Salsa Bobos is laden with large chunks of tomato, black beans and kernels of corn. Behind it, Cowpoke Artichoke Salsa. Photo by Melody Lan. WHAT IT IS: Gourmet salsas. WHY IT’S DIFFERENT: Twenty-three different flavors, mostly tomato-based, each truly different from the rest. WHY WE LOVE IT: Top-quality ingredients and mouth-watering recipes. Plus, the wide range of choices means that no matter how much you love salsa, you’ll equally love the anticipation of discovering something new. PURCHASE AT: JardineFoods.com.

Jardine’s Gourmet Salsa: Salsa To Dance About CAPSULE REPORT: In 2000, salsa replaced ketchup as America’s number one condiment. Unlike a decent brownie, there’s perfectly acceptable salsa to be found in many supermarkets, and certainly in any specialty food store. So why make it a point to seek out D.L. Jardine’s “Special Edition” Salsas? Like any good specialty food manufacturer, Jardine’s takes a basic product and makes it that much better. They use superior ingredients, more imaginative recipes (23 of them!), and a perspective that takes salsa from a condiment to a true sauce—even a side dish. We could eat most varieties straight from the bottle—no chips or chicken needed. There’s excitement in sweet and smoky Pineapple  Chipotle Salsa, Salsa Bobos (“confetti”) so thick with beans and corn it could be served as a vegetable, and Cowpoke Artichoke Salsa with mushrooms, olives and balsamic vinegar. We’ve tasted so many lines of salsa that we’ve lost count. Jardine’s is one that towers above its competidores. There are nice gift samplers if you feel like sharing. To read the full review below, click here. If your e-mail client does not support anchor links that jump to text above or below, e.g. AOL, please scroll down. Read more reviews of our favorite salsas. Review the table of contents of the September issue of THE NIBBLE™ online magazine, plus the back issues archive and our most popular articles. All of the Top Pick Of The Week newsletters are permanently archived on TheNibble.com, in chronological order and by product category.

Salsa Recipes Galore

Salsas That Cook: Using Classic Salsas To Enliven Our Favorite Dishes, by Rick Bayless. The Iron Chef shows how salsa adds oomph to pasta, zest to meats, passion to potatoes and vitality to vegetables. Six salsas (which can be made or bought via mail order) are used in more than 50 recipes, including a tortilla lasagna and a fiery tequila chaser. Click here for more information or to purchase.	The Great Salsa Book, by Mark Miller. The chef of the famed Coyote Cafe in Santa Fe provides 100 recipes, ranking the salsas 0-to-10 on a mild-to-hot scale. Ingredients range from the traditional to the exotic. Each recipe includes fairly simple cooking instructions, serving suggestions and variations. Click here for more information or to purchase.	Chips, Dips & Salsas, by Judy Hille Walker and Kim Maceachern. A delightful collection of easy-to-make and fun-to-eat chip, dip and salsa recipes. Creative, tasty, and popular snacks with variations to control the level of heat are guaranteed to make you an even more popular host/hostess. Click here for more information or to purchase.

Salsa To Dance About: D.L. Jardine’s “Special Edition” Salsas

Today there’s scarcely a town in America where one can’t buy salsa. By the turn of the century, salsa had become America’s number-one condiment, surpassing ketchup in sales.[1] But it took a while to get there. While salsa has been in the U.S. since the 1800s, this food of the ancient Mayas and Aztecs (who also gave us chocolate) was largely confined to Mexican communities in Texas, California and the Southwest.

Two big breakthroughs helped to push salsa to numero uno. The first, in 1947, was the introduction of bottled Picante Sauce, invented by Texan Dave Pace. His puréed version of fresh salsa, promoted as a way to add Texas-style flavor to everything from eggs to chicken, moved salsa from Mexican to mainstream, and was embraced by Americans eager to spice up their food. The second breakthrough was a dual phenomenon 20 years later: the beginning of the health food movement, initiated by hippies in search of better foods, and a country hungry for international cuisines. Mexican, along with Asian and Indian foods, were increasingly available due to a relaxed immigration law and the newcomers who wanted the foods of their homeland (plus fellow newcomers who were setting up stores and restaurants to offer them).

[1] According to ACNielsen data published in Progressive Grocer last year, total supermarket sales of ketchup in 2004 were $456.7 million, while Mexican sauces topped out at $895.8 million. Because this number reflects supermarket sales only and excludes club stores, convenience stores, dollar stores, online sales and specialty food stores, the number could exceed $1 billion (with a correspondingly higher figure for ketchup as well).

