- 6 weeks ago
Chefs Eric See, Luis Herrera, and Barbara Sibley are used to thinking outside the box when it comes to cooking; however, today on Epicurious, we’ve asked them to give us their unfiltered, honest reviews of some prominent salsas found on supermarket shelves. Which salsa packs the most bang for your budget, and which should you avoid at all costs?
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00We've gathered three professional chefs
00:03to blind taste test every supermarket salsa brand
00:05we could get our hands on
00:06to see which ones meet their standards.
00:14Tostitos, chunky salsa.
00:16This looks like the salsa that I grew up eating.
00:19Classic Sunday football game salsa.
00:22This is a salsa roja, very chunky salsa.
00:25It's got some tomato puree or concentrate.
00:29What I'm looking for in a jarred red salsa
00:32is something bright, something nice and acidic
00:35that still tastes fresh even though it's jarred.
00:37You don't want a salsa that tastes like just preservatives.
00:40Can't be too dry and it can't be too runny.
00:42What I'm looking for in a salsa, it's scoopability.
00:45It stays on the cheap and you don't make a mess
00:47on your friend's couch.
00:48I want the salsa to be the appropriate texture
00:50for what I'm gonna use it for.
00:51Eggs, chips, tacos, enchiladas.
00:53In a good salsa, you need a good balance of flavor.
00:56A little spice, have a little acidity.
00:58You wanna have a tiny bit of sweetness, savoriness,
01:01something that's really gonna excite all of those senses
01:04and all of those taste buds.
01:06How's like a marinara flavor?
01:08It tastes really like canned tomatoes.
01:10You wouldn't normally see a tomato concentrator
01:12or tomato paste in a fresh salsa.
01:14They would use it in a jarred salsa
01:16because it's like a natural thickening agent
01:17and it's a little more shelf-stable.
01:19Far as textures go, I think it could be slightly thicker.
01:22But I wouldn't say that this necessarily tastes fresh,
01:24like a concentrated tomato punch.
01:26Instead of like a fresh salsa, you get to smell
01:28all the different elements a little more.
01:30This one, I think, is pretty balanced
01:32for a store-bought tomato salsa.
01:34Where it does work is when you get a chile,
01:36you can taste that you got a chile.
01:38Mild heat makes you wanna go back to it
01:41and eat more and more.
01:42This salsa is not bad.
01:43Like, I would up a whole jar of these watching TV.
01:46Sorry.
01:46This is a Tostitos one.
01:47It's basically tomato, onions, and jalapeno peppers.
01:54A lot of tomato sauce.
01:55Tomato puree, diced tomatoes, in tomato juice.
01:58That's why there's so much, like, tomato flavor.
02:00The only preservative, I guess, is potassium salt.
02:03Super generic.
02:04I don't want to eat this.
02:05This would be one of those, like, necessity buys.
02:08Maybe I like it because of nostalgia.
02:12Adas, salsa casera.
02:14At first light, I'd say this looks a little more natural.
02:17The Tostitos looked a little thicker,
02:19like it had something in there to thicken.
02:21This one looks a little thinner.
02:23I would really anticipate
02:25that this would taste, like,
02:26so much better than it does.
02:28I can't get away from the tomato.
02:30Like, it looks less canned, but it tastes more canned.
02:33It's got a little more salinity.
02:34It's got a heat at the end.
02:36See some herbs in there,
02:37so it's probably some cilantro in there.
02:38But I don't get the taste at all.
02:40The shelf life of herbs is not really long.
02:42Sitting there in the jar,
02:43just completely lost the flavor.
02:45It's a little watery to me
02:46for this type of chunky salsa.
02:48I don't like it.
02:49Herdes, salsa casera, medium.
02:52Man, they don't make it like they used to.
02:54This one has calcium chloride,
02:57a mineral salt used to keep tomatoes or vegetables firm
03:01when they're being heat processed.
03:02Citric acid, too acidified, which also you can taste.
03:06And the tomato says just tomatoes,
03:08but they don't taste as fresh.
03:11So that tells me that maybe it's better
03:12to use canned tomatoes for salsa than fresh tomatoes.
03:18Cholula, original salsa.
03:20A much more blended salsa.
03:22More watery than the past, the previous two, for sure.
03:25See how it's dripping?
03:26It looks like the tomatoes were probably roasted first.
03:29Roasting, it's gonna help deepen and concentrate the flavor,
03:32but it also helps remove some of the water content,
03:35so it creates a thicker product.
03:38Oh, I don't like this one.
03:40It just feels too spiced.
03:42Really heavy on cumin.
03:43It's not generally used in, like, a table salsa.
03:46It is very, very, very salty.
03:48I need a beer.
03:49Texture-wise, it's pretty good.
03:51This is almost getting to the level of, like, ranchera sauce.
03:54Like a tomato-based sauce that is used for breakfast.
03:56Still chunky, but it's more homogenous,
03:58and all-around smoother.
04:00This is a roasted salsa, so you're expecting
04:03a more cooked flavor, more smokiness.
