Salsa, Some Like It Hot
Buoyed by America’s fascination with Southwestern flavors and a flood of homegrown products with catchy names, salsa has become the king of condiments, outselling ketchup, barbecue sauce, and mustard.
The basic ingredients of tomato salsa—tomatoes, peppers and onions—make salsa versatile enough to use in soups, stews, sauces and marinades, though most people use it as a dip for tortilla chips. Since I don’t eat any fried potatoes, I prefer to use celery to scoop up this wonderful combination of Mediterranean vegetables. I also include it in my chili and beef-vegetable soup.
With manufacturers and entrepreneurs introducing an average of more than 100 new salsas a year, it can be hard for a salsa lover to keep up, so Consumer Reports did it for you. In their search, they found the nation’s best salsas turned up big differences in taste and texture. They found one product that was almost as good as the salsas made from their own recipe. But the worst were so bad that one taster almost gave up on the task. Commercial salsas don’t usually match freshly made. Lower-rated products were too watery, too tart, or over-processed. However, they did come up with one excellent salsa, Zapita Fire Roasted Salsa Roja, which is sold in more than half the states and five that were good salsas. Although most tested salsas were labeled medium, several left taster reaching for something to put out the fire.
Most salsas are fat-free and add vegetables to your diet. Their tomatoes contain lycopene which studies suggest might help prevent prostate, lung and ovarian cancers. But some are high in sodium: a half-cup of Tostitos or Herdez has more than 1,000 milligrams (the recommended daily limit is 2,300 mg). Green Mountain Gringo, rated very good, has only 360 mg.
Far From Old Mexico: Despite the little sombreros and cactus that parade across labels, most salsas are not from south of the border. Pace foods made a long running gag of competitors’ origins in TV commercials featuring "cowboys poking fun at brands made in New York City. In fact, the big brands are made by big corporations. Pace is based in Texas but is owned by Campbell’s Soup, head-quartered in Camden, N.J. Texas-based Frito-Lay makes Tostitos, but it’s owned by PepsiCo of Purchase, N.Y. And Chi-Chi’s is made by meatpacker Hormel, head-quartered in Austin, that’s Austin, Minnesota.
In Mexico, salsa can be anything from a simple Pico de Gallo, consisting of fresh chopped vegetables and herbs, to a complex mole, made of spices cooked with fruit, chocolate and tomatoes. In the U.S., most salsas are based on tomatoes. That said, they can be thin or thick, sweet or tangy, chunky or smooth, made with fresh vegetables or roasted. Some contain tomatoes, onions and jalapeno peppers, the latter of which predominated; others were spiked with olives, lime juice, cumin, corn or carrots. Less common ingredients may include mango, cheese and plantains. The best had fresh, balanced flavors with no hint of over processing, which can make it hard to tell ingredients apart. Only the Zapata had much of the flavor and character of salsas made from scratch. Others didn’t meet the tasters standards because they lacked any semblance of just-made taste.
Zapata’s Fire Roasted Salsa Roja (treeoflife.com) was listed as "Excellent" with smoky complex flavors of crushed roasted vegetables and chipotle chillies. The others rated "Very Good" were described as chunky, with complex flavors, crisp vegetables, and extras such as olives, cumin, carrots and corn. The "Very Good" category included: Jardine’s, Desert Pepper Trading Company, Green Mountain Gringe, Guiltless Gourmet and Joe T. Garcia’s. Listed as "good" were: Pace, Tostitos, Herdez Salsa, and those rated "Fair" were: Santa Barbara and Chi-Chi’s Fiesta Thick & Chunky. The ratings were based on blind taste tests by a trained sensory panel.
Consider The Heat: The capsaicinoids in hot peppers produce a burning feeling in the mouth, watery eyes, runny nose, and perspiration. The peppers used in many salsas are jalapenos, which are fairly low on the Scoville Heat Scale, a measure of a pepper’s potency. Bell peppers have no heat, while habaneros are hottest, with 200,000 to 300,000 Scoville heat units. Jalapenos register about 2,500 to 5,000 units.
I found the ingredients very much suited to my Mediterranean tastebuds. With tomato paste, onions, green peppers and diced tomatoes, salsa looked like an excellent prospect for a soup additive or celery dip. I found no "High Fructose Corn Syrup" and the sodium content was 7 percent, while sugar content was only 2 grams for a 2 tablespoon serving. Only 10 calories and none of them from fat. I bought the Casa Mamita Thick & Chunky Salsa "Mild" and paid $1.49 for a 24 ounce (1 lb 8 oz) 680g bottle at a chain called "Aldi." Aldi Foods are "bare essentials" markets with one person scanning and you packing. You pay a quarter for the use of the cart, but it is refunded upon return to the cart bay. Some food can be healthy eating with just a slight change in their usage. As I said, I like to scoop up the salsa with a wide piece of celery stalk.
