Salsa by the Dozen

The word "salsa" comes from the Spanish word for sauce. It's also related to the Latin word "sal" which means salad. So which is it? A sauce or a salad?

How about both?

Salsa can be made so that it resembles a sauce, such as the bottled salsa you would buy at your grocery store or those made in a blender with canned tomatoes. Salsa can also be a salad if you use fresh, chopped ingredients like fresh juicy tomatoes or sweet, delicious fruit.

Traditional salsa is made with tomatoes, but today, there's more interest in creating sweet delectable salsa from fruits like mangos, peaches and pineapple.

Essentially salsa, regardless of whether you start with a tomato or a mango, has the same type of ingredients. Something sweet like the tomato or other fruit; something sour like lime or lemon juice; something savory or spicy and finally, something salty.

Let's take a basic tomato salsa recipe. It has sweet tomato (whether canned or fresh) some lime juice for sour, an onion or some other savory/spicy ingredient and some salt. That's it - but that covers the four flavors that makes a perfectly balanced salsa.

So what if you wanted to make a fruit salsa. Let's look at a recipe for peach salsa:

2 cups peeled, diced ripe peaches
1/2 cup diced red onion
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
1/2 teaspoon minced jalapeno chiles
2 tablespoons lime juice
1/4 cup minced fresh mint
2 teaspoons frest grated ginger
Pinch of salt
(Combine all ingredients, let sit for one hour and serve)

We have peaches and red bell peppers for sweetness.
There's lime juice for sour.
Add some onion, chilies, ginger and mint for spice and depth.
Add a bit of salt and there you have it - a perfectly balanced salsa.

Now that we know the formula, it's easy to take any sweet ingredient and turn it into a salad style salsa. So let's create our own salsa:

Let's start with sweet chunks of pineapple - either fresh or canned (drained)
Add the juice of 1/2 a lime
Some chopped onion (red would be nice and mild - and colorful)
Basil goes great with pineapple so lets add a small handful of chopped basil
For a little heat, lets add a small jalapeno chopped (remove the seed and veins for less heat)
A touch of salt and there you have it.

Experiment with making your own salsa. Remember - something sweet, a little bit of something sour, something savory or spicy and a touch of salt.

Note: I just made and tried the pineapple salsa (above) that was based on our four elements of flavor - it was delicious.

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