04:06Surprisingly, the roasted tomato flavor
04:08is not coming through as much
04:09because I'm getting so much cumin.
04:11It's a Cholula one?
04:13Cholula's original medium salsa.
04:15I am tasting a Cholula-ness to it now that I know,
04:18and I don't know if it's, like, sort of, like, placebo effect,
04:20but Cholula has vinegar, so I'm feeling that.
04:23This one's got tomato and tomato paste.
04:25It does say it has cumin, jalapeno peppers,
04:28and arboled peppers.
04:29Arbol is a very spicy chili.
04:31They probably have a tiny amount
04:32because you can really feel it.
04:33Very cumin-y, and it's weird because I love cumin.
04:36It's not coming through as fresh in this salsa.
04:38I'm sorry, Cholula.
04:39You've disappointed me.
04:44Jalapaja, fresh salsa.
04:46This one's got everything going on.
04:47Super busy, but it's kind of exciting.
04:49And right off the bat, it's spicy.
04:53Got a little more heat than all of the rest of the ones
04:55that we've tried so far.
04:56Textually, I think this is nice.
04:57Again, this is a good chip salsa.
04:59It tastes relatively fresh.
05:00To me, freshness is that you can taste the ingredient,
05:03that they haven't been processed to the point
05:04of losing their identity.
05:06It is a balanced sauce.
05:07I do love roasted salsa.
05:09I think it's also a good way to preserve flavor and freshness.
05:12You get, like, a maillard reaction,
05:13so it becomes more umami.
05:14You're also evaporating water content.
05:16Automatically, you get it thicker.
05:18The acidity is pretty strong.
05:20I feel like it tastes a little bit more like lime
05:22than just citric acid.
05:23You don't see lime juice as often as a preservative
05:26or acidifier in jarred salsas
05:28because the lime juice breaks down during heat processing,
05:31and it becomes a little bit more bitter.
05:33To me, it's like the excitement in your mouth.
05:34Like, are you having a fiesta
05:36or are you not having a fiesta, right?
05:37This is the first salsa that I have
05:39that is actually like a little fiesta.
05:41Jalapa jar.
05:42Real lime juice.
05:43This comes from a refrigerated section.
05:45So you don't need all the chemicals
05:47that you need to maintain texture and flavor.
05:52I like this salsa. It's good.
05:53It definitely has the balance
05:54and it definitely hits all the criteria.
05:59Green Mountain Gringo, medium salsa.
06:01This one looks very processed.
06:04It doesn't look very fresh.
06:07Sweet, very sweet.
06:08Feels like a pasta sauce.
06:10I don't feel like we're hitting the balance of flavors here.
06:12The texture is nice because it's a blend of puree
06:15and diced tomatoes, so it's a little bit thicker.
06:18Salsas range from very chunky
06:20to something completely puree and smooth.
06:23Smooth salsas is more for like tacos, quesadillas.
06:27Once you start moving towards chunkiness,
06:29it's more for like scooping.
06:30The scoopability is down to probably a two or a three
06:33out of 10.
06:34It's too watery for the purpose.
06:36This is probably my least favorite so far.
06:39Green Mountain Gringo.
06:41This has pastilla peppers in it.
06:42I'm not really tasting them,
06:43but pastilla peppers are the dried red version
06:47of a chilaca pepper.
06:48You have your fresh peppers.
06:50When you dry them out, you basically change the name.
06:52Pastilla peppers have a little bit of a sweetness
06:54as a chili pepper.
06:55I don't taste it and I don't see it.
06:57Like, you know, pastilla pepper is like particularly dark.
07:00This is where we talk about a salsa
07:02like being a dip with chips, right?
07:03Which is not Mexican.
07:04If you have salsas de mesa, you're not gonna dip.
07:07It goes on your food.
07:11Mateo's Gourmet Salsa.
07:13It smells heavily garlic.
07:15Those smell like minced chicken pieces.
07:17I think it's dehydrated garlic.
07:18There is like a smell and a taste like garlic salt
07:21or garlic powder that is not the same as having garlic.
07:26Strong cumin flavor again.
07:28Even more overpowering than that last one
07:30that had a little cumin.
07:31I'm not really excited to have another chip.
07:33Texture wise, it's fine.
07:34It's not too far removed from the last one that we tried.
07:36It looks like it's gonna separate a lot
07:38as it sits in this bowl
07:39and you're not gonna get a lot of really good chips.
07:42Low acidity.
07:43It's not really tangy.
07:45Kind of like boring and underwhelming.
07:48Mateo's Gourmet Salsa.
07:49I've never heard of this one.
07:50And it says medium heat, which is a complete lie.
07:53It's like no heat at all.
07:54They've added water
07:56and they've added all this dehydrated garlic.
07:58I guess like you need the yield.
07:59So the more water, the more you get.
08:02Definitely not the more flavor.
08:06Late July, medium Salsa.
08:08This to me is like ranchero sauce consistency.
08:11Still chunky, but it's more homogenous.
08:14I like all around smoother.
08:17This is pretty balanced.
08:18The spice is upfront.
