During the summer, when visiting my family, I love taking fresh veggies straight from the garden and making my own salsa (sodium-free) from scratch. It is great, as everything is fresh, ripe, and raw, and I can control exactly what goes in. I use tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, (and sometimes zucchini, cucumbers, or other seasonal vegetables), and add in lemon juice, lime juice, a couple different vinegars, freshly picked herbs, and various other spices. I can adjust it to my taste and what I am in the mood for at the moment, and feel good about what I am eating.
This approach is not entirely practical for many, though, and I know that. That is why I am so excited about my newest find. Browsing the wonderful assortment of goodies as Fairway, I found Enrico's No Salt Added Chunky Salsa, in both mild and hot. I am a baby when it comes to spice, so I picked up a 16 oz jar of the mild version. It was $2.99, which is more than the $1.00-$1.50 I've paid in the past for store brand salsas ... and the extra couple dollars, let me tell you, is WELL worth it.
The only difference is that, while most salsas contain 20% of the daily value of sodium, this contains just 2% of the DV (60 mg). I was afraid this may take away from the flavor, but was happily mistaken. Upon opening the jar, I noticed they weren't kidding when they called it chunky, as there were large pieces of various vegetables, easily recognizable and brightly colored. The diced vegetables were incredibly crunchy, not soggy unlike some salsas, and really tasted as if they had been freshly harvested.
The other nutritional stats are nearly identical to most salsas, each 2 tablespoon serving of Enrico's No Salt Added Mild Chunky Salsa provides 10 calories, no fat or protein, 3 grams carbohydrates which includes 2 grams of sugars and no fiber. The ingredients are Diced Tomatoes, Tomato Puree (Water, Tomato Paste), Jalapeno Peppers, Apple Cider Vinegar, Distilled Vinegar, Onions, Corn Starch, Garlic, Cilantro, and Red Pepper.
Overall, this has to be the freshest-tasting, crunchiest, best store-bought salsa I have ever tasted, and I will definitely be keeping it around the kitchen in the future.