Growers and Grocers

As I pine for spring, it’s only fitting that my first post for Growers and Grocers is about a series of salsas available from the award-winning supermarket Wegmans. I love the store, but my only complaint about Wegmans is that because the company regularly introduces its own branded products, this process limits shelf space and therefore someone has to go home. In general, though, the Wegmans brands are reliable in quality; lately we’ve been enjoying an excellent, shelf-stable, no-stir organic peanut butter. This brings me to one of their latest products: Roasted Salsas.

The first one I purchased was salsa verde, which is comprised of jalapenos, tomatillos, roasted tomatoes, onions, garlic, cilantro and other spices. It remains my favorite and I immediately thought to use it in my enchilada recipe. The other two I tried were roasted chipotle and roasted tomato. The chipotle one was appropriately smoky but not overly sweet, and the roasted tomato really tasted like its namesake. These three salsas are rated medium, which seemed apt, and the other salsa variety, which I didn’t try, is sweet pepper. All four salsas come in 16 oz. jars.

My only complaint about these otherwise delicious salsas is that with the exception of the salsa verde, the other two seem to be a little bit watery. I don’t mind a bit of that from time to time, but the ingredients seem to be slightly more pureed in the other two flavors I tried; the ingredients in salsa verde seemed more distinct and consistently sized.

Regardless, if you live near a Wegmans (they have stores mostly in mid-Atlantic/Northeast area), I highly recommend them. I imagine that the tomato version would be great in my faux chili, which I make with Boca Crumbles. Indeed, all of them are suitable for use in cooking.