Saturday, May 29, 2010

The Search for the Perfect Salsa - Pedro's

I used to like quite a few different salsas with tortilla chips, especially the ubiquitous Pace's Picante Sauce. However, at one point Costco started selling a Garduño’s brand salsa that simply spoiled me for all the brands that I'd previously eaten: not only was it extremely hot, but it tasted like chile and not like tomatoes. Unfortunately, Costco stopped selling the Garduño’s salsa only a couple of months after it started, leaving me feeling deprived and unhappy. I tried all sorts of other brands -- Sadie's, El Pinto, 505 -- but all of them tasted like tomatoes and simply didn't have that chile zing to them.

Finally, I picked up a specialty brand of salsa, Pedro's, at Wal-Mart; lo and behold, it had the same magic qualities that the
Garduño’s brand had had. Pedro's salsa is expensive (almost $4.00 for a 16 oz. jar [roughly three servings for me], even at Wal-Mart), but I find myself splurging once in a while just to get my chile fix. Pedro's is a local concern, owned by Pedro and Kathy Ruiz (see picture); its website is found at http://www.pedros-salsas.com/index.html.