Mexican Salsas

Mexican salsas can be served fresh (uncooked) or cooked. They can be hot, spicy, sweet or tangy. Like the cuisine of any nation, the ingredients vary with regional availability and preferences. There are more than 30 chiles in Mexico: The chile of choice can be the mild, fruity ajis, the medium-spicy serranos, jalapeños and their smoked form, chipotles, or the hot-hot habañero. Seasonings can include cumin, herbs like cilantro and fresh lime juice. Add-ins vary widely as well. In the northern Mexican states, cooks use aji, annatto, avocado, cassava, chipotle, corn, cumin, fruit, habañero, jalapeño and salt cod.

Salsa Fresca. What many of us think of as salsa is salsa fresca or salsa cruda, a fresh sauce served as a condiment with a Mexican dish, or with a basket of tortilla chips at the beginning of the meal or at the bar. While there are many variations, a typical fresh salsa is made of chopped tomatoes, chiles and onions, generally seasoned with cilantro and lime juice. The degree of heat will vary.

The fresh red salsas are called salsa cruda, salsa fresca and pico de gallo, which are similar with small differences (see the Salsa Glossary for details). The tomatillo-based salsa verde is also a salsa fresca (although it can be cooked, too), as is guacamole, made with avocados, tomatoes, chiles, onions and cilantro.

Cooked Salsa. While fresh salsas use fresh tomatoes and fresh green chiles, cooked salsas use roasted tomatoes and roasted or dried chiles. When the sauce is jarred or canned, the ingredients must be cooked briefly at a high temperature to make the product shelf-stable. Canned salsas can be smooth or coarsely textured, thick or thin, mild or hot. A cooked salsa is different in texture from a fresh one, but it is no less delicious. In fact, cooking opens the door to a lot of creativity in the use of ingredients—like cooked beans, corn, artichokes and olives—that would not find their way into the classic fresh sauces.

Jardine Foods. Jardine Foods, established in 1979, was one of the half-dozen or so salsa pioneers to follow the lead of Dave Pace—in fact, the company named one of its first products, Texacante Salsa, in  honor of Pace’s Picante Sauce. A producer of premium Southwestern foods, Jardine’s makes salsas for a variety of well-known brands and private labels in addition to an extensive line under their own name. Their delicious and varied salsas caught our eye at industry food shows. The recipe development is impressive—each of the 23 salsas and dips has a true raison d’etre. The line stands head and shoulders above the others in terms of quality, breadth and depth. While we have other favorite salsas, no other collection offers so many exquisitely delicious choices. Thus, while most Americans can run to the nearest store and buy a decent jar of salsa, D.L. Jardine’s Special Edition Salsas are that much more special, and worth seeking out. Like any “best of the best” food, the superiority is apparent from the first bite.

Red salsas are more American than Mexican. While northern Mexican regions make tomato-based salsas, much of the country serves salsa verde, a green salsa that focuses on the flavor of the chile, plus tomatillos and spices.

Varieties of Jardine’s Salsas

There are 23 salsas in the D. L. Jardine’s line—enough flavors to keep anyone in salsa exploration mode for quite some time. The company keeps on top of flavor trends and comes out with new recipes regularly—most recently, Pomegranate Salsa, which isn’t even in the latest catalog or on the website yet (just call). Pineapple Chipotle was the prior addition. The newer recipes show the fusion of global ingredients—pomegranates from the Middle East, mangos from India, peaches from China, artichokes and olives from the Mediterranean, pineapples from the Amazon rainforest. (See an extensive list of global salsa recipe ideas below.)

Each salsa variety has its own mouthfeel that is influenced by the ingredients, texture and heat of the particular chile(s). Almost all of Jardine’s salsas are medium heat; two are hot and two are mild. Most of the line is salsa roja, red salsa.

A note on the jars warns that the salsa must be refrigerated after opening for safekeeping. How long can an open jar last? It could be two to three weeks or longer, depending on how long the salsa was sitting out before it was refrigerated.

