1/20/12

Fair Trade Review: Women's Bean Project Salsa


So one of the presents I gave my Mom for Christmas was some Salsa mix! When she was pregnant with me she always craved salsa, so salsa in my house is definitely sentimental. Plus I am a huge advocate of fair trade, so finding fair trade salsa mix made my day!

The Women's Bean Project is an organization that "strives to break the cycle of chronic unemployment and poverty by helping women discover their talents and develop skills by offering job readiness training opportunities". They are awesome. They sell a bunch of different food mixes ranging from dips to breads to cookies. They also sell coffee/tea and jewelry.

However, what I think is most interesting is that they are not hiring women to make/sell products, but they are selling products to hire women. In short, WBP:
  • Meets basic needs and removes barriers to employment by paying a wage and facilitating support services
  • Offers life skills that enhance a woman's ability to govern her own life
  • Arranges services that increase employ-ability such as GED and computer classes
  • Provide hands-on training in the fundamental job readiness skills required by entry-level employers


I wanted to make a salsa fresca with some fresh tomatoes, onions and cilantro. About half the mix can be  mixed with 1lb of tomatoes, which I think is pretty impressive. After cutting everything up and mixing the ingredients with the mix, I let it sit for roughly 2 hours to let all the flavors mesh.


I am pretty impressed with the mix, but honestly I think the 1lb/half pack ratio is off. I did not really taste a whole lot of mix. There is also a recipe given where you blend canned tomatoes, jalepenos, onion and the mix that I would like to try (with organic tomatoes!). I am curious if the mix is better with canned ingredients compared to fresh.

Are you a fan of mixes like this? Any recommendations I should try? Also if you love salsa, what is your favorite brand/kind?

5 comments:

  1. I love, love, love salsa! I made a really good salsa last summer for our church picnic and had a couple people hunting me down for the recipe. I just used garden fresh tomatoes (about3), 1 Serrano pepper,salt to taste, 2 cloves of garlic and a handful of fresh chopped cilantro. I was super surprised with the results-I usually try to get all fancy with ingredients and had been trying to make a good, full-flavored salsa for quite some time. ( adding red onion, different spices, etc..)

    The only other salsa I eat when tomatoes cannot be gotten fresh from the garden or farmer's market is Trader Joe's Double Roasted Salsa. Also pretttttty tasty!


    Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

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  2. That looks so good! You have such a cute blog, we should follow each other :)
    xx

    www.bethegoodness.blogspot.com

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  3. I'm not super big into salsa's, but I love the Hidden Vally Ranch dip packs.. hahaha!!

    Thanks for stopping by my blog. Happy Friday :o)

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  4. what a great idea, i love finding products with an ethical motivation!
    happiness...

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  5. I love homemade salsa

    Xo

    Prairie-princess.blogspot.com

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