Yes, I fully expect the “Why buy salsa when it is so easy to till the soil, plant the garden, water, harvest, chop and make your own” but during the months when my garden is frozen over I still like to enjoy some salsa.
Personally I like Jack’s Special (medium usually). It has a good fresh taste and just enough hotness that you don’t notice it until you are into about your 8th chip.
So, what is your favorite (assuming you ever stoop so low)?
I’m not very picky. I just buy whatever the name is of the brand they sell at Shopper’s Food that comes in the big plastic jug. It’s very acidic and quite mild on its own, so I like to mix in a pile of chopped jalapenos and whatever hot sauce I have on hand.
We usually buy the stuff a local market makes, rather than the stuff in a jar, which has been uniformly nasty, IME. They make it in-store and it’s sold in a pint container in varying degrees of heat. There are a number of locally made salsas in that same store, but this one competes well with them and is cheaper.
Simply nature organic hot salsa from Aldi.
Amy’s Medium.
My absolute fave is Casa Sanchez Hot Roasted Chile & Tomate Asado Salsa.
Any of various Mrs. Renfro’s salsas. The garlic version has a real nice kick to it.
Our real favorite is the salsa sold by a local chain of taco shops. The red and green salsas are fresh and quite addicting.
El Pinto Green Chile salsa is the only jarred salsa I eat. It’s really, really good.
I *think *I’ve been getting Pace picante sauce because it’s the only thing so far that I’ve found both hot enough and not terribly chunky. I’m open to any recommendations.
Albert’s Hot Sauce made by Jananna Foodsin Kilgore, TX. It’s sold refrigerated. So it’s hard to find outside of parts of Texas.
I grew up eating it, and nothing else quite comes close.
Mrs. Renfro’s, particularly the black bean version, although the pomegranate or peach will do if I can’t get BB. Apparently I’m not the only person with this taste, as the black bean always sells out first in the local stores.
I’ll third Mrs. Renfro’s - but I prefer the hot habenero. Real kick in that one.
I’ll have to try the black bean variant next time. How hot is it?
I have bitched here before about how wimpy the salsa selection is in Canada. The last store chain to sell Pace hot salsa stopped selling it years ago.
The best I could find, from a heat perspective, was Tostitos. Yes, Tostitos hot is actually not too bad.
But, then, thanks to my brother, we discovered Neal Brothers Habanero Salsa. It’s an Ontario product too.
Not that hot. They use jalapenos for the heat, so there is a pretty low limit on how hot they can make it. But it is delicious. You could always mix the hab with the BB.
I really really like Tostito’s salsa. I would usually go for the smaller, more interesting looking brands, but it was free with chips or something one time and it is mighty tasty.
My husband has a coworker who constantly brings him peppers so we have a ready stash of pico de gallo, but I buy Tostitos when I want salsa, now. There’s also a tomatillo salsa that I couldn’t get enough of once, called World Table, I think- but I have not found it since.
I’m partial to Cita’s Salsa - in particular the Fiery Fiesta (the Red Rage is the same, but a bit tamer).
It’s great stuff, and it doesn’t hurt that Cita and Mama Lena started out selling it at our local farmer’s market about 3 years ago, and we’ve become acquainted with them both.
Green Mountain isn’t bad for stuff from a jar. Stonewall Kitchen makes a really good Black Bean variety but its pricey at $7 for a 16 oz. jar.
Protip for hardcore sasla lovers: Just buy it from your favorite Mexican restaurant. It’s cheaper, fresher, and it comes with a free bag of chips!
The Mexican joint I go to (A mom & pop place), charges me $3.50 for a 16oz container and a warm bag of tortilla chips.
If we’re talking store bought only, I’ll go with Arriba Fire Roasted Red Salsa.
I was going to come in here and plug Casa Sanchez, but you beat me to it!
We usually just get their Medium Salsa Roja, as it’s our son’s favorite…but we may need to branch out a bit.
Green Mountain Gringo, hot.
