Local shoppers can experience a taste of Colombia because of an award-winning salsa from Spicewood-based Ximena’s Latin Flavors.
Founded in 2013 by Jorge and Ximena Guerra, the company features its products, including Salsa Criolla and a spicier version, Salsa Criolla Caliente, in area H-E-B stores.
“We take age-old recipes and make them our own,” Jorge said. “We make them healthy, versatile and unique.”
Ximena's Latin Flavors was founded by Ximena and Jorge Guerra.[/caption]Salsa Criolla, which translates to “home-grown salsa,” is gluten-free, cholesterol-free and uses all-natural ingredients, he said.
“If you can’t pronounce it, you won’t find it our product,” Jorge said.
The salsa was actually created by Jorge’s wife, Ximena, who grew up in Cali, Colombia, and moved to Texas in 2000. Ximena said when she arrived in Texas she did not have much cooking experience. She said she initially found Texan food to be too spicy for her palate, so she started experimenting in the kitchen with the milder flavors she grew up with in Colombia.
Ximena said the Salsa Criolla can be poured on all meats, vegetables and salads and also serves as a marinade.
“It simplifies American cooking,” Ximena, a mother of two children, said. “It has vegetables for the kids who struggle to eat vegetables.”
To make the Salsa Criolla Caliente, Ximena’s imports the aji amarillo pepper, a spicy Peruvian pepper grown in Santander de Quilichao, Colombia. Jorge said by buying peppers from Colombia, his company is allowing farmers to repurpose land that was previously used to grow the coca plant for cocaine.
“We want to bring goodness to the country we represent,” Jorge said. “On every product [label], we have a little story about where the product came from. We want to export Americans to Colombia without [them] ever [having to leave] home.”
Salsa Criolla Caliente recently won second place in the Salsa, Dip category in the Specialty Food Association’s SOFi Awards competition in New York City, which included 3,000 entries.
Ximena’s also launched 11 new products this year, including a spicy Vaquero Salsa, three types of pepper paste, five types of Peruvian aji peppers in jars and two Colombian soups.
“We hope to take this all over the world,” Jorge said of Ximena’s salsas. “We want to be on every restaurant table in America, kind of like ketchup, mustard and sriracha. That is the end goal. We feel it’s that good, and it’s that versatile.”