08:19The salt is perfect.
08:21Nice sweetness from the tomatoes,
08:22but it's not like in your face.
08:24It's got a brightness and acidity that I enjoy.
08:26I like this for chips.
08:28It tastes like fake lime juice.
08:30I don't think the freshness is there.
08:32Some ingredient that they're using
08:33that has a flavor that I'm not really sure what it is.
08:37Late July snacks.
08:38This one has organic diced tomatoes.
08:40I don't think that you can detect
08:41what an organic product tastes like.
08:43They just paid the right amount of money for this stamp.
08:45Organic potato flour,
08:47which I guess they use as a thickener.
08:48And it also has water.
08:49So they added water and then they added a thickener.
08:52See lime juice concentrate.
08:53The more salsas I try, the more convinced I am
08:55that you shouldn't use lime juice in salsas
08:58that are gonna stay for long periods of time.
09:00They say they have like natural flavorings.
09:03For all we know, they're using like an apple flavoring.
09:05It has like a fruity flavoring in it
09:08that is not specified.
09:14Ithaca Medium Salsa.
09:16This one looks so different.
09:17It's very bright.
09:18In a jarred product,
09:19the color of all the ingredients starts to dull over time.
09:22So when you're able to retain this much color,
09:24there's the likeliness of something being a little fresher.
09:27This is the first one I see with red peppers.
09:30It is not really spicy.
09:32The greener the pepper, usually the spicier.
09:35The texture of it's really good.
09:36The perfect example of chunky and watery at the same time.
09:39Look at all that water.
09:40The liquid part of the salsa still has a lot of flavor.
09:44It's actually spicier than the chunky part.
09:46I like this one because there is a freshness to it.
09:48This one's really heavy on the garlic.
09:50I do get a hint of fresh garlic
09:51that I didn't feel with any of the other ones before.
09:53It's tangy.
09:54I think the acid level is good.
09:55It's what we're looking for.
09:56The balance is good.
09:57Taste the onions.
09:58I taste the tomatoes.
10:00Like I'm getting all the flavors.
10:01It's bright.
10:02Cilantro stems in it,
10:03which actually have a lot of flavor.
10:05They look greener than any other of the salsas
10:07that we've tried as well.
10:08I feel pretty good about this one.
10:09Oh.
10:10Ithaca.
10:11Ithaca salsa.
10:12Ithaca is so like not Mexican.
10:15This makes sense for why it's so bright
10:16because this looks like it's also a refrigerated product
10:19like the jalapa jar one.
10:21So it has jalapeno peppers, which are the red ones.
10:24Red jalapenos are not as spicy as the green ones.
10:26I would have used Serrano,
10:27so it would have been a perfect salsa.
10:28I don't understand why they added water again.
10:31I think this is one of my favorites so far.
10:32This is the freshest flavor.
10:36Pace, chunky salsa.
10:39It has that same kind of like Tostitos appeal.
10:41I could turn it upside down.
10:42It would stay in the bowl.
10:44It tastes definitely processed.
10:47Texture's a little mushy, even though there are diced tomatoes
10:50in here.
10:51That's the thing, if you're making a chunky salsa,
10:52you need to have the texture of the ingredient.
10:53It does taste like it has some kind of like tomato paste.
10:56There's a decent amount of salt in there,
10:57but not getting all the vibrancy of all the other flavors.
11:00I would like it to be spicier and crunchier.
11:03You know this one.
11:04Pace.
11:04Here we are tried and true.
11:06Tried and untrue.
11:07Maybe if they would have put the calcium chloride,
11:10you would have preserved the texture a little more.
11:12Like this is the kind of salsa like you cook with.
11:14I don't think it's the kind of salsa that you eat by itself.
11:16Stew some beans in it.
11:17I would use it as something to braise, maybe pork in it.
11:27This is a really charred roasted salsa.
11:29It looks like a salsa that I would eat.
11:31It's definitely scoopable.
11:34Spicy, spicy.
11:35A sharp heat at the back.
11:36It's got a smokiness on it.
11:37I can taste the tomatoes.
11:38It's got a good garlic.
11:39The acidity is nice.
11:41It's very well seasoned.
11:42A little more complex in flavor.
11:43This one does taste like there's different peppers in there
11:46because there's almost like a chocolatiness at the back of it.
11:49Probably has some kind of like dark, dry chile.
11:51Dark, dry chiles have more complex flavor
11:53basically because they've been dried.
11:55Dried chiles bring out hints of smoke or like chocolate
11:58or raisins, things like that.
11:59Texturally, it's good.
12:01I think that this would be a really versatile salsa.
12:03The flavors are really consistent throughout the salsa.
12:06Pretty solid salsa.
12:07I've heard of this brand.
12:08Siete Brands, spicy salsa.
12:10That would make sense.
12:10They have good chips.
12:11Casera style.
12:12So this is like the homemade style again.
12:14Serrano and habanero peppers in here.
12:16A serrano, as they're hybridizing now,
12:19is much more like a jalapeno used to be.
12:21Super spicy and super fruity.
