Salsa Festival

The City of Maricopa hosts a Salsa Festival- really, a salsa competition- every spring. I had been meaning to go for several years but never quite made it to the Annual Salsa Festival to taste as many salsas as I could. This year would be different!

Over 13,000 people made the trek on April 30th  to sample more than 40 salsa recipes. The festival is truly a community event with individuals, businesses (yes, even restaurants!), churches and community groups competing for the $1000 grand prize (Best Overall Salsa) as well as the $500 prizes for Best Mild, Best Hot and Most Unusual Salsa.

Each person was given a bag of chips to use for sampling the salsas... and we were off! Some booths decorated with banners, streamers, serapes for tablecloths and sombreros hanging from the poles. Others opted for the no-frills approach. Either way, the salsas were fabulous... delightful... a south-of-the-border party in your mouth. 

We only sampled about a dozen different salsas... some of them more than once to determine "the best one!" My favorites were the ones competing in the "Most Unusual" category. The pineapple and mango salsas were good but not that unusual anymore. One tasty one had small bites of jack cheese giving it an interesting texture. My favorite, though, was one that had chopped red grapes... don't gag... it was really good! They gave the salsa a slightly sweeter taste (along with the heat from the chilis) as well as an unexpected crunch. 

After sampling, attendees were invited to vote. We all agreed it was hard to decide but eventually came up with our favorites. At the end of the event, winners were announced and congratulated. Incidentally, my favorite did not win. However, I was inspired to experiment and come up with my own "Most Unusual" salsa... my challenge for this summer!