The basic ingredients of tomato salsa—tomatoes, peppers and onions—make salsa versatile enough to use in soups, stews, sauces and marinades, though most people use it as a dip for tortilla chips. Since I don’t eat any fried potatoes, I prefer to use celery to scoop up this wonderful combination of Mediterranean vegetables. I also include it in my chili and beef-vegetable soup.
With manufacturers and entrepreneurs introducing an average of more than 100 new salsas a year, it can be hard for a salsa lover to keep up, so Consumer Reports did it for you. In their search, they found the nation’s best salsas turned up big differences in taste and texture. They found one product that was almost as good as the salsas made from their own recipe. But the worst were so bad that one taster almost gave up on the task. Commercial salsas don’t usually match freshly made. Lower-rated products were too watery, too tart, or over-processed. However, they did come up with one excellent salsa, Zapita Fire Roasted Salsa Roja, which is sold in more than half the states and five that were good salsas. Although most tested salsas were labeled medium, several left taster reaching for something to put out the fire.
Most salsas are fat-free and add vegetables to your diet. Their tomatoes contain lycopene which studies suggest might help prevent prostate, lung and ovarian cancers. But some are high in sodium: a half-cup of Tostitos or Herdez has more than 1,000 milligrams (the recommended daily limit is 2,300 mg). Green Mountain Gringo, rated very good, has only 360 mg.
Far From Old Mexico: Despite the little sombreros and cactus that parade across labels, most salsas are not from south of the border. Pace foods made a long running gag of competitors’ origins in TV commercials featuring "cowboys poking fun at brands made in New York City. In fact, the big brands are made by big corporations. Pace is based in Texas but is owned by Campbell’s Soup, head-quartered in Camden, N.J. Texas-based Frito-Lay makes Tostitos, but it’s owned by PepsiCo of Purchase, N.Y. And Chi-Chi’s is made by meatpacker Hormel, head-quartered in Austin, that’s Austin, Minnesota.
In Mexico, salsa can be anything from a simple Pico de Gallo, consisting of fresh chopped vegetables and herbs, to a complex mole, made of spices cooked with fruit, chocolate and tomatoes. In the U.S., most salsas are based on tomatoes. That said, they can be thin or thick, sweet or tangy, chunky or smooth, made with fresh vegetables or roasted. Some contain tomatoes, onions and jalapeno peppers, the latter of which predominated; others were spiked with olives, lime juice, cumin, corn or carrots. Less common ingredients may include mango, cheese and plantains. The best had fresh, balanced flavors with no hint of over processing, which can make it hard to tell ingredients apart. Only the Zapata had much of the flavor and character of salsas made from scratch. Others didn’t meet the tasters standards because they lacked any semblance of just-made taste.
Zapata’s Fire Roasted Salsa Roja (treeoflife.com) was listed as "Excellent" with smoky complex flavors of crushed roasted vegetables and chipotle chillies. The others rated "Very Good" were described as chunky, with complex flavors, crisp vegetables, and extras such as olives, cumin, carrots and corn. The "Very Good" category included: Jardine’s, Desert Pepper Trading Company, Green Mountain Gringe, Guiltless Gourmet and Joe T. Garcia’s. Listed as "good" were: Pace, Tostitos, Herdez Salsa, and those rated "Fair" were: Santa Barbara and Chi-Chi’s Fiesta Thick & Chunky. The ratings were based on blind taste tests by a trained sensory panel.
Consider The Heat: The capsaicinoids in hot peppers produce a burning feeling in the mouth, watery eyes, runny nose, and perspiration. The peppers used in many salsas are jalapenos, which are fairly low on the Scoville Heat Scale, a measure of a pepper’s potency. Bell peppers have no heat, while habaneros are hottest, with 200,000 to 300,000 Scoville heat units. Jalapenos register about 2,500 to 5,000 units.
I found the ingredients very much suited to my Mediterranean tastebuds. With tomato paste, onions, green peppers and diced tomatoes, salsa looked like an excellent prospect for a soup additive or celery dip. I found no "High Fructose Corn Syrup" and the sodium content was 7 percent, while sugar content was only 2 grams for a 2 tablespoon serving. Only 10 calories and none of them from fat. I bought the Casa Mamita Thick & Chunky Salsa "Mild" and paid $1.49 for a 24 ounce (1 lb 8 oz) 680g bottle at a chain called "Aldi." Aldi Foods are "bare essentials" markets with one person scanning and you packing. You pay a quarter for the use of the cart, but it is refunded upon return to the cart bay. Some food can be healthy eating with just a slight change in their usage. As I said, I like to scoop up the salsa with a wide piece of celery stalk.
The "Nutrition Facts" are your key to eating healthy. Salsa had only 1 percent carb, 4 percent Vitamin A and 2 percent iron. Salute’
posted by Stan Kent at
6:31 PM
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