Hearty Salsas	Fruit Salsas	Quesos
Cilantro Green Olive [2] Cilantro Lime [2] Cowpoke Artichoke Frijole Chipotle Habañero [3] Olé Chipotle Roasted Garlic Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Bobos Salsa Verde Texacante	Cowboy Cherry Cranberry Orange Mango Mariachi Peach Pineapple Pineapple Chipotle Pomegranate Raspberry Raspberry Chardonnay [2] Raspberry Chipotle	Queso Caliente [4] Queso Loco       [2] Mild [3] XXX Hot [4] Hot All other sauces are Medium

The best sellers in the line are Peach Salsa, Salsa Bobos and Queso Loco. We tasted a dozen salsas, including the top three. Our notes follow, and we’ve thrown in a few extra notes from a prior sampling. Our own top three would have to include Salsa Bobos, Pineapple Chipotle and Cowpoke Artichoke or Frijole Chipotle. But we wouldn’t want to leave behind Pomegranate or Raspberry Chipotle, now that we’ve worked them into recipes; and we plan to serve Cranberry Orange at Thanksgiving. But, at $5.00 per 16-ounce bottle, there’s no need to make trade-offs.

Hearty Salsas

All of the salsas work as dips or accompaniments for Mexican foods (enchiladas, tacos et al). They can be used as sauces for standard American preparations too: grilled meats and fish, pasta and vegetables. Mixing the salsa with sour cream, heavy cream or yogurt produces a cream sauce and pretty much dissipates the heat (cream, not water, is the antidote to chile heat, as the capsaicins in chile are not water-soluble). Without the cream, salsa is a caloric bargain: most of the salsas have just 15 calories per two-tablespoon serving. All of the following are tomato-based except the Roasted Tomatillo.

• Cilantro Lime. Lots of lime flavor perks up a chunky tomato, onion and bell pepper salsa, accented with jalapeño.
• Cowpoke Artichoke. Not your everyday salsa, this one has artichokes, mushrooms and black olives. Big chunks of artichoke and a piquancy from the olives and balsamic vinegar command notice. It’s just mildly hot, even though the label says medium. It’s great for omelets, Tex-Mex favorites and “Mexican bruschetta.” One of our favorites.
• Frijole Chipotle. A terrific, chunky salsa that layers three chiles—chipotle, green and jalapeño. In addition to lots of black beans, there’s lots of chopped green chile, which provides a wonderful piquant flavor and texture that melds with the smoky chipotle. Another of our favorites.
• Habañero. This is the one sauce in the line labeled XXX Hot. Given the number of companies that specialize in hot sauces and make “deathly hot” salsas, we’d give Jardine’s only one X—but we’re not a chile-head. Even one X is much too hot for us (so give us credit, we tasted this salsa three times). If you have friends who love the hot-hot stuff and you want to treat them to a jar made out of the finest-quality ingredients—which do show through the heat of the habañero—this is it.
• Roasted Garlic. A classic salsa. It’s not overly garlicky because the garlic has been roasted, but there’s lots of smoky chipotle flavor and heat, blended with tomatoes, green chiles, onions and lemon juice. This one is definitely medium spicy. It has a thick consistency, like a chunky pasta sauce. Try it over chicken breasts and especially with enchiladas, migas or chalupas.

Fruit Salsas

Raspberry Chardonnay Salsa is a sweet-and-tangy dip, and also delicious with grilled chicken, pork or fish.

Since most salsas are savory, fruit salsas may come as a surprise to those who haven’t had them. The taste of sweet fruit is a perfect counterpoint to the heat and spice. Fruit salsas are wonderful with food—or of course, with chips. Our personal favorite is the Pineapple Chipotle—the fruit provides the sweetest contrast to the smoky chipotle. Fruit salsas pair well with the foods that the regular fruit would be served with. Cowboy Cherry, not surprisingly, is an excellent match with ham, pork chops and duck. Cranberry Salsa with smoked turkey is heavenly. We loved it with grilled sausages as well. Of course, it would make a wonderful Thanksgiving salsa or hostess gift.

• Peach Salsa is the company’s number-one seller, a first-place Scovie Award from Fiery-Foods Magazine and a first place award in Chile Pepper Magazine’s Fiery Foods Challenge (fear not, it’s on the mild side of medium). It is delicious with a chicken breast, a pork chop or rice (so are all of the fruit salsas). The Peach Salsa is lovely, but it’s less complex than the Pineapple Chipotle and Raspberry Chipotle, e.g.: the notes of vinegar and jalapeño heat soar over the peach fruit flavor. Still, it’s wonderful with fish tacos, grilled fish or pork tenderloin, as is the Mango Mariachi Salsa, which we didn’t have as part of this tasting but have enjoyed previously.
• Pineapple Chipotle Salsa’s sweetness compliments blackened seafood or chicken. It’s also terrific with ham. Heck, it’s terrific with anything—we couldn’t stop eating this pineapple wonder straight from the jar! We love how the combined sweet and smoky chipotle flavors of this salsa unite with the chunks of fruity pineapple.
• Pomegranate Salsa is the newest in the line, riding the pom popularity wave. Pomegranate is a delicate fruit flavor, so this salsa wisely lacks the heavy chile layering of the other fruit salsas. Instead, cranberry and orange peel, orange juice and vinegar combine to make this a very sweet-and-sassy salsa. It’s mild enough that we used it for dessert, both on vanilla ice cream and to dip fruit with fondue forks: orange segments, pineapple, strawberries and watermelon cubes. It’s not only tasty, it’s fun!
• Raspberry Chipotle Salsa, raspberry, tomato, smoke and heat, is a very sophisticated, even sexy, combination of flavors. While it went well on chicken, we especially liked it on fish, and it is a dynamite dip for shrimp—boiled, broiled or fried. We enjoyed it with rice, and look forward to trying it on duck.

