Medium Salsa

Test date: June 2010

Testers: Michele, husband Marc, two sisters, and father (c'mon, who doesn't want to test 12 types of salsa with chips??)

Products for this test purchased at Fred Meyer and Trader Joe's.

MICHELE'S OPINION: Some of these salsas were TERRIBLE. But the good ones were really good. Stick with Rojo's for a fresher taste, or Private Selection or All Natural Tostitos for a good shelf-stable option. Read on for more details on price, nutrition, and taste:

PRICE COMPARISON FOR 16OZ SALSA (store first, then brand):
$2.79 Fred Meyer Mission
$2.69 Fred Meyer Herdez
$2.50 Fred Meyer Tostitos
$2.50 Fred Meyer All Natural Tostitos
$2.29 Fred Meyer Rojo's
$2.29 Trader Joe's brand
$2.00 Fred Meyer Resers Baja Cafe
$2.00 Fred Meyer Pace
$1.99 Fred Meyer brand
$1.79 Fred Meyer Private Selection
$1.67 Fred Meyer La Victoria

1. Private Selection Authentic Restaurant Style Medium: This salsa received mixed reviews, but won the best taste test award from Marc. It is a pretty tomato-y salsa with a good spice level. Dissenters thought it was TOO tomato-y, a bit vinegary, and somewhat watery.

2. La Victoria Salsa Suprema Medium: None of the testers liked this salsa, giving comments like "thin, not enough veggie taste, not very complex in flavor, mushy tomato", and my favorite, "tastes like plastic".

3. Herdez Salsa Medium: This product tastes more like ketchup than salsa and it is watery. That seemed to be the general consensus, but then I got two conflicting opinions: "tastes terrible, disgusting!" and "good". So I'm not sure what to do with that....

4. Rojo's Fresh Cut Salsa Restaurant Style Medium: My dad said that this product is too thin and has too much cilantro in it, but everyone else loves it. It is fresh tasting, just the right level of spicy, and tastes like a salsa that you would have at a restaurant.

5. Resers Baja Cafe Medium Original Salsa: This product got bad reviews all around. It tastes like plastic and has too much lemony flavor. It is watery and frankly terrible.

6. Mission Chunky Salsa Medium: This product has a good chunky consistency and a good spiciness level. It has a tomato-y flavor that some are not a big fan of, but overall this is a fair product.

7. Pace The Original Picante Sauce Medium: This product is very tomato-y and is not very chunky. It has a good spiciness to it and a garlic flavor.

8. All Natural Tostitos Chunky Salsa Medium: My dad thinks that this product has a good consistency and a tomato-y flavor. Others thought it was TOO tomato-y and did not have a very intense flavor.

9. Tostitos Restaurant Style Salsa: All testers agreed that this product is very watery. It has very little flavor.

10. Fred Meyer Thick & Chunky Salsa Medium: This product has a relatively thin consistency and is very spicy. It has flavors of tomato paste and coriander and received a "terrible" vote.

11. Trader Jose's Chunky Salsa, $2.29 for 16oz (Only available at Trader Joe's): This product did not get good reviews, including "thin, tasteless, vinegary" and my favorite "has a chicken broth undertone". Who knew salsa could taste like noodle soup?

NUTRITIONAL NOTES: Everyone knows that salsa is healthy, so dig in and eat as much as you want (except for the bad tasting ones, as detailed above).

TASTE WINNER: Three votes for Rojo's, one for All Natural Tostitos Chunky, and one for Private Selection.