Gavilla Patricia Quintana – Salsa de Aguacate y Habanero (Avocado and Habanero Salsa)

This is another one of my little treasures I brought back from my trip to Mexico, though when doing some research on the brand I discovered it is available for sale in the USA via online purchase. Interestingly the US market salsas are just branded as Patricia Quintana without the Gavilla.

Patricia Quintana is a Mexican chef and cookbook author who entered the prepared salsa market 35 years ago. The company sources all of their ingredients from family and community farms. In addition to a range of salsas the company also produces salad dressings and cooking sauces.

I’m a fan of avocados. The avocado salsa that’s occasionally available at Moe’s is one of my favorite condiments they carry, and whipping up a quick guacamole at home is an easy and delicious snack or light dinner. I’ve tried and enjoyed the Herdez brand guacamole salsa, but being a mass-market commercial product it is loaded with a lot of artificial ingredients.

This salsa, on the other hand, is all natural, and sourcing ingredients from small farms is usually a good indicator of quality. The first thing I noticed when tasting this salsa is that it has quite a bit more heat than I expected. This is by far the spiciest guacamole salsa that I’ve tasted which gives it an additional dimension in flavor. There’s also quite a bit of tanginess from the tomatillos and I nice earthy undertone from the onions and garlic. This isn’t the brightest guacamole salsa I’ve ever tasted, others that use lots of cilantro and herbs tend to have a more pronounced green vegetal herbal fresh flavor, but neither is this muted, it’s savory and the pepper tastes come through well balanced against the creaminess of the avocado.

Using a trio of peppers – jalapeno, serrano, and habanero – does give this salsa a complex pepper flavor. The fruitiness of the habanero, the grassiness of the jalapeno, and the brighter freshness of the serrano all play a part. The texture of this salsa is also quite smooth, though with a good medium consistency it can cling to tortilla chips without being so thick as to risk breaking the extremely thin and shatteringly crispy variety.

This salsa does work on more than just tortilla chips. With a nice amount of heat and a natural creamy texture this is a great addition to tacos and burritos, especially fish tacos which always benefit from something a bit creamy and spicy.

This is an easy salsa for me to recommend. Not only is it very tasty, it’s all natural with wholesome ingredients.

Ingredients: Tomate Verde (tomatillo), Agua (water), Aguacate (avocado), Cebolla (onion), Chile Jalapeno, Chile Serrano, Salt, Aceite Vegetal (vegetable oil), Chile Habanero, Ajo (garlic), Cilantro, Azucares Anadidos (added sugar)

Heat Level: 4/10. This salsa has some kick to it, though the soothing avocado cools as it burns