Kosher Salsa: The Conundrum

This was supposed to be a list of Kosher, commercially available kinds of salsa and pico do gallo.  I wrote to all of you and many responded with brand names, links and recipes.  Some of you even suggested that I commit what sounded at the time like an unspeakable act of heresy: pour Olive's favorite salsa into a Tupperware container.

I spent the next several days slogging through the links and filing away your diligently transcribed recipes for future reference.  Then I purchased several different brands.

The first one I tried was Green Mountain Gringo Salsa, based on the recommendation of this website, link sent to me by one of you kind readers.  Yay!  Kosher salsa!  I found two bottles at our supermarket and sent them to school with Olive the next morning.  She came home with them that afternoon, along with an apologetic note from Teacher Caroline: not Kosher enough for Keshet.  Several brands of organic salsa were sent off and returned in the same manner.

I found a few kinds of salsa that were indeed Kosher for Keshet but were made with pineapple or peaches, and tested them at home.  Olive went to the cabinet of her own accord and came to me with a bottle of Goya brand, pointing emphatically at the label with her index finger.  Then she set the bottle down on the counter and  signed "more for me."  When this didn't work, she put the Goya away and came back with Pace (made in San Antonio by peple who know what salsa's supposed to taste like).  The only thing she's ever been willing to jump through such hoops for is a Dove bar.  Clearly, there were two important issues when it came to salsa: which brands are Kosher, and which fit Olive's definition of the true nature of salsa.

Undaunted, I ordered Bone Suckin' salsa from this website, suggested by another reader.  This time, I sent the bottle to school with Olive without having her taste it at home.  When she returned that afternoon I checked her backpack: no bottle of salsa.  I checked again the next day: no salsa.  I was elated, feeling as if I'd finally gotten the soda machine to accept my crumpled bill and drop that can of Diet Coke. 

On the third day the jar materialized in Olive's backpack, about 2/3 full with a note stuck to it saying that though this salsa was Kosher, Olive did not seem to care for it.  And at the bottom of the note was the merciful suggestion that we put individual portions of salsa in Olive's lunchbox, in small, innocuous Tupperware containers.  You can't prove that salsa in an unmarked container is Kosher, but... you also can't prove it isn't.

Comments

[Carys]

Thank goodness for Teacher Caroline and her note! Now the school can rest easy and Olive can enjoy her salsa --- and you can have one less worry!

Carys

[Irma]

Blessed be Teacher Caroline who finally put an end to this salsa dance or should I say hora(?)Olive knows her salsas and the one in the unmarked container is the right one.