How To Make Red Rocoto Salsa

Red Rocoto Salsa is a great way to use some of the delicious deep heat of this fiery South American pepper. One Rocoto plant can be quite prolific and the round, apple like peppers pack a lot of heat, coming in as high as 100,000 on the scoville scale. This recipe brings the fire but tones it down with tomato and onion.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch A Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Red Rocoto Salsa:

https://youtu.be/7ughPTwv8RU

Ingredients For Red Rocoto Salsa

• 1 lb Tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 2 Red Rocoto Peppers, cut into quarters, seeds removed
• 1 Red Onion, chopped
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• Juice Of 2 Limes
• 1 Tbls Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Oz Blanco Tequila
• 1/2 Cup Packed Cilantro Leaves

Tomatoes and Rocotos

We’ll start by putting one pound of tomatoes into our food processor. Then we’ll add our rocoto peppers. Chances are good that if you are reading this recipe you already know about these rocoto peppers but in case you don’t: Red rocoto peppers are the earliest known cultivated peppers and are native to Peru. They are common in South America and can also be found in Central America and Mexico. The fruit is round, resembling an apple or plum somewhat and the plant can live for several years. Our rocoto peppers are very spicy!

Red Onion

Next we’ll add our red onion pieces.

Salt and Sugar

For seasoning we will add salt and sugar. The sugar really helps us bring out the flavor in these spicy salsas.

Lime Juice

We’ll add the juice of two small limes to bring some acid and brighten up our salsa. If your limes are big you might only want to use one.

Red Wine Vinegar

Next we add 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar. You can use a different vinegar but this keeps with the vibrant red color of our salsa and has a flavor that goes well with the red rocoto peppers.

Tequila

The secret ingredient for our salsa is one ounce of a good blanco tequila. You can leave this out but we feel like it really adds a lot to our salsa. It is best if you can find a good blanco or reposado tequila that doesn’t have any additives. You want the flavor of agave rather than the flavor of added vanilla and sugar. We visited El Tequileño distillery on our trip to Tequila, Mexico and we’ve been able to find their tequila in California.

Cilantro

Lastly we’ll add our cilantro. We like the flavor cilantro adds to the salsa so we want enough to be noticeable. Cilantro also has a cooling effect on the spice level of the chiles.

Blend Well

Now we just run the food processor until everything is combined well and our Red Rocoto Salsa is ready to serve. We like it as a dip on chips and it’s also good on tacos and various Mexican meals.

Here are some other salsa and hot sauce recipes:

• Red Rocoto Hot Sauce
• Pico de Gallo
• Morita Salsa
• Arbol Salsa

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