Salsas

Salsa is the Spanish word for sauce. In English it means a spicy condiment of chopped vegetables or fruit, most often chiles with tomatoes or tomatillos, onion and herbs, eaten raw or cooked.

How to choose Salsas

  • Heat by pepper. Jalapeño, the most popular hot pepper for salsa, runs 2,500 to 5,000 Scoville units. Serrano reaches 5,000 to 15,000 and habanero 100,000 or more, so check which chile leads the list.
  • Smoke. Chipotle and morita chiles are dried and smoked, so a salsa made with them tastes of wood fire.
  • Red or green. Many salsas are built on tomatoes; green salsas often use tomatillos, the Mexican husk tomato, instead.

About Salsas

Salsas are sauces of chopped or ground chiles and vegetables, eaten fresh as soon as they are made or cooked and sealed in jars to keep. In English the word usually means a chunky, mostly raw mix, though in Spanish it covers any sauce.

Mexican cooks eat chiles fresh or cooked and also grind dried ones into sauces as a condiment or spice. Very hot peppers tend to be small, 1 to 3 inches long, while mild ones run 4 to 10 inches.

If you cut hot peppers for a homemade salsa, wear rubber gloves, since the oils irritate skin.

At a glance

Made from
Chiles, usually with tomatoes or tomatillos, onion and herbs
Main types
Red, green, raw, cooked
Unopened
12 to 18 months
Once opened
Refrigerate; use within one to two months

Salsas questions

How long does salsa last after opening?

Commercial jarred salsa keeps 12 to 18 months unopened in the cupboard. Once opened, it goes in the refrigerator, and extension storage guides say to use it within one to two months. Use a clean spoon rather than dipping chips straight into the jar, which keeps the rest fresher for longer.

What is a tomatillo?

A tomatillo, also called a Mexican husk tomato, is a small green fruit wrapped in a papery husk. It gives green salsas their tart, bright base. You do not need to peel or seed tomatillos, but the dry outer husk has to come off before you chop or roast them.

Why does home-canned salsa need lemon juice or vinegar?

Tomatoes, peppers and onions together may not be acidic enough to keep safely in a sealed jar, so tested canning recipes add acid. Use vinegar of at least 5 percent acidity or bottled lemon juice. Lemon juice can stand in for vinegar in equal amounts, but not the other way round, and never add extra peppers to a tested recipe.

Sources: National Center for Home Food Preservation; Kansas State University Research and Extension; Government of Mexico.

Shop by brand

Guides and recipes

Related categories