While we’ve recommended specific food pairings, salsas are very versatile. There’s a caveat, though: with fruit salsas especially, quality counts. We’ve tasted brands as cloying as if soda fountain syrup had been blended in, and brands that added an obvious amount of sugar when sweet, ripe fruit should have been used. For an introduction to great fruit salsa, we suggest Jardine’s Fruit Salsa Sampler, smaller (8-ounce) bottles of five different flavors.

Quesos: Cheese Salsas

Quesos: cheese sauces in regular (Loco) or hot (Caliente).

In the Southwest, cheese salsas are very popular with corn chips. For an easy recipe, people melt blocks of Velveeta and add a can of chopped jalapeños. Jardine’s quesos provide a more elegant solution. You also can use the quesos as a general cheese sauce for: Baked potatoes Broccoli No-melt cheeseburgers and cheese dogs Macaroni [and cheese] Quick nachos

Warm the queso for a few seconds in the microwave. The hot dip is especially nice.

Salsa: Global Recipes

Feel like making your own salsa? Feel like thinking outside the box? Try these ingredient variations to put some regional and global spin on a basic fresh sauce. You can use a bottled base or start your salsa from scratch.

Chart information from “Salsa Savvy” by James Degan, Flavor & The Menu, Summer 2006. Reprinted with permission of the publisher.

More Salsa Recipe Ideas

Americans typically think of salsa as a dip for tortilla chips, but it is equally as important as a cooking sauce. As such, it can be applied beyond the familiar borders of Mexican and Tex-Mex cooking like pork tacos to create fusion food: a chipotle manicotti and rotini pasta salad with salsa instead of tomato sauce. We’ve appended these three easy recipes below. Check the JardineFoods.com website for more cooking-with-salsa recipes.

When you taste the Jardine salsas, you’ll see how easily they fit in for:

• Breakfast: As a sauce with egg dishes
• Hors d’Oeuvres: On bread rounds with soft cheeses, as a shrimp dip instead of cocktail sauce (especially the fruit salsas), and fruit salsa poured over a brick of cream cheese (instead of pepper jelly) and served as a spread for crackers
• Dinner: A condiment or sauce with grilled beef, roast chicken, seafood, stews
• Sauce: With French fries, over pasta or pizza, potatoes (boiled or baked), rice
• Snacks: Dips for breads and breadsticks, chips, vegetables, a sauce for spicy pizza
• Tex/Mex: Chalupas, enchiladas, fajitas, nachos, quesadillas, tacos, tortillas

As noted earlier, any of the red salsas can be mixed with sour cream, heavy cream or plain yogurt for a delicious, creamy sauce. A creative approach is to serve the salsa half regular, half “creamed”—two sauces from one jar.

Creamy Chipotle Manicotti

Ingredients 8 manicotti shells 1 container part-skim ricotta cheese (15 ounces) 2 green onions, chopped 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped 1-1/2 cups part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded 1/4 cup egg substitute 2 cups D.L. Jardine’s Olé Chipotle Salsa, divided 1-1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese with peppers  or Cabot’s jalapeño cheddar, shredded Vegetable cooking spray   Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions, without salt or oil, to al dente stage. Rinse with cold water to stop cooking, drain and set aside.
2. Stir together ricotta cheese, green onions, cilantro, mozzarella and egg substitute.
3. Coat an 11" x 17" baking dish with cooking spray, and pour 1/2 cup salsa in the bottom. Spoon cheese mixture evenly into shells, and arrange in the dish. Pour remaining salsa over shells.
4. Bake at 350°F for 20 minutes. Sprinkle with Monterey Jack cheese. Bake 10 more minutes or until thoroughly heated and the cheese melts. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

Santa Fe Pasta

Can be served warm or cold.

