Cooking Cheap

I’ll fill this under veggies.

I ran out of bottled Salsa the other night. Today at the mega mart I had to look hard to find my standby friend, Pace Brand, Medium. I had to look hard enough that I found the “on sale” sticker for Herdez Medium for a $1.20 less for what looks to me like the same amount. $2.50 vs $3.79? The store brand was also the same low price but I’ve tried it a it was lacking a lot unless you thing salsa has corn and beans in it.

I bought the Herdez Salsa Casera home and compared the labels with the old Pace. Product of Mexico vs “A Division of Campbell’s Soup Co.” That puts some irony in the “Made in New York City!” TV commercial don’t it?

Ingredients:
Herdez claims: tomatoes, onion, serrano peppers, salt and cilantro.
Pace: tomatoes (fresh and canned with canning stuff in parens () ), onions, vinegar, jalapeno and then a long list of spices and chemicals.

Taste test?

Herdez wins. The serranos are different from the jalapenos. Not really better or worse, just a little different in subtle ways. Both are chunky cooked salsas but the Herdez has a clean fresh finish.

I’ve eaten some very good home made salsa’s and restrurant salsas in all kinds of styles and some store bought “salsa frescas” and all the major US brands of bottled salsa. If you want a jar of generl purpose salsa in the fridge, Herdez is definitely worth checking out. Even better if you can find it on sale.

You really shouldn’t compare different styles without a context. Pico de Gallo and bottled salsa are too differnent styles. Bottled salsa and bottled taco sauce and pepper sauce are very different things. I have all three in the fridge. Just stay away from anyting in a jar that has beans or corn in it.