It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Aah, Dickens. He sure knew how to write in such a way that it was impossible to disagree with him. I don’t tend to write like that – rather, I tend to pick an issue and viewpoint and write what I can to elaborate on it and explain why I chose that point of view. That and I’m not writing a work of fiction – I’m writing a non-fictional opinion! 🙂
And that is what I will do here, when it comes to a new brand of salsa (Salsa de Leon) I bought at my local HEB and tried this weekend – two types of them – Hot and Habanero Hot. I won’t tell you it was the best of salsa, it was the worst of salsa. Rather, they were both (among) the best of salsas!
The two are identical, even right down to not only the ingredients, but the relative amounts in which they exist (friendly reminder: when looking at the ingredients of any food stock sold, the ingredients always go in descending order by amount present). The only difference: The Habanero Hot has habanero peppers in it as an ingredient before the roasted onions, while Hot has none! Don’t take my word for it – see for yourself!
Both salsas, as you can see, are virtually identical. The texture is the same. You can see the fiery peppers ground up in both. As someone with a chemical engineering background (not that you need one to figure this out!), they are likely both created from the same batch with habanero peppers added to and mixed in the Habanero Hot as the last step.
Oh and the taste – both are fantastic, but interestingly, I find the Hot one to be just a little spicier than the Habanero Hot (maybe the Habanero Hot added a little extra sugar to counter the spicy peppers – who knows). Either way, they both go great with anything – any standard and non-standard TexMex, omelettes, soups, Bloody Mary’s and anything else you can creatively think of.
Check them out! They’re Texas-made and sold, but you can buy online too!
Spice on, my friends!