12:24I would have gone with vinegar instead of lemon juice concentrate.
12:26Because I think also like the juice just loses power over time.
12:33Mission, chunky salsa.
12:34All right, we're back to the boring diced tomato, canned tomato.
12:39Look alike.
12:39They all look the same.
12:40Very, very mild.
12:42It's not spicy in the least.
12:44This one doesn't really have any balance for me
12:45because all I taste is tomato, but it's like tomato juice.
12:48Texture-wise, it's fine.
12:49It's chunky.
12:49It'll hold up on a chip.
12:50This doesn't give any kind of fresh vibe.
12:53Definitely sweeter.
12:53Tomatoes have different like levels of sweetness
12:56depending on when are they peak, what time of the season,
12:59where they can or salsa.
13:01I wouldn't necessarily choose the sweetest one.
13:03I would try to preserve a little bit of that natural acidity that they have.
13:06Overall, like, it falls very flat in my opinion.
13:10Mission, chunky salsa medium.
13:11I mean, it said zero percent added sugars,
13:13but then it says sugar in the ingredients.
13:16That's funny, no?
13:17This one also has some water in it.
13:19It's trying to keep costs down, be as volume-based as possible.
13:22It's very American.
13:23It's very middle of the road.
13:24Super Bowl salsa.
13:26Salsa.
13:27Salsa.
13:28Not a salsa.
13:29They have their place, just not very Mexican.
13:31Good and Gather restaurant-style salsa.
13:36It looks like pizza sauce.
13:37Very blended.
13:38This one looks like a salsa that's a condiment.
13:41Terrible.
13:42There's definitely cumin in there.
13:44No heat, no acidity.
13:46If you pureed the emission, this would be it.
13:48One jalapeno is not as spicy as the next one.
13:50When you're cooking in the restaurant,
13:52you're tasting all the way as you go.
13:54When you're baking something in a big batch, you can't do that.
13:56So it's very hard to get the consistent spice level.
13:58This one, however, has no spice at all.
14:01Good and Gather.
14:03Is this a Target brand?
14:04Oh my god.
14:05Restaurant style?
14:06Not my restaurant.
14:07Anaheim peppers, pasilla peppers, and jalapeno peppers,
14:10which I don't get those layers of flavor in here.
14:13I just get tomato puree.
14:21This looks like the last three.
14:23Salsa déjà vu.
14:25It tastes like the last three.
14:28Very sweet up front.
14:29There's garlic.
14:30I taste the garlic.
14:31This one doesn't have any detectable heat on it.
14:33Like, no chili flavor at all.
14:35Texturally, I guess it's nice,
14:36because it's holding together as something chunky.
14:38I think the ingredients were probably diced.
14:41Instead of, like, crushed,
14:42you feel, like, the biting to the ingredient.
14:44You feel the biting to the tomato.
14:46It maybe means that they also use that calcium chloride.
14:49It does not taste fresh.
14:50You're really going to just dip it mindlessly.
14:52It's not going to excite you.
14:53You're not going to think about it.
14:55Just the basic ass salsa.
14:57Chi-chi's thick and chunky.
14:59Let the fiesta begin.
15:01There was not a fiesta in my mouth.
15:03It's medium.
15:04It says medium.
15:04It's not spicy at all.
15:05The medium on the tostitos is the right medium.
15:08Like, that's a medium.
15:09Let the fiesta end.
15:10La fondadora, fuego salsa.
15:17Finally, something a little more interesting, right?
15:19There's obviously tomatillos in this one,
15:20because there's a lot of little seeds.
15:22Tomatillos come in a husk,
15:23and they're green and really bright and firm.
15:25Tomatoes, you actually look for the sweetness
15:27and acidity balance,
15:28whereas tomatillos are going to be, like, crunchy
15:31and acidic and bright.
15:33So I think this one is tasty.
15:35It's not as spicy as I thought it was going to be.
15:37There's, like, a rich earthiness or smokiness to it
15:40that's a characteristic of our dried red chili.
15:42The texture is consistent.
15:44It's more like a taco salsa.
15:45I would say scoopability down to a one or a two.
15:48Very balanced, but it's very flavorful.
15:50Got a lot of smokiness on the front.
15:52I'm getting a lot of garlic.
15:53It's got a decent acidity.
15:54To add acidity, another way to do that naturally
15:57is to use tomatillos.
15:58But it's a good balance.
15:59I would say it's hitting all the notes.
16:01This sort of makes me dream a little bit,
16:04and that's a good sign.
16:05I've seen this one before.
16:06Fuego salsa.
16:07Yeah, I've seen this before.
16:08Their ingredients are great.
16:10Tomato, tomatillo is the second ingredient.
16:12White onion, guajillo, garlic,
16:14arbol chile, and salt.
16:16That's it.
16:16I guess the tomatillos are giving them enough acidity.
16:19So they can take the place of, like,
16:20a vinegar or lime juice or citric acid in a salsa.
16:23Oh, it's guajillo and arbol.
16:24Amazing.
16:25So the guajillo comes from the mirasol pepper,
16:27probably the most colorful dry chile.
