Jamaican Scotch bonnet prices soar amid shortage, putting the squeeze on hot sauce
We have eye-watering news for those who like a dash of heat.
Jamaican Scotch bonnet peppers are the latest food to be hit by a shortage. The spicy peppers are a key ingredient in Jamaican jerk seasoning and hot sauces, which are table staples in Jamaica that are also popular in Canada and part of a growing global demand for Caribbean flavours.
But as a crop, Scotch bonnets are temperamental and susceptible to pests and disease, which can lead to local supply issues. Plus, Jamaican produce has been hammered by recent weather events, such as Hurricane Melissa in October.
"It's a very sensitive crop," Sheldon Grant, a farmer in St. Catherine Parish, Jamaica, told CBC News.
"But it is a crop that offers great potential. It's like gambling."
Grant and his wife, Shanice Bedward-Grant, have tried to grow Scotch bonnets every year since 2021, the year they launched their farm, Nature Inspired Jamaica. They've had two successful crops. The rest were devastated by pests called thrips, disease and 2024's Hurricane Beryl.
After they lost another crop to disease last year, they didn't plant them again. Instead, when Hurricane Melissa swept across the island in late October, it wiped out their sweet peppers and sorrels.
Hurricane, fuel prices drive up costsCBC News has reached out to Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining, the Jamaica Agricultural Society and the Jamaica Agricultural Commodities Regulatory Authority for data on Scotch bonnet peppers and not yet heard back.
But recent media reports speak of Jamaican Scotch bonnet peppers shortages and price increases, and say that some hot sauce makers have had to scale back production. Grant says the last hurricane wiped out entire farms, and by December, Scotch bonnet prices in local markets surged as high as $5,000 JMD per pound (about $44 Cdn).
In Toronto, several shops and distributors have told CBC News how difficult and expensive it is to get Scotch bonnets, with some saying soaring jet fuel prices are adding to shipping costs.
"Everything right now in Jamaica is expensive. Every single thing," said Andy Narine, the owner of Tamisha Trading, a Caribbean produce distributor based in Scarborough, Ont.
Jamaican Scotch bonnet peppers are barely being stocked in Toronto grocery stores, because it's much cheaper for distributors to get peppers from Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, Narine says.
An eight-pound box of Scotch bonnet peppers from the Dominican Republic might cost $30 or $40, versus $60 for a box from Jamaica, he added.
Prices have doubled over the past few years, said Joannah Grant-Bailey, the second-generation owner of Caribbean Corner grocery store in Toronto.
The peppers have also been harder to get, she said, but notes they've managed to keep their shelves stocked with Scotch bonnets thanks to her mother's longstanding relationship with their Jamaican suppliers.
As a result, Grant-Bailey says they've seen more restaurants and catering businesses ordering Scotch bonnets from Caribbean Corner in bulk. In fact, someone called the store Thursday asking to reserve three cases of Scotch bonnets, she said.
The scarcity is making it cost-prohibitive for Scotch bonnet pepper sauce companies, Grant-Bailey said, which could drive up the retail price for the condiment.
"The flavour of the Scotch bonnet pepper is so unique that you really can't combine any other type of pepper and get the same flavour profile."
'You can smell it a mile away'That's an issue Sharna Davidson, who owns Tata Hot Sauce, Take Out & Catering in Toronto, says she's experiencing first-hand.
Davidson's shop only recently reopened after a burst pipe shuttered business for three years. Because of this, when she went to start making hot sauce again, she planned to use locally grown Scotch bonnets she'd purchased several years ago and stored in her freezer.
But when she bit into one a few months ago, there was a problem: It wasn't spicy. Davidson suspects they were grown in a greenhouse, which she says isn't ideal for hot peppers.
Authentic Jamaican peppers are slightly squashed and shaped like Scottish tams (a type of hat), hence the name, Davidson said. In addition to their heat, they're known for their unique sweetness.
"You can smell it a mile away when it's cut open, the real one," she said.
When she tried a local store, the price had nearly doubled. And getting them directly from Jamaica is simply too expensive now, she said.
Davidson is hoping there will be more options by July, when she expects to see another harvest. But for now, she's mixing habanero with the Scotch bonnets she has to amp up the heat in new batches of their signature hot sauce.
But will there be a hot sauce shortage?Canada imported about $3.72 million of mixed condiments and seasonings from Jamaica in 2025, according to Statistics Canada trade data. Alongside the U.S. and U.K., Canada is one of the top export destinations for Jamaican hot pepper sauce, according to Jamaica's Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.
Canadian consumers might see some sauces get more expensive or harder to find as a result of Jamaica's crop challenges, said Michael von Massow, a food agriculture professor at Ontario's University of Guelph. But that doesn't necessarily mean we'll see a hot sauce shortage, he added.
"Specific suppliers of specific types of hot sauce are running into problems, but that doesn't mean there will be no hot sauce," von Massow said.
As for the peppers themselves, Grant, the farmer in St. Catherine, says he's seeing prices come way back down. But the challenges for farmers remain.
Demand for quality Scotch bonnet seedlings and seeds outweighs supply, and there's a waitlist for the ones sold by the government, Grant said. The crop timing is also difficult, he added, because periods of high heat or too much rain affect growth and increase the chance of thrips and disease.
It's also hard to find labourers, he said — he and Bedward-Grant farm everything themselves. All told, even when the crop is successful, the price they get for Scotch bonnets isn't always worth the cost of production.
But, like he said, it's a gamble. And one he's betting on again. They're planting two acres of Scotch bonnet in late summer, and hoping for peppers by November or December.
"You're hoping for the best conditions, for the best hurricane season, and for the best price," Grant said.
"Jamaicans use hot peppers for everything. Cooking, fish, everything."
cbc.ca
