Last week we highlighted Carla Gallegos-Ortega, owner of Sabor New Mexico. For those of you that may have missed last week's Newsletter, Carla makes salsas and sauces that we now offer. The South Valley Economic Development Center (SVEDC) is a nonprofit that offers a community kitchen, The Mixing Bowl, that Carla uses to cook and jar her salsa. Having a relationship with the SVEDC allows us to learn about new businesses that are incubating there, and to build relationships with emerging local producers. The SVEDC is a valuable resource in the Albuquerque community.

The SVEDC is an information and resource hub for community members that want to start a business or need guidance in growing an existing one. Their programming is divided into three main areas: The Mixing Bowl, The Virtual Incubation Program, and The Business Incubation Program. In addition, they offer trainings, small business support, and house Delicious New Mexico, an online platform for local producers to offer their products on the wholesale and retail markets. The Business Incubation program supports new and emerging local businesses by offering them the resources they need to grow so they can focus on meeting their goals. The SVEDC provides full-time business consultants to help assist with growth and operations.

The Mixing Bowl—the facet of SVEDC programming that helped Carla launch her business—is a large, community commercial kitchen (one of the largest in the country!) that offers use of equipment at an affordable price and in a healthy and positive environment. In addition to providing the space for a business to produce products, the SVEDC helps develop distribution avenues to facilitate businesses growth. There is a food consultant on-staff to help guide entrepreneurs through the nitty-gritty of starting a food business (food safety, regulations, permitting, etc). 

The SVEDC is an amazing resource in Albuquerque that is providing support to those interested in starting their own businesses. They offer a warm, positive, and welcoming environment staffed by folks who truly care about supporting our communities and supporting those that are driven to starting their own businesses. Without them we wouldn't be able to offer the small-scale local products that we do. 

Click here to download a PDF of this week's Newsletter!

In the past few months we have had the pleasure of meeting new (to us) local producers making delicious, fresh, handmade products in our communities. We met Carla Gallegos-Ortega at the Three Sisters Evening Market on the same night we met Bob Thompson, our new egg farmer. Carla owns and operates New Mexico Sabor, a salsa and sauce company based in Albuquerque. She is best known around town for her salsas - you may have seen her smiling face at the Downtown Growers Market or you may have noticed her salsa on the shelves at John Brooks, The Valley Store, or Keller's. NM Sabor Salsa has a reputation around Albuquerque as one of the best salsas around. Check out NM Sabor's Facebook page - it is full of 5 star reviews written by her loyal customers.

Carla started small. She has always had a talent for making salsa and was often volunteered by family, friends, and coworkers to make her famous salsa for gatherings and office parties. One day her mom encouraged her to bottle her salsa and sell it. In 2017 Carla entered her salsa in the annual salsa competition at the Salsa Festival in Old Town. Carla made 16 gallons of salsa on-site at the event and received an award for her salsa on her first year at the competition, the rest is history. Since then Carla has been making and jarring her salsa and creating a name for herself and her company in Albuquerque. She currently uses the Mixing Bowl at the South Valley Economic Development center, a local nonprofit incubator that supports emerging entrepreneurs in Albuquerque, to create her tasty salsas.

Carla is committed to supporting New Mexico communities. She only buys chile from New Mexico growers, and gives back to her community by donating 10% of sales to local organizations. Additionally, New Mexico Sabor employs workers from Father's Building Futures - a program that ensures parents and families experiencing barriers from incarceration have the best opportunities for stability - emotionally, socially and financially.

We're so excited to be supporting a woman-owned local business created by a New Mexico native that is committed to supporting her community!

Click here to download a PDF of this week's Newsletter! 

Native to Mexico, tomatillos (also known as Mexican husk tomatoes) can be eaten raw or cooked in a variety of dishes, most commonly in salsa verde. Tomatillos were cultivated in Mexico prior to the arrival of the Europeans and were a stable food in Mayan & Aztec diets. To this day tomatillos are a central part of many Mexican dishes.
Tomatillos are packed with nutritional value. They are a great source of dietary fiber, niacin, potassium, and manganese. They contain 20 percent of the daily recommended value in vitamin C, 13% of the vitamin K, and a healthy amount of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and copper.

Storage:
Tomatillos are best used fresh and green. Raw tomatillos have a zesty, tart flavor that develops an herbal lemon flavor when cooked. Store tomatillos in their husks for about two weeks in a paper bag in the vegetable crisper section of the refrigerator (55° to 60°F). Tomatillos will suffer chilling injury if stored below 41°F.
Do not store tomatillos with apples or bananas. These fruits emit a natural gas called ethylene, which will cause tomatillos to darken in storage.
Tomatillos can be and frozen for later use. To freeze: remove the husk, wash the fruit, and freeze them whole in a freezer container or bag. Double bagging will prevent freezer burn.


If you don't have time for the chicken recipe on the back that features tomatillos, here's a really quick and easy way to use them in a homemade salsa verde:

1  pound tomatillos husked and rinsed
1 to 2 medium jalapeños, stemmed
½ cup chopped white onion
¼ cup packed fresh cilantro leaves
2 tablespoons to ¼ cup lime juice
½ to 1 teaspoon salt, to taste
Optional variation: 1 to 2 diced avocados, for creamy avocado salsa verde

1) Preheat the broiler with a rack about 4 inches below the heat source. Place the tomatillos and jalapeño on a rimmed baking sheet and broil until they’re blackened in spots, about 5 minutes.
2) Remove the baking sheet from the oven, carefully flip over the tomatillos and peppers with tongs and broil for 4 to 6 more minutes, until the tomatillos are splotchy& blistered.
Meanwhile, in a food processor or blender, combine the chopped onion, cilantro, lime juice and ½ teaspoon salt. Once the tomatillos are out of the oven, carefully transfer the hot tomatillos, pepper and all of their juices into the food processor or blender.
Pulse until the mixture is mostly smooth and no big chunks of tomatillo remain. Season to taste with additional lime juice and salt, if desired.
The salsa will be thinner at first, but will thicken up after a few hours in the refrigerator, due to the naturally occurring pectin in the tomatillos. If you’d like to make creamy avocado salsa verde, let the salsa cool down before blending in 1 to 2 diced avocados.

Click here to download a PDF of this week's Newsletter!