Best Reviewed
Salsa
- Best gourmet salsa Desert Pepper Trading Co. Salsa *Est. $5
- Best all-natural salsa Green Mountain Gringo Salsa *Est. $4
- Best supermarket salsa Pace Salsa *Est. $3
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Best gourmet salsa
- Thick and less watery than most mass-produced salsas
- Flavors are more balanced than most
- Some "mild" varieties can still taste too spicy
- A few varieties aren't that visually appealing, say some
- Expensive
We found credible reviews of Desert Pepper Corn, Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper salsa in Every Day With Rachael Ray magazine and Slate.com, an online magazine. We also found reviews of Desert Pepper's mild and hot regular salsas, and Consumer Reports weighs in on the Olive and Roasted Garlic flavor.
Desert Pepper Trading Co. offers a variety of salsa varieties, some of them rather unusual. Not all review sources rate the same Desert Pepper products, but overall the company's offerings fare well in blind taste tests than other brands. Taste testers agree that Desert Pepper's salsas tend to be thick and chunky. The Corn, Black Bean and Roasted Red Pepper variety won in two major taste tests, though some didn't find it very visually appealing. We also found good reviews for the mild, traditional Desert Pepper Divino salsa; tasters thought the flavors were well balanced, but some still found the mild to be on the spicy side. Desert Pepper generally gets the highest ratings of any commercial salsa in the reviews that include it, but their varieties are generally more expensive than the other mass-produced jarred salsas. We also found good reviews for some less expensive brands, including Green Mountain Gringo (*est. $4 for a 16-ounce jar) and Pace (*est. $3 for a 16-ounce jar).
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Our Sources
Every Day With Rachael Ray, doesn't indicate its testing methods or identify the losers among the 71 salsas it tried for this article. Desert Pepper Trading Co.'s Corn, Black Bean, Roasted Red Pepper is the "Best Corn Salsa" -- less watery than other corn salsas, with more corn, and the "generous" lime juice adds "zing."
Review: Just Add Chips, Dorothy Krasowska, Sept. 2007
2. ConsumerReports.org
Desert Pepper Trading Co.'s Olive Roasted Garlic is one of eleven salsas rated, and it appears that fresh taste is a major criterion. You'll need to be a subscriber to see where this salsa ranks.
Review: Salsas and tortilla chips, Editors of Consumer Reports, Sept. 2005
Prevention magazine's report suffers from a lack of information about testing methods and doesn't identify the losers. It chooses nine salsas as "best" in nine categories and Desert Pepper Hot Salsa Diablo wins the "hot" category.
Review: Healthy Summer Salsas, Denise Foley and Tanya Beers, June 2006
EatingWell uses a six-person panel of "salsa fanatics," to identify six top salsas out of 40 tested. Unfortunately, the loser salsas aren't identified. Desert Pepper Divino, a mild salsa, won the competition.
Review: Salsas Worth Scooping, Carolyn Malcoun, Not Dated
Slate.com's review is honest about its rather informal methodology: a blind taste test of friends done in NCAA basketball tournament bracket style. It's one of the few reviews that calls out the losers as well as the winners: Desert Pepper Trading Co.'s Corn, Black Bean, Roasted Red Pepper Salsa Medium eventually wins the championship over Pace's Chunky Salsa Medium.
Review: The Tangy 12, Dan Kois, Mar. 15, 2005
Alan De Smet is a computer software engineer with no apparent credentials as a salsa evaluator, but his opinions seem unbiased. Desert Pepper Divino gets a seven out of ten, and De Smet calls it a "good, solid salsa" with "large chunks."
Review: Salsa Reviews, Alan De Smet, Not Dated
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