Salsa Full Story

Despite the mixed ratings for salsa brands, a few varieties of pre-made salsa earn approval from even the most dubious reviewers. Various varieties of Desert Pepper Trading Co. salsa (*Est. $5 for 16-oz. jar) are top-rated by sources more often than any other salsa brand, although there's less consensus about which Desert Pepper variety is best. The top-rated source in our All Reviews list, Every Day with Rachael Ray, picks Desert Pepper's Corn, Black Bean, Roasted Red Pepper Salsa, and taste testers at Slate also choose the corn and black bean version as best (though its recommendation is tepid).

Other reviewers are partial to other Desert Pepper varieties. Desert Pepper's Diablo Salsa is Prevention's pick in the "hot" salsa category: "This blazing, thick combo of peppers and tomatoes …delivered the heat." EatingWell goes to the other extreme, praising Desert Pepper's mild variety, Salsa Divino, for its "smoky, herby, well-balanced flavor," while Health.com plumps for the medium-spicy, green Salsa del Rio, saying it offers a "perfect balance of heat and refreshment in every bite."

However, there are a couple of downsides to Desert Pepper salsas -- although these usually go unremarked (or remain implicit) in reviews. Primarily, Desert Pepper salsa is significantly more expensive than mainstream supermarket brands like Pace or Tostitos, at about $5 per jar compared to $2.50 or $3. And second, with varieties like Peach Mango, Raspberry Chipotle, Pineapple and Olive Roasted Garlic, this brand veers pretty far off the beaten track when it comes to traditional salsa flavors.

After Desert Pepper, the single salsa brand most often recommended by reviewers is Green Mountain Gringo. Besides taste, Green Mountain differs from Desert Pepper in two ways: first, it's cheaper (*Est. $4 for 16-oz. jar), and second, it's made from all-natural ingredients, with no artificial preservatives, flavorings or colorings. Green Mountain's varieties are also more "traditional," with none of the non-conventional fruit or vegetables you'll find in some of the Desert Pepper Co. salsa varieties.

Although Green Mountain Gringo is passed over in silence by Every Day with Rachael Ray, it does score some prominent mentions in other sources. It's Prevention's top pick in the mild salsa category; editors say it has the "perfect texture for chip dipping -- not too thick and not too watery," and one tester praises its tomatoes, which "taste like they were freshly chopped." The medium variety gets the thumbs-up from Health.com: "As close to homemade as store-bought salsa gets. Boasting quality ingredients that are chopped, not pureed, it's flavorful with just the right amount of kick." Oddly, while most other reviewers like Green Mountain Gringo, Cook's Illustrated criticizes this salsa for its "cooked flavor" and excessive sweetness.

We were also impressed by the comments about Green Mountain Gringo on a forum at Chowhound.com. One poster notes that Green Mountain's all-natural formulation makes it ideal to cook with, and others rave about its taste and quality ingredients. It's interesting, though, that reviewers seem only to like (or to mention) Green Mountain's standard varieties, not its Roasted Garlic or Roasted Chile Pepper versions, for which we're unable to vouch.

Supermarket salsa

For many people -- especially those without access to gourmet or specialty stores -- jarred salsa means national, mainstream brands like Ortega or Chi-Chi's. Unfortunately, reviewers tend to be unkind to these salsa brands.

However, there is one national brand that earns above-average reviews in blind taste tests: Pace (*Est. $3 for 16-oz. jar). In Every Day with Rachael Ray's top-ranked roundup, Pace Picante Mild is praised for its "classic, no-fuss taste." Pace Chunky Mild also does well in EatingWell's taste test; one panelist praises its "bright color and natural flavor," but another takes issue with its "overpowering tomato paste flavor" and yet a third complains of an unpleasant aftertaste. Pace Chunky is the only salsa recommended by Cook's Illustrated in its April 2007 roundup; tasters praise it as "full-flavored" and "fairly spicy."

Perhaps most impressively, Pace Chunky Medium makes it all the way to the finals in Slate magazine's NCAA-style salsa tournament, matched against nothing less than Desert Pepper Trading Co. Corn, Black Bean, Roasted Red Pepper. Pace is described by Slate's testers as "synthetic but palatable" and "pleasant but unsurprising," which is high praise compared to the scorn heaped on Tostitos and Ortega by Slate taste testers. For this reason, we chose to include Pace in ConsumerSearch Fast Answers as the best choice among inexpensive brands.

This isn't to say that mass-market brands like Tostitos (*Est. $2.50 for a 16-oz. jar) don't also have their fans. In a typically left-handed roundup of supermarket salsa from 2003, Cook's Illustrated calls Tostitos Restaurant Style Medium Salsa "not bad" and "very mild;" however, a more recent Cook's roundup blasts Tostitos Natural Chunky as "soupy," "too sweet" and "artificial," with tasters vastly preferring Pace. And food blogger Ed Levine is surprisingly fond of All-Natural Tostitos Chunky, saying all its flavors are well balanced (though he still prefers homemade salsa).

Once you get past Pace and Tostitos, reviewers become a lot less charitable. Slate, for example, isn't quite willing to extend its backhanded compliments about Pace to other supermarket salsas; Chi-Chi's (*Est. $3) is panned as "not awful" and "not boring as hell," while Tostitos is dismissed as "sweet, mild and boring, like Matt Lauer" and Ortega (*Est. $4) is dubbed "bland." And in its most recent roundup, Cook's Illustrated calls Ortega Thick and Chunky "saucy, slimy …and dull as dishwater," and likens Old El Paso Thick 'n Chunky to ketchup. (To be fair, though, Old El Paso does pick up a couple of positive mentions, if a top pick by Boston.com as "far from adored" but "least hated" qualifies as positive.)

Honorable mention salsa

As mentioned above, so many different salsas are introduced each year that reviewers can find it difficult to stay current. Further complicating matters, many of these salsas are regional -- so a new favorite in the southwest may not be available in the northeast (unless you buy it online or by mail order).

The brands in ConsumerSearch Fast Answers are top-rated most often by reviewers, with a handful of other salsa brands well-reviewed here and there. One of these is Herdez Salsa Casera (*Est. $4) , which is Prevention's top pick in the "medium" category and also receives some positive mentions from salsa enthusiasts posting at Chowhound.com. Ironically, though, it's another top ranking -- by Ed Levine -- that prompted us not to consider Herdez for ConsumerSearch Fast Answers. He chooses this salsa expressly because it's thin and watery, so it can be "improved" at home. This, combined with some other less-than-enthusiastic Herdez reviews, leads us to the comparably priced Green Mountain Gringo instead.

Another salsa that receives more than one mention from reviewers is Santa Barbara (*Est. $5) , whose eclectic lineup -- Mango & Peach, Habanero Lime, Artichoke, Tangy Apple, etc. -- makes it a direct competitor of Desert Pepper Trading Co. Santa Barbara's green salsa is a top pick of Prevention, and Cook's Illustrated praises its "medium" variety in its older 2003 roundup. However, the weight of the evidence is that Desert Pepper Trading Co. salsas are better -- which is why we've chosen not to include Santa Barbara in ConsumerSearch Fast Answers.