there is no rational explanation for why so many grocery store salsas are so mid. a reasonable, solution-oriented society would have started phasing out the Pace-tier options 25 years ago
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Actual good, fresh salsas are so runny and drippy and shelf stable salsas don't drip nearly as much and are decent enough that it's worth the tradeoff. I really don't understand why fresh salsas have to always be so damn thin.
my normal reply: my body can't process raw onion and jalapeno very well, but once it's been heated to jar it, it's safe for me to eat, so i'm kinda stuck with jarred stuff which is better than nothing
I had a life changing pineapple habanero salsa at a taco place in Durham in like 2017 and it hasn't really been challenged since, but I have a new best cup of coffee like every 4 weeks tops.
I gave up on that tomato slurry and make it myself fresh. 1/2 hot peppers and 1/2 everything else (onions, cilantro, and cored tomatoes). Add salt, pepper, garlic powder, and some lime juice. Coring the tomatoes is important to keep it from getting mushy. I also pour out any liquid when I use it.
Yeah best u can hope for is sort of a detente where some shelf space is devoted to marginally innovate products but the old standbys continue to run the show
Last significant upgrade was like 20 years ago when a lot of chains’ deli sections started carrying that somewhat freshly made pico de gallo which still isn’t the best but compared to pace it was a big move
I think freshness has a lot to do with it. I live in SF’s mission district and exactly one salsa, jarred version of a local taqueria’s, is really good. Even the locally refrigerated salsas are never as good as at the restaurant/truck
Anything that’s supposed to be pico de gallo-ish is never going to be good from a jar— that stuff has got to be fresh. Tomatillo and chili verde somewhat more forgiving
In the same way I have grimly accepted 30% of the population is fascist, I have accepted that a large portion of this nation simply likes Pace style salsas
Herdez is the only store-bought salsa I'll even touch. Cholula, Yucateca, or Valentino for hot sauces. But really, basic salsas are very easy to make. My mom's side is Mexican so we've always just made our own. I made a Nayarit-style cucumber salsa last week that was just incredible.
There is ketchup better than Heinz, but nobody cares. I almost always just want the thick slop salsa whose grim taste and texture cannot be replicated outside the assembly line
idk, if you want a jar of foodservice queso dip without having to buy a gallon of it, that stuff is what you want. it's gross room temp but if you heat it up first it's actually pretty good. like spam
if you add black beans it's not far off from the stuff i basically lived on at magnolia in austin
This is me when buying basically anything. Like why do I have to pick the toothpaste that works extra good it should all work that good. Why can’t all the toothpastes be made out of the black box tbh
My working theory has always been that what people want is pico de gallo (🙂↔️) but it still has to be cooked to be shelf stable, so we end up with watery chunks. Add the cheap dried seasonings, and it’s mostly just lousy tomato sauce.
Because salsa isn't too hard to make yourself. The grocery store stuff is a time saver. Also, just add ingredients to the mid-salsa to make them better.
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incorporate...a....roux...into...salssa....
bsky reply version: this is ableist lauren omg
And Pace deserves all the strays for being so incredibly mid
if you add black beans it's not far off from the stuff i basically lived on at magnolia in austin
NEW YORK CITY?!?!?
There are really good fresh salsas out there, but jarred stuff still tends to be crappy.
secret aardvark? delicious. almost too hot for me but tastes good.
danger mike's shit shack nuclear blowhole xXx grandma killer hot sauce: possibly just a bunch of scotch bonnets pureed into battery acid, why eat this
Chips and salsa out-of-phase means destructive interference, a.k.a. mid.