The History of Sam's Famous Salsa

Hi, I’m Sam Derr the Owner and President of Elite Superior Foods. I was trained as a traditional chef and later extended experience into becoming a professional Sushi chef. I know it may sound odd, “how does a Sushi chef make Salsa?” Well, this concept of bringing my Salsa to the retail world started close to 20 years ago, long before becoming a Sushi chef.

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I was taught my family Salsa recipe which dates back well over 100 years ago. The recipe originated from the Tarahumara Indian tribe with heavy Hispanic and Latino flavors that were picked up as my family travelled north several generations ago.

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The original recipe which had been handed down through my family was great to begin with however,I wondered if I could make a great Salsa even better AND one that would speak to everyone!

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I started making Salsa for my own family in small batches not really thinking someday my Salsa would be sitting on retail grocery store shelves. After years of making my Salsa for family and friends, they all started to ask me to make a batch for their family functions or parties. Then a very good friend that was in college asked if she could take a fresh batch and use it to compare to other very large, well known brands currently in grocery stores. Not thinking much of her request, I gave her a batch to use at school so that she could write her assignment. My only request at the time from her was that she would have to give me brutally honest feedback from peers and college faculty, which she agreed to do.  

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When my friend returned with feedback, I braced myself for a verbal reality check.  She proceeded to tell me that everyone really enjoyed my Salsa and it was well received. I then asked how it stood up against all the other major name brands (approximately 5 other brand names).  She then explains everyone within her test group liked it better overall than any other Salsa. I then asked my friend, was there any negative feedback??!  She informed me of some small changes that her test group requested however she made it a point to inform me that everyone within her test group really liked the flavor profile.

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I went back to my kitchen made some changes, never changing the original flavor and 20 years later here we are.  So, we hope you enjoy our Salsa and our other products under the Elite Superior Foods brand name.