Salsa is the Italian and Spanish word for sauce, from Latin salsa “salty”, from sal, “salt”. Mexican salsas were traditionally produced using the mortar and pestle-like molcajete, although blenders are now more commonly used. There are many forms of Salsa including Guacamole, but this Salsa recipe is based on Salsa roja, “red sauce” using cooked tomatoes. Salsa using raw tomatoes is called Salsa Crude (”raw sauce”), also known as pico de gallo (”rooster’s beak”), salsa picada (”chopped sauce”), salsa mexicana (”Mexican sauce”), or salsa fresca (”fresh sauce”): made with raw tomatoes, lime juice, chilli peppers, onions, cilantro leaves, and other coarsely chopped raw ingredients.

Homemade Salsa

There are several variations - make it different every time.
- small handful of cilantro leaves (I used 1/2 a bunch, I love the stuff)
- 1 onion: red or white
- 1 can 24oz of tomatoes (no salt!) or equal fresh ones
- 1-4 cloves of garlic, I used 6
- 2 serrano chillies or 1 jalapeno
- lime juice

chop onions and tomatoes finely
chop garlic, chillies and cilantro very finely - or use a food processor (if doing this I blend the onion, garlic and cilantro first, then tomatoes last - then I add some chopped fresh ones after)
to make thicker add a can of crushed tomatoes or paste

Optional
- oregano to taste
- tbsp olive oil
- corn or black beans

Make sure to get baked chips or pitas to dip - I love to take a pita 1/2, spread this on it, mush 1/2 an avacado put some cilantro leaves on top - fold in half and eat as a quick snack. If you have hummus - put a layer of that too. Depending on your metabolic type, you may want to avoid wheat chips or wheat pitas which would take your inner biochemistry out of balance. Sugar Burner Metabolic Type would be well advised to avoid wheat

Salsa Health Issues

Care should be taken in the preparation and storage of salsa, since many raw-served varieties can serve as a growth medium for potentially dangerous bacteria, especially when unrefrigerated. In 2002, a study appearing in the journal Annals of Internal Medicine, conducted by the University of Texas-Houston Medical School, found that 66% of the sauces tested (71 samples tested, sauces being either: salsa, guacamole, or pico de gallo) from restaurants in Guadalajara, Jalisco and 40% of those from Houston, Texas, were contaminated with E. coli bacteria, although only the sauces from Guadalajara contained the types of E. coli that cause diarrhea.[1] The researchers found that the Mexican sauces from Guadalajara contained fecal contaminants and higher levels of the bacteria more frequently than those of the sauces from Houston, possibly as a result of more common improper refrigeration of the Mexican sauces. (Salsa information from Wikipedia)

Salsa Recipe Photo Credit: Her View Photography

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