea here. I'm gonna give you a little
synopsis of what happened. So Huy Fong Foods sued Underwood
Ranches for $1 million, and then Underwood Ranches
counter sued Huy Fong Foods for fraud and breach of contract. And Underwood Ranches won
the judgment for $23 million. So from 1998 to 2016,
over a period of 28 years, Underwood ranches supplied the bulk of the red jalapeno peppers
needed to make this sauce. 10 of those years there
was a written contract, and after that, the
agreement was an oral one. But then in 2016, Huy Fong
Foods stopped buying peppers from Underwood Ranches and they lost tons and tons of money. Apparently, they were
supplying about 50 truckloads at their peak of red peppers every day to keep up with the demand
of making this sauce. So you can imagine if 80% of their sales came 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 interested
in is how this sauce taste and how it compares to the original. Now, I first learned about this because I read an article that
Costco started carrying this in a double pack, and they
were selling it for 9.95, which is a pretty good deal these days. So about $5 each. I think usually it retails
for about 9.99, 8.99. So pretty pricey stuff
compared to the Huy Fong Foods, I remember buying it for so much cheaper, but these days it probably
goes 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 it
tastes like, shall we already? Let's go ahead and get started.
So here is the original. It has had this packaging
since I can remember, plastic bottle with this
kind of white printing on it, and eventually this kind
of white printing comes off as I remember. So same label that I've
always remembered translated into multiple languages and
nutrition facts on the side. But that is the original
by Huy Fong Foods. Now, if we look at Underwood
Ranches version, their label, instead of having a rooster
on it, they have a dragon and it is a stick on label
rather than being printed on the bottle itself. But very similar packaging
in terms of diameter size, squeeze bottle nozzle. Of course, this is black
rather than the iconic green, but very similar packaging, I would say. So I bought this online, and the first thing I noticed
when I opened the package was the color. This one is so vivid and red, while the Huy Fong Foods is
a little bit more orange. See the difference in color? So let's compare ingredients, so Huy Fong Foods contains chili. It does not say specifically
red jalapeno, chili, sugar, salt, garlic, acetic
acid, potassium sorbate, and sodium bisulfite as a
preservative, xanthan gum. Next, compare that with Underwood Ranches. They contain red jalapeno pepper. They say very specifically
what kind of pepper. Sugar, ooh, and water. They include water. This
one 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 metabisulfate
and or sodium bisulfite, which is a preservative
and potassium sorbate. So the list is nearly identical, except Underwood Ranches
that 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 water
to it to make it flow unless you're making a chili paste. So interesting, right? Let's do a taste test. I have not tasted this
sauce yet. Let's open it up. So, caps here, seal in the top. Now I remember back in the
old days when I would open the bottle, it would always
kind of burp and fart and 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 similar like garlic chili combo, although this smells really chillied. Really great chili pepper smell. I'm excited about this. Okay, so first I'm going
to taste it straight up, and then I'm gonna have
it on some noodles. Let's squirt them and
compare 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 sitting
up a little bit taller? So maybe more thickeners
or just less water. But look at that color.
That color is very striking. It's almost fluorescent in color. Well, this one looks a
little bit more faded. Alrighty, since this is the benchmark, let's taste that first. Here we go. (speaks in Japanese) 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 spicier and more reminiscent to what I
remember sriracha being like. And that's what I enjoyed as a kid. It had a little heat to
it, a good amount of heat. It wasn't just playing
lip service to this idea of being hot sauce,
like there was some heat and this one has more heat. It's definitely spicier. Sweet, salty, maybe a little less garlicy. It is different than the OG. OG is garlicer, 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 nice amount of heat. Hmm, it's delicious, but it
is different than sriracha. But having said that,
of the sriracha dupes or competitors I've tried,
this one is the best. This one is the closest,
yet it is still different. But what I really like
is the amount of heat. This has a very pleasant kick to it. Much more so than this. I would say maybe a little
bit spicier than Tabasco. Completely different flavor than Tabasco. Tabasco has a deep kind of smokiness. Well, this is more
garlicy, tangy, and sweet, but not tangy like a
Louisiana style hot sauce, not like a watery vinegar
kind of hot sauce. This has some substance
to it, but I like it. Alrighty, now let's try them on a dish. I'm gonna heat up some Pad
See Ew that I picked up and we'll give it a contextual taste. Alrighty, so I've got some Pad See Ew, delicious rice noodle, stir
fried with some vegetables, and let's try it with both of the sauces. Wow, look, again, how vivid that red is. Underwood farms versus
sriracha. It's just so vivid. Alrighty, here's the
original. (speaks in Japanese) Mm-hmm. Such a great compliment to these noodles. Pad See Ew is made with rice noodles, which are nice and wide and
have a nice chew to them. It has a little bit of scrambled
egg in there, some soy, some beef, broccoli,
delicious combination. Mm-hmm. A little bit sweet goes
well with the noodles. It's so interesting now
that I have the old sriracha with the Underwood Ranches sriracha, I realized how less spicy
it is than I remember. I remember putting a
significant amount like this and it would give you a
pleasant kind of burn, but now it doesn't. Mmm. But still delicious. The flavor is exactly what I remember. Now, let's try Underwood Ranches version on the Pad See Ew. Mmm. Pretty good, but the heat
is 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 very
well balanced sauce. It goes really great with the noodles, love the level of heat,
and it is less garlicy, which might appeal to some
people that are looking for a sauce that has a
little less assertive flavor. I've met friends before who
said they don't like sriracha so much because it tends to be
too flavorful or too garlicy. And I a hundred percent understand, and in some cases agree,
it can be overpowering. And in that sense, this might
be the sauce for a person with those taste preferences
because 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 Ranches
sriracha is delicious. I feel like it is a great
competitor to the Huy Fong Foods. It is different. It is not as garlicy. It is more acidic, but it
is 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 because
I had this to taste, I'm like, "Oh yeah, this
isn'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 the well
balanced nature of it and the level of heat. Alrighty my lovelies,
thanks so much for watching. I hope you enjoy that one.
I hope you learn 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 memories and experience still says this is the one, because I've had so
much of this in my life. You know what I mean? Mm-hmm. (munching) (Emmy giggles)
(plate and chopsticks clang) Mmm.
