Hernandez 1

Hugo Hernandez
Professor David Harper
English 101
31 August 2014

Salsa

I was born in a small town called Chipoco in the state of Hidalgo, which is located on the
east site of Mexico. I was raised in Mexico until the age of nine years old. Years later I
immigrated to the United States in 2004. While in Mexico my mother always had these three
ingredients in her kitchen, jalapenos, tomatoes and salt. My mother uses those ingredients to
make salsa!
Now that Ive moved to the states, I still find those three ingredients in my mothers
kitchen. Mexican Salsa is very important to my culture; without it dinner would not be the same.
Mexican salsa is like ketchup for your fries, except we pour salsa on our tacos and other dishes
of course. Even though my recipe is not from the eastern shore, my family who has been living
on the eastern shore has kept the tradition going for generations.
My mother uses the old tradition for making her salsas. The jalapenos and tomatoes are
put together in a pot and boiled until the vegetables are cooked. The unique way of mixing salsa
is with a molcajete, which is a Mexican mortar stone. When crushing the peppers, one must

Hernandez 2
not breathe because the jalapenos do release a strong spicy odor. The tomatoes are much easier
to crush because they just melt in the molcajete. When the salsa is all mixed together salt is
added to add more flavor and to tone down the spiciness.
One of my earliest memories I have of this recipe is of my grandma preparing it. When
my grandmother would make salsa, her wedding ring would brush against the stone and it would
create this sound that was very appealing to my ears. My grandma also believed that your mood
would affect the level of spiciness of the salsa. If the person were angry than the salsa would be
really spicy. She also believed if someone were in love than the salsa would have no spiciness to
it, because of a hearth was filled with sweetness.
The ingredients are really important when it comes to making salsa. The tomatoes give
the salsa a sweet taste. The jalapenos give it the right spiciness. The salt enhances the sweetness
and the spiciness by toning down and mixing the ingredients together. Every persons salsa is
different, and the ingredients are not to blame. My Abuelita believed that a persons mood would
affect how the salsa would taste. The next time Ill be preparing some type of dish Ill have to
think about my mood first.