16:30It's very, like, bright red.
16:31Then the arbol chile, probably the spiciest dry chile
16:34that you have in Mexican cuisine.
16:36If I see arbol on a salsa, I know it's going to be spicy.
16:39I do feel like they could have used more arbol for this one.
16:42This is one of those where you, as you get more bites,
16:44you start to enjoy it more because of the different layers in there.
16:47It's very, very tasty.
16:51On the border, medium salsa.
16:53It doesn't look very promising.
16:55Watery, a little chunky, same color.
16:59Balance of flavor, higher marks than the paste or tostitos or mission,
17:03because it's not as sweet.
17:04But I tasted tomatoes.
17:05There's also something smoky in there.
17:07Right up front, you're tasting dehydrated onion,
17:10dehydrated garlic.
17:11There's not enough heat in there.
17:12There is a decent amount of salt.
17:13Extra is not bad.
17:14Like, the tomatoes are firm.
17:16A little watery while also being chunky.
17:18They're rustically cut, so they're not, like, little tiny cubes.
17:22So they're trying to go for a more fresh look,
17:24but it doesn't taste fresh.
17:26On the border, this is one of those
17:28southwestern chain restaurants, right?
17:30Once again, so we have a salsa that's letting you know
17:32that it's an American salsa.
17:34Natural flavors.
17:35Natural flavors could be anything from, like,
17:37vanilla or lime zest.
17:39Something that could be added in the smoky flavor
17:41where I've just had too many salsas.
17:43Not the worst one, but not a fan.
17:47Cholula, salsa verde.
17:49Time for green.
17:50Criteria for salsas verdes is very different.
17:53So you're looking for a tangy profile,
17:55something sharp and bright,
17:56not so fruity and sweet like with the tomato.
17:58But definitely still something kind of earthy
18:00and with some heat.
18:01Green salsas tend to be more of a pureed salsa.
18:04The tomatillos are blended in with the chiles
18:06because it can incorporate into all the flavors
18:09and add this wonderful roundedness
18:11when everything gets mixed together.
18:12Usually made with tomatillo,
18:13it naturally imparts that balance of acidity to the salsa.
18:17It's tart.
18:19You get the tomatillo flavor for sure.
18:21It doesn't have much spice.
18:22I feel like there's a little thickener in it.
18:24The mouthfeel is a little thicker than I would anticipate
18:27of a regular salsa verde.
18:28You can taste the herbs.
18:29You can taste the tomatillo,
18:30but it's not spicy at all.
18:31And I think it's missing salt.
18:33It's a little bland.
18:34This one's pretty vinegary.
18:36It reminds me of that cholula that we had a while ago.
18:38Cholula green.
18:40Oh, I like this.
18:41Cholula salsa verde mild.
18:43Now that I know that it was mild, my expectations change
18:46because it's doing what it says on the label.
18:49And then it's very simple, like tomatillo, jalapeño, onion.
18:52It has dehydrated cilantro.
18:53They're getting the green out of poblano peppers as well.
18:56And then they put xanthan gum, which is a thickener.
18:59Which you can see.
18:59It's almost like marmalade, right?
19:01And a tomatillo salsa salsa would be very liquid.
19:05I've had a lot of better green salsas.
19:09Airdez, roasted salsa verde.
19:11Roasted, you can see the dark specks.
19:13It has some red specks that I'm assuming is from some kind of pepper.
19:19It tastes pretty fresh.
19:20It's quite acidic.
19:21The tomatillos are bringing a really nice brightness to it.
19:23And the tanginess, there's a very mild lingering heat
19:26that builds up from the chiles.
19:27Texturally, I like this.
19:29I don't mind the chunkiness of it,
19:30but like you can tell the tomatillos have been cooked down or roasted
19:34because they're soft, right?
19:35You know, there's not really texture to it,
19:37but I don't mind it.
19:38This one is a little better seasoned than the previous one.
19:41It's the airdez one.
19:42There we go.
19:43So tomatillos and roasted tomatillo puree.
19:47Poblano pepper puree, roasted jalapeño pepper puree.
19:51Poblano peppers tend to give bright vegetal flavor,
19:54something kind of green and grassy.
19:56It's mild enough so you can eat it whole.
19:58That's why they use it for, like, chile relleno.
19:59And it tastes great roasted.
20:01Like, when you roast it, it really comes 2% or less of chile de árbol,
20:05which is probably the red specks that you see.
20:08They definitely do better salsa vera than roja, I gotta say.
20:13Does it, Peppa?
20:14Salsa del Rio.
20:15This looks like a lot of chile.
20:17Uniform, you know, it's just all green.
20:20This salsa tastes more like the chiles that are in it than the tomatillos.
20:24I would eat this.
20:25I would keep dipping in this.
20:26I would pour this on something.
20:28It's not a bad balance.
20:29A little spicy.
20:29Still wish it was spicier.
20:31Good acidity.
20:32I think it's easier to get away with the acidity level with the salsa vera than with the roja,
20:36because you don't really need to add anything.
