Ingredients: Diced tomatoes, blue crab, sweet yellow corn, finely chopped green bell peppers, lime juice, smoked chipotle peppers, minced green chili peppers, Worcestershire sauce, a special blend of herbs and spices.

I LOVE CRABS. Ok, that may not be the way to start this review…What I meant to say is that I really enjoy partaking in fine food that comes from water, particularly crustacean type animals. I also love chipotles and sweet yellow corn. But I’ve never had them together, so when Nick sent me this bottle, I was excited to go tongue surfing with this Chipotle Blue Crab Salsa!

The secret to making really good salsa is watching the salt. The reason you have to be careful with it is because what’s the #1 vessel salsa uses to get to your gums? Chips, and 99% of store bought chips are salted. So you want a salsa that’s not too high in the sodium with enough to bring out the flavors of the other ingredients. This salsa delivers that fine balance. What really impressed me with this salsa is that they took, essentially, “sweet” ingredients (blue crab, yellow corn) and married them with very subtle chipotles.

And the aroma is great. My instructions were to chill this before using, so that somewhat muted (is that the right term?) the smell, but I got a great whiff of the green chiles. And this is a nice chunky salsa. Why doesn’t anybody make salsa this way, where you can actually SEE what’s in it?

But what’s important is taste. Again, I chilled it before using, and with my trusty tasting spoon I took a huge bite. To say it is mild is like saying the Pacific Ocean is wet. Very, very mild, almost to the point of being sweet. Almost too sweet for me. So yeah, I did the chip thing, store bought tortillas. Good. Not great, but good. Then I thought: Pasta. And when I think of seafood and pasta I think of Ramen noodles (hey, what the hell). After adding just a touch of sea salt, I had a gourmet meal, it really worked. When you add a little bit of heat to this, all the flavors really come to life. This is a fun salsa.

So here is my Five Points Scale:
Appearance: A clear 5. I like seeing what I’m chipping.
Smell: 4. Clean, fresh green chile smell.
Taste: 3. OK chilled, but I think this is a better topping on hot foods.
Heat: .05. And that’s really pushing it.
Overall: 3. This is a nice salsa for everyone. Just add your own heat, that’s really all it needs.

Until next time, treat every meal like it was your last

Awards:
2005 NBBQA National Champion! Won 1st Place - Best Salsa
2004 National Barbecue Association Award of Excellence, National Champion in the Salsa / Any Thing Goes Category.

Peppers
1815 Ocean Outlets Seaside,
Rehoboth Beach, DE 19971