2 days ago
‘I had to spit it out': 10 supermarket tomato salsas put to the taste test
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It's the sauce of the summer. Lively, tangy tomato salsa brings fresh bite to smokey barbecued burgers or a sloppy-but-healthy vibe as a tortilla-chip dip.
'Fresh' is the key word here. For cooked tomato relish, see ketchup or chutney. Salsa might just mean sauce in Spanish, but to us it is made with chopped raw ingredients, something that needs to be consumed hours – if not minutes – after assembling.
That's an impossibility in Supermarket Land. Their so-called 'fresh' salsas – for 'fresh', read 'chilled' – have in fact been sitting around since manufacture, probably for days, which makes them anything but fresh-tasting. Some of them contain calcium carbonate to keep the tomato pieces from dissolving to a slop in the acid bath, which gives a curiously cardboard-like texture to the chunks. Others have tomato puree in the mix, lending a cold-pasta-sauce flavour. Most have preservatives, stabilisers, or acidity regulators, all of which mark them out as an Ultra-Processed Food (UPF).
The alternative is of course to make tomato salsa yourself. When I've tested mayonnaise, ice cream, pizza and other fridge and freezer staples, many readers have been quick to point out it's perfectly possible to make these things oneself.
I'm a make-from-scratch cook but I'm used to defending the corner of those who sometimes, or always, need the ease of ready-made. Not only that, on a tight budget and with a limited larder, ready-made is often cheaper than buying all the ingredients for homemade.
But with tomato salsa, I may have to yield: the recipe needs no heat source, no pans or fancy equipment, just a sharp knife, a board and a bowl. It is as simple as chopping 500g tomatoes, 5 spring onions, a red chilli and a small bunch of fresh coriander, then mixing the lot with salt and the juice of a lime. No industrial ingredients required, and the flavour will make your supper sing.
I calculate the cost to be about £3 to make 600g, so comparable to buying three 200g tubs of the cheapest 99p salsa, and considerably less than the posher, more expensive ones. Mind you, if you only want 200g salsa, your at-the-checkout cost for a homemade version will be higher, as you'll still have to buy whole bunches of spring onions and coriander, not to mention more chilli and lime than you need. Let's hope you can use them elsewhere.
All the same, there is definitely a place for a pot of readymade salsa. Whether it's for an impromptu park picnic or to take on a camping trip, or just because it's one less thing to think about, the best will hit the spot.
Read on for my verdict on the supermarket salsas that deliver satisfaction, and the ones that are just plain sad.
How we tested
I left the room while all the salsas were spooned into separate containers and assigned letters A-J. I returned and tasted them from a spoon and with a tortilla chip.