20:38I don't think it gets a lot of points for freshness.
20:41You don't usually see the skin falling off of a fresh pepper.
20:44None of these cuts look even.
20:45This looks like it was crushed.
20:47It could have been in a molcajete, it could have been by a machine,
20:50or it could have been by hand.
20:51A molcajete is basically a mortar and pestle, but it's a round volcanic bowl.
20:56Grinds and tears and pulls everything apart,
20:58so you're going to get a lot more aromatics if you do it that way.
21:01Nowadays, to be honest, how busy the restaurant is, everybody uses a blender.
21:05So you just want to be very, very gentle with it,
21:07because you can overblend it very quickly, so it'd just be like a one or two pulse.
21:12Desert Pepper Trading Company.
21:14I've seen this one at the store before.
21:15Salsa del Rio medium.
21:17Has green chilies as the first ingredient, which makes sense.
21:20You list the ingredient with the highest concentration in the product at the front.
21:25So this and the Ardez are two different products.
21:27The Ardez is more of a traditional salsa verde,
21:30very tomatillo forward, whereas this is more chile forward.
21:33This would be like a really great enchilada sauce.
21:38Trader Joe's Hatch Valley Salsa.
21:40This almost looks like a straight chile product.
21:42It's chunky.
21:44It tastes like it's just chile.
21:45It's not spicy, but you can immediately taste like the Hatch chile.
21:49Most people know Hatch chiles.
21:50That's not actually a chile pepper.
21:52It's a growing region in southern New Mexico, known for its really rich soil.
21:56And the amount of sun that it gets creates a brighter, hotter pepper.
22:01It has good acidity, savory.
22:04This does taste fresh.
22:05It tastes like a really great chile.
22:06The textures are good.
22:07It's a little bit chunky.
22:09The chile is firm enough.
22:10It's not too watery.
22:11This is like such a deep, wonderful chile flavor.
22:14This seems like this is meant to like showcase this chile.
22:17Trader Joe's Hatch Valley Salsa.
22:20It just tastes like that.
22:22It does have some tomatillos in here and some lime juice concentrate.
22:25But the first ingredient is Hatch chile peppers.
22:27It's a pretty straightforward salsa.
22:29And it's also very traditional of the southwest.
22:31I love it.
22:32This one is good.
22:39Oh, it's smoky.
22:40Probably chipotle.
22:41So it's very smoky flavored.
22:43Yeah, this is a chipotle one.
22:45Chipotle is jalapeno that's ripened and dried and smoked.
22:49And then it depends on how far you take them in the smoking stage.
22:52We need to add another criteria for chipotle sauces, which is the level of smokiness to it.
22:57The chile is the main ingredient or the main flavor driver.
23:01It should be spicy, hot chile picante.
23:04This one, to me, falls a little flat.
23:06It's very mild on the smokiness.
23:09It's just medium chipotle, authentic flavor.
23:12Sun-dried chipotle peppers and olive oil.
23:15Interesting.
23:15Maybe they like slightly fried them in the olive oil or something.
23:18You don't rehydrate peppers with oil, but you toast them in it to bring out more of the flavor
23:23and to caramelize the chile.
23:25Dehydrated chipotle peppers at the end of the list, probably because you don't need to use a lot.
23:28It carries a lot of flavor in a small amount.
23:30You could definitely cook like 10 dishes with this in a second.
23:35Stonewall Kitchen.
23:37Pineapple chipotle salsa.
23:38Oh my god, back to the chunky.
23:40Now that I'm scooping the chip in there, I get a waft of smoke off of it.
23:43So there's probably chipotle pepper in here.
23:46Oh my god, this is terrible.
23:48Sauce is like sweet as hell.
23:50This has pineapple in it too.
23:52I'm not a huge fruit salsa fan.
23:54Having a fruit in a salsa is very natural.
23:58Tomatoes are fruits.
23:59Avocados are fruits.
24:00They're all fruits.
24:01Chiles are fruits.
24:02This pineapple tastes like grilled or smoked,
24:04which reminds me of being at a barbecue.
24:06And I love that.
24:06This one's not balanced.
24:07It's not very acidic.
24:08It needs more salt.
24:09It's very sweet.
24:10It has unexpected texture.
24:13I can't even feel the crunch of the onions.
24:14But it's also watery, so if you pour it onto something,
24:17it's gonna just kind of fall off and just leave you with the chunks at the top.
24:21Stonewall Kitchen.
24:23Pineapple chipotle salsa.
24:24It's so sweet.
24:25And this is mild on the side of it.
24:27I would prefer if this had some heat to counteract the sweetness.
24:31They've got pure cane sugar in here.
24:33Pineapple's got enough sweetness already, so I don't think it needed sugar.
24:36Whole Foods chipotle garlic salsa.
24:41Looks like a ragu.
24:42It's a very thick sauce.
24:43I do smell the garlic, and I do smell the chipotle on this one.
24:48I get the tomato flavor.
24:49It's sweet, but it feels like a natural sweetness.
24:51The texture is like a very, very pureed.