Ingredients

• 16-ounce package rotini pasta
  (rotini are twists, shorter than fusilli)
• 2 16-ounce jars of D.L. Jardine’s Cowpoke
  Artichoke Salsa
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup yellow corn kernels
• 1 chicken breast fillet (or 16 ounce package of
  frozen cooked salad shrimp)
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Directions

1. Boil the pasta in salted water for 8 to 10 minutes, or until al dente.
2. Season chicken breast with 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder and brown in 2 tablespoons of olive oil. If you are using salad shrimp, thaw and sear with olive oil and garlic for approximately 2 minutes (do not overcook).
3. Cube the chicken and mix with the pasta and artichoke salsa in a large bowl. 
4. Serve immediately with parmesan cheese, or cover contents and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Quick & Easy Grilled Pork Tacos with Pineapple Salsa

Ingredients

• 6 boneless pork loin chops (4 ounces each)
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly-ground pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 16-ounce jar D.L. Jardine’s Pineapple Salsa or
  Pineapple Chipotle Salsa
• Vegetable cooking spray
• 8 flour tortillas, warmed

Directions

1. Combine curry powder, garlic powder, salt and
   peppers. Sprinkle over pork chops.
2. Coat chops evenly with cooking spray.
3. Grill, covered with grill lid, over medium high heat until done, approximately
   3 to 4 minutes on each side.
4. Remove from grill and cut into strips or bite-size pieces. Serve in warm tortillas
   drizzled with Pineapple Salsa.

Doing The Salsa In Person

Want to watch the salsa being made? If you’re near Austin, Texas or passing through on a weekday during production hours of 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., stop by! D.L. Jardine’s is located in picturesque Buda (pronounced Bee-You-Duh) eight miles south of Austin and 50 miles north of San Antonio. It’s a charming small town filled with antique stores and friendly folks—plus the Jardine’s staff is ready to welcome you with a factory tour and salsa samples.

But don’t wait until then to start enjoying this super salsa.

—Karen Hochman

FORWARD THIS NIBBLE to anyone who loves salsa (that must be almost everybody, since it’s America’s favorite condiment.) If you’re with a company that needs a lot of corporate gifts or premiums, you might get Jardine’s to private-label a salsa for you.

D.L. JARDINE’S SPECIAL EDITION SALSAS HEARTY SALSAS: Cilantro Green Olive, Cilantro Lime, Cowpoke Artichoke, Roasted Garlic, Roasted Tomatillo, Frijole Chipotle, Habañero, Olé Chipotle, Salsa Bobos, Salsa Verde, Texacante FRUIT SALSAS: Cowboy Cherry, Cranberry Orange, Mango Mariachi, Peach, Pineapple, Pineapple Chipotle, Pomegranate, Raspberry, Raspberry Chardonnay, Raspberry Chipotle QUESOS: Queso Caliente, Queso Loco 16-Ounce Jar, Any Flavor $6.00, 3-Pack $17.25, 12-Pack $60.00 Fruit Salsa Sampler Assortment Of Five 8-Ounce Jars (See Photo At Right) $18.75 Salsa & Chip Sampler Assortment Of Four 8-Ounce Jars Of Salsa (See Photo At Right) $21.00 Purchase online* at JardineFoods.com Or telephone 1.800.544.1880, Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Central Time Also available at specialty food stores nationwide. *Prices and product availability are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional. These items are offered by a third party and THE NIBBLE has no relationship with them. This link to purchase is provided as a reader convenience.

The Fruit Salsa Sampler, above, is a sweet-and-sassy treat of Cowboy Cherry, Mango Mariachi, Peach, Pineapple and Raspberry Chardonnay Salsas. The Salsa & Chip Sampler includes Texaditas Tortilla Chips and jars of Queso Loco, Cowpoke Artichoke Salsa, Peach Salsa and Salsa Bobos.

FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, special offers, contests, opinion surveys, THE NIBBLE prior issues archive, product gift-finder and more, visit the home page of TheNibble.com.

ABOUT THE NIBBLE. THE NIBBLE™, Great Finds For Foodies™, is an online magazine about specialty foods and the gourmet life. It is the only consumer publication and website that focuses on reviewing the best specialty foods and beverages, in every category. The magazine also covers tabletop items, gourmet housewares, and other areas of interest to people who love fine food.

© Copyright 2004-2008 Lifestyle Direct, Inc. All rights reserved. All information contained herein is subject to change at any time without notice. All details must be directly confirmed with manufacturers, service establishments and other third parties. The material in this newsletter may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached, or otherwise used, except with the prior written permission of Lifestyle Direct, Inc.