Defining what exactly a salsa is can seem complicated. I don’t know, it might actually be complicated. This complication, if any comes from the fact that it seems like almost anything can be a salsa.
Growing up, salsa was pretty much one thing. An acidic tomato based sauce, with onion, and spice that we dipped tortilla chips in. Now, salsa is made of almost anything. But the truth is that it always kind of was. Salsa, just means sauce.
For a more in depth description check out what Wikipedia has to say on the matter.
For our purposes we are going to consider salas a chunky (not puréed) sauce with three main elements. There will be some type of fruit, from tomato to mango. There will be acid like citrus or vinegar. And there will be some type of spice.
Today, we are going to look at the composition of a salsa. I am going to give you a few specific recipes, but ideally by the end of this post you won’t need them. The goal here is for you to finish this post confident that you can walk into your kitchen and make a salsa out of just about anything. To do that I’m going to tell you…
In a Casserole In my opinion, salsa is always delicious, whether served hot or cold. Have you ever tried using it as an ingredient in a casserole or served on top of something warm right out of the oven? I love some homemade salsa on top of my Healthy Vegan Enchilada Casserole and Baked Vegan Mac and Cheese.
To Cook or Not To Cook?
There are two main types of salsa, cooked and not cooked. The difference is pretty obvious.
If you are unsure of how to tell the difference between a cooked and uncooked salsa just open a jar of salsa and look inside. Every jar of salsa you have ever had from Pace to Neil Brothers, to Old El Paso, to the stuff you bought at the local farmers market, has been cooked.
Cooked salsa has a much different flavour, texture and appearance than uncooked salsa. Cooking takes away the sharpness of flavour. You loose the bite of the onion, and the pop of flavour from the tomato and herbs.
There are a few benefits to cooked salsa over uncooked ones. The obvious benefit is that you can can them. Even without canning they tend to last much longer than their fresh cousins. The real benefit comes from the flavour.
Cooking does take away sharpness and brightness but it also helps develop depth, richness, and character. Cooked salsa tends to have a fuller flavour than fresh ones. That’s really the big difference.
If I’m making tacos, nine times out of ten I’m going to be making a fresh salsa to go along with them. In fact, at home I rarely make cooked salsa at all. There are a few reasons for this.
Fresh salsa is really quick to put together. In a few minutes of chopping and mixing I have a delicious fresh salsa to compliment whatever taco I’ve made. And not just tacos. Burritos or burrito bowls, grain bowls, even just nachos, or any number of other things.
Fresh Salsa has a fresh flavour. Obvious, I know. This is the thing that I love most about fresh salsa, that big hit of freshness. It doesn’t mater what type of Mexican influenced food you are having, a fresh salsa can really compliment it.
Okay, we’ve talked about Cooked Salsa vs. Fresh Salsa. Now let’s take a look at the building blocks of a salsa cooked or not.
Like I said in the intro to this post, salsa has three main components; Fruit or the main ingredient, Acid, and Spice. Let’s take a look at these three items individually. Actually, before we do that, let’s take a look at the supporting ingredients.
Generally, other than the alternating ingredients like the fruit, acid, and spice, salsas are pretty much all the same, cooked or not. They almost always have onion, and cilantro. Garlic is often added. Sometimes parsley, oregano, or ground cumin may be included as well.
It is not uncommon to add tertiary ingredients like black beans, or bell peppers as well. We aren’t really going to get into that today though.
If you start with a base of just chopped onion and cilantro you can’t really go wrong. Just add some chopped fruit, a bit of acid, and a touch of spice and you’re all set.
I know a lot of people don’t consider tomato a fruit, but it is. I think it’s fair to say that most people would consider tomato the most common salsa base, and it likely is. However, one of the beautiful things about salsa is it’s versatility. It doesn’t have to made of or even contain tomatoes.
Using the starting point of finely chopped onion and cilantro I have made salsa from pineapple, mango, peaches, individual citrus fruits or a mixture of a few different ones, apple, pear, cranberry, even melon, and of course tomato. The key is just to chop everything up nice and fine.
Just like tomato is the most typical fruit to be used to make a salsa, lime juice is the most typical acid. Why? Because it commonly grows in Mexico and South America where salsa comes from. It has that quintessential salsa flavour. Having said that, it isn’t the only acid available.
Any kind of citrus juice can do the job as can any kind of vinegar. Really it just comes down to pairing the acid to the main ingredient in the salsa and the main item the salsa is being paired with. When in doubt, just use lime juice.
The acid has two main purposes. The first of which is flavour. The acid not only adds it’s own element to the overall flavour of the salsa, it also makes all of the other flavours pop. Meaning, it creates more vibrance.
The second purpose of the acid is to break down the main ingredient and draw liquid out to create a kind of sauce for the sauce (salsa).
There is a third purpose specific to canning salsa. The acid lowers the ph level making salsa safe to can. You only have to worry about this if you are sealing the salsa in jars.
A salsa without a bit of spice or heat is no salsa at all. It doesn’t have to burn your face off, but that element is important. This is especially true when using a sweet fruit as the base. The heat has a balancing effect.
The type of chili you use will determine how hot the salsa will be. The chili also adds it’s own unique flavour to the salsa. Jalapeno is always a good bet. For a more mild flavour remove the seeds and white ribs from the jalapeno and only chop up the actual pepper part.
You can use any other type of chili you can imagine. Habanero, serrano, or poblanos (which aren’t too spicy) are also commonly used in salsas.
CANNING FRESH HOMEMADE SALSA / STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS WITH RECIPE / POSITIVELY AMY
FAQ
Why do people cook their salsa?
Can I use salsa instead of tomato sauce?
Does cooking salsa change the taste?