24:53It stays on the chip, but it's not like those tomatillo ones that were like marmalade.
24:57Yeah, this is falling very flat as well.
24:59What saves the salsa is the chipotle.
25:01It definitely tastes the chipotle.
25:03Other than that, it's very boring.
25:05Whole Foods.
25:06Chipotle garlic salsa.
25:10Smoky and savory.
25:11Not as savory as this label says.
25:13You had hatch green chilies, which I can't taste at all in this one.
25:16And smoked paprika, I can't really taste that at all either.
25:19I'm not really sure what that's doing to the flavor profile here,
25:22because I'm not really tasting it.
25:23It's unusual to see things like paprika.
25:26Probably since they're trying to do a mild version of this chipotle salsa,
25:29they want to add the smoke without adding the heat.
25:31For all of the beautiful packaging and the great copy,
25:34I find the salsa itself really underwhelming.
25:39Frontera, gourmet Mexican chipotle salsa.
25:42It looks like a tomatillo chipotle sauce.
25:45I can smell the chipotle from here.
25:46So this one is probably more intense than the other ones.
25:48You know, I'm ready for my taco.
25:52Definitely the smokiest one we've tried, which I appreciate.
25:55Chipotle is just so delicious because it has so many elements.
25:59The smokiness just will add almost to any dish.
26:02It's got the tanginess.
26:03You do taste the tomatillos right up front.
26:05This one doesn't have as much spice as I would like.
26:07Chipotle peppers tend to be a little spicier.
26:09It's a jalapeno pepper that gets to spend more time on the plant,
26:12so it gets to build up more time to build that capsaicin and get to be a spicier pepper.
26:17I only wish it was a little spicier and a little saltier.
26:19Texture-wise, it's bordering on watery, but I think if you stir it up, it's nice.
26:24Definitely has the freshness.
26:25Really enough going on so that you feel like you want to keep eating it.
26:29The most interesting chipotle one we tried for sure.
26:32Frontera chipotle salsa.
26:34Oh my God, it's crazy.
26:35It's just hot.
26:36It's not hot at all.
26:37Stonewall kitchen, black bean salsa.
26:42Uh, this looks like dog food.
26:47This is like a bean and corn salsa.
26:49These are probably my least favorite kinds of salsa.
26:52Not so traditionally Mexican, really, as a salsa.
26:55Just want to make sure that I taste every ingredient,
26:58that they're there, that they're present, and that they're relevant to the salsa.
27:02I would want something very specific texturally,
27:04that it's not going to be mushy, that these beans are cooked properly,
27:07that the corn still has some crunch.
27:08Still going to want some kind of heat from the chile,
27:10but an earthiness from the beans and then a good crunchy sweet from the corn.
27:17This is crazy.
27:19It's like a, it's like a, almost like a version of a chili.
27:23I don't like this one.
27:24It's too sweet.
27:25The corn is clearly being frozen.
27:27It's like frozen corn.
27:28I don't think the salsa really tastes like what it looks like.
27:32It's so vinegary that to the point that you're eating pickles,
27:35at least the beans are well cooked.
27:36The beans are okay.
27:38Sweet and then tangy, and then you get crunch from the corn.
27:40Like, I don't even really taste the beans.
27:42It's a little spicy, so it has some chills in it.
27:45I don't think that there's a balance here.
27:47I don't think it's good.
27:49I don't know what this is for.
27:51Stonewall Kitchen black bean salsa.
27:53Oh, it's the same brand of the pineapple one, right?
27:56Stonewall Kitchen.
27:57Also, it says black bean salsa.
28:00Those are no black beans.
28:01Are these black beans or are they pinto beans?
28:03They're definitely alluding to the hardiness of it being from the beans,
28:06because you're going to have some protein.
28:08You're going to have some fiber.
28:09It's going to have buddy.
28:11But at what cost?
28:12Thank you for letting me know this exists, I guess.
28:20Desert pepper.
28:21Corn, black bean, and red pepper salsa.
28:23I can't believe like different brands said like,
28:25yeah, let's make this.
28:27I mean, these beans look darker.
28:28It might be actual black beans.
28:30This is giving that cowboy caviar vibe.
28:32Corn, beans, and roasted peppers.
28:35This one tastes like beans.
28:37But honestly, what I really taste is vinegar.
28:40I imagine this also has some kind of apple cider vinegar,
28:42because there's a tartness of vinegar,
28:44but with a sweetness at the front of it.
28:45I don't know where this belongs.
28:47Like the flavor profile is so over the place.
28:50Like it has no balance.
28:51This one reads more of a salsa.
28:52The other one was so like hearty, just like it said on the label.
28:55The corn is like niblets.
28:57The beans, hard and have no flavor.
29:00The puree is, I don't know, like they took the worst jar of salsa they could find
29:05and just like threw it all together.
29:07I mean, I think if you're lazy and you're at home and you want to make a chili,
29:10you add some like ground meat to this and cook it down a little bit,
29:13and you probably have some like decent thing to put over rice or something.
29:16But other than that, I think this is like completely useless.
