A shortage of Scotch bonnet peppers has driven up the cost of Caribbean hot sauce.
Scotch bonnets are a temperamental crop; the most recent harvest was devastated by hurricanes in Jamaica — a key producer — as well as disease and pests.
The fiery yellow pepper’s price rose tenfold after one storm, a hot-sauce producer told the BBC.
Hot sauce is “as pervasive as ketchup in the US,” and one firm alone exported the equivalent of 500 shipping containers full of its product, the large majority to the US.
The shortage may be lasting: Some producers are turning to hardier crops such as sweet potatoes, although manufacturers are funding genetics research to engineer more resilient strains of Scotch bonnets.