29:20Desert pepper, trading company, corn, black bean, red pepper salsa.
29:25Corn, black beans.
29:26These are actually black beans.
29:27Okay, I'll take that.
29:28I wasn't a fan of their other salsa either.
29:30Is there more brands of like, have you seen more like corn bean salsa?
29:35Yeah.
29:36That's wild.
29:36Somos, salsa matcha, Mexican chili crisps.
29:41Textbook salsa matcha.
29:43I love salsa matchas in general.
29:45Salsa matcha is an oil-based salsa from Veracruz.
29:48Usually starting with a really good oil, garlic, and then different kinds of nuts.
29:52For the salsa matcha, I'm looking for a good quality oil.
29:55But it also shouldn't leave a film on your tongue.
29:58And then you're looking for the texture and the crunchiness of either the nuts or the seeds or both.
30:03To taste the nuts and the seeds toasted and cooked, it shouldn't be soggy.
30:08This is going to have a completely different balance of flavor,
30:11because you're not looking for the acidity.
30:13You're looking for something kind of smoky, toasty, earthy,
30:16and then a nutty flavor from it as well.
30:19Delicious and messy.
30:21It's really crunchy.
30:22There's a lot of sesame seed.
30:23That flavor is very strong.
30:25The pepitas are toasted.
30:26You taste a lot of toasted pepita.
30:28The oil has flavor.
30:30This is using a good quality oil, because it's not sitting on my tongue.
30:33It's not saturating my tongue.
30:34Pumpkin seeds are puffed up, which means that they're not burned.
30:38They're nice and crunchy.
30:39There's a heat that starts to build up at the back of your mouth from the chiles,
30:45but it does have, like, an earthiness to it.
30:46Maybe it's a guajillo chili that they're using.
30:48Oh, no.
30:49Delicious.
30:51Somos.
30:52It actually says Mexican chili crisp, bigger than salsa matcha.
30:55Oh, that's unfortunate that they went and did that.
30:57Made with avocado oil.
30:59It's a good, healthy oil, and it's pretty neutral.
31:02So it has guajillo and arbol.
31:04They're adding the arbol for the spice and the guajillo for the earthiness.
31:07I would have done it with some kind of chipotle or something like that, like a morita pepper.
31:11I associate salsa matcha with having a smoke, like a hint of smoke.
31:16With that being said, I think it's a good salsa matcha.
31:24Peanut matcha, which is one of my favorites.
31:28The oil has picked up a lot of the color from the chile.
31:32Definitely the oil is very tasty.
31:35It has all the chiles in there.
31:36It's spicier than the other one.
31:37It's got a nice lingering heat that's building up.
31:39This is a charred chile.
31:41They're chopped up.
31:42They're small.
31:43The balance is good.
31:43And actually, the more you have of the actual chile, the more fruit you're getting.
31:48So you're getting a little bit of sweetness there.
31:50It's hitting all the marks for me for what I want for a salsa matcha.
31:52This is probably going to stick out as one of my favorites today.
31:55Oh yeah, I've seen this one.
31:56Chili.
31:57Salsa matcha con cacahuate.
31:59Salsa matcha with peanuts.
32:00It is chipotle, so they're very charred.
32:02I'm surprised that they're as fruity as they are.
32:04Chipotle, morita, peanuts, and sea salt.
32:06That's it.
32:07No garlic, no onion.
32:08Nothing.
32:09Yeah, very basic matcha.
32:10Could eat this whole jar.
32:13Now let's see which salsas our chefs like the most and the least.
32:17I don't think I'll ever taste as many salsas of once again in my life.
32:19My favorite one was the Trader Joe's Hatch Valley Salsa.
32:22It had a very particular flavor, and it just came up very unique.
32:26My honorable mention is definitely the Trader Joe's Hatch Green Chili Salsa,
32:29because it's repping my home state.
32:31My other favorite salsa would have to be the Salsa Roja de Siete.
32:35It definitely brought some heat that I feel the other one were lacking.
32:38The Siete was my favorite red salsa.
32:40It was smoky.
32:41It was balanced.
32:42It was spicy.
32:42It had a lot of different layers from the different chilies that they used.
32:46Second favorite was the Chili Cacahuate Salsa Matcha.
32:49I loved the smokiness of it.
32:50I loved the sweetness of it.
32:52I loved the heat.
32:52My favorite salsa today was the Fundidora Fuego, because I loved the interplay of the two chiles
32:58with the tomatillos.
32:59It was so balanced.
33:00It was so great.
33:00And then, really, for fresh, really, the Jalapa Jar was the most fresh-flavored one that we had,
33:05by far.
33:06My least favorite salsa, by far, Stonewall Kitchen Corn and Black Bean Salsa.
33:11Just hated the whole category of the bean and corn salsas.
33:14Like, what is it?
33:15The Mission, Tostitos, Chi-Chi's, Target brand family.
33:20They all tasted like the same thing, and they all tasted like marinara.
33:23There's definitely some good-quality salsas out there that are going to stand up to something
33:27homemade or restaurant-quality.
33:28You just got to find them.
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