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Quick Take:
With Cinco de Mayo celebrations approaching, shoppers seeking Mexican cuisine have options beyond national brands. Local producers Salsa Garcia and De Casa Fine Foods craft their products using organic, non-GMO, and locally-sourced ingredients.
As Cinco de Mayo approaches, many shoppers will fill their carts with chips, salsa, tamales, and other Mexican-inspired foods. For those looking to support local businesses, Eugene-based Salsa Garcia and De Casa Fine Foods offer alternatives to national brands, made using local, organic, and non-GMO ingredients.
Cinco de Mayo, translated as May 5, celebrates Mexico’s victory over French soldiers at the Battle of Puebla in 1862. France, under the direction of Napoleon III, was trying to occupy the Mexican capital but was blocked at the city of Puebla, causing the French to retreat and giving the Mexican soldiers a boost in morale.
Americans now celebrate all things Mexican on this day, driving an uptick of chips, salsa, and tamale purchases. Year-round, Mexican is the most popular ethnic food in the U.S. and represents 11% of all restaurants, according to a January 2024 report by the Pew Research Center.
Salsa Garcia
Patricia Garcia Rogers, owner of Salsa Garcia, began making salsas commercially in 2013, inspired by her mother’s recipes and the encouragement of her friends and family to package her salsa. Whenever Garcia Rogers attended a potluck or some kind of gathering, she brought salsa.
“Everywhere I went people kept asking me, ‘When are you going to package your salsa?’” Garcia Rogers said. “I think that’s how a lot of small businesses get inspired, and it was at a time when I thought, well, I could do this.’”
Her son, Chas Rogers, had just graduated from a marketing program at Humboldt State University, so he helped design her easy-to-spot packaging, which includes a portrait of her in the center. One of her first attempts at selling was from her driveway while she was having a garage sale. At that sale, a person who worked at Market of Choice tasted the salsa and connected her with buyers for the company.
Garcia Rogers and her husband, Chuck Rogers, worked in radio and television. They moved to Eugene 32 years ago after relocating for work.
Garcia Rogers is a naturalized U.S. citizen, born in Ensenada, Baja California, and raised in Calexico, a U.S. border town. Her beef tamales are her mother’s recipe, as is the red enchilada sauce.
“The food of the border areas is amazing,” said Garcia Rogers. “That’s the kind of cuisine I bring to the table. When I moved to Oregon, I wanted to bring some of those flavors from Baja over here.”
Garcia Rogers gives some credit for the success of her business to her husband, Chuck.
“He helps me quite a bit with weekly product pickup and drop off,” she said. “He also labels salsa containers,” which can take a full day.
In addition to red and green salsas and red enchilada sauce, Rogers also sells frozen pork, chicken, vegetarian, and vegan tamales, which she makes twice a month from a rented commercial kitchen. She sells the salsas and sauces at the Lane County Farmers Market every Saturday. Customers can also find her products at area home shows in addition to every Market of Choice location, Capella Market, Friendly Market, and Main Street Market in Springfield. Tamales are available only at the Farmers Market.
Despite rising costs, Garcia Rogers maintains quality by sourcing locally.
“I source as much as I can downtown,” she said. “Whatever I can get from the Farmers Market I source from the Farmers Market. The quality is much better when you get it locally, for sure.”
Garcia Rogers said many salsa makers add water to their salsas, but she never adds water, so her salsa reflects the flavor of the ingredients.
“That’s been my goal,” she said, “an abundance of flavor.”
De Casa Fine Foods
De Casa Fine Foods has been manufacturing Mexican food products in Eugene for more than 30 years. Stan Stubblefield bought the business about 20 years ago. His daughter, Lindsay Stubblefield, who went to school for business, joined her father to grow the company and is now the owner.
The company’s initial product line was salsa, bean dips, and artichoke dip. They no longer make the artichoke dip, but do now also make tortillas, tortilla chips, and hummus.
“We try to create really simple food, with a limited number of ingredients, organic,” Stubblefield said. “We try to buy as local as possible. Obviously some things we can’t source locally, but we buy what we can as local as possible. I believe that you should eat as close to where you live as you can and support the communities that you live in and that are buying your stuff.”
De Casa Fine Foods now is expanding their facility by an additional 5,000 square feet this summer. The expansion will primarily provide additional storage space and allow for a new line of conventional (non-organic) chips at a lower price point.
“The cost of organic corn is almost double the cost of conventional,” Stubblefield said. “We can reduce some of that cost and still get somebody a high-quality product that is produced locally.”
As Cinco de Mayo approaches, shoppers can expect to find De Casa products on sale at local grocery stores, although all of their products are not sold in every store. Their salsa, bean dips, and hummus are available at Alberstons, Safeway, and Fred Meyer, while their complete product line, including chips and tortillas, can be found at Market of Choice, Natural Grocers, the Kiva, Sundance, and other local natural markets.
Two distinctive features of De Casa chips are their sturdiness and non-uniformity.
“We wanted a chip that had good flavor, but also held up well enough to dip into the salsa without breaking,” Stubblefield said. “The unique thing about our chips is there’s a little bit of char on them … because we bake them in the oven and then we fry them. So that little bit of char from baking adds more flavor.”
Stubblefield says their chips are baked on equipment with a slotted belt instead of a mesh belt, which creates a texture and look that is different from many chips with a uniform appearance.
“We make ours a little slower, but they taste better,” Stubblefield said.
De Casa takes sustainability seriously. They compost all food scraps or feed them to animals. They also have their used oil picked up by SeQuential for conversion to biofuel.
“Our focus is small footprint, low waste,” Stubblefield said.
Double Decker Green Salsa Chicken Tacos
Recipe courtesy of Lindsay Stubblefield and De Casa Fine Foods
Serves 4, 2 tacos each
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus marinating
Cook time: 30 minutes
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cubed
- 1 container De Casa green salsa, 14 ounces (for marinade)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
- 16 De Casa corn tortillas
- Vegetable oil for frying tortillas
- 1 cup De Casa pinto bean dip
- Optional toppings: remaining De Casa green salsa, red salsa, shredded lettuce, chopped green onion, chopped cilantro, avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, cabbage slaw
Instructions:
First, marinate the chicken. Place the cubed chicken in a glass dish or zip-top bag. Pour 1 1/3 cups of the De Casa green salsa over the chicken (about 3/4 of the container), ensuring it’s well-coated. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, up to 8 hours, until ready to cook.
Add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat until oil is glistening. Remove chicken from marinade with a slotted spoon and add to pre-heated skillet. The salsa is thick; it’s ok if it is still coating the chicken.
Cook the chicken, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked to an internal temperature of 165 F, about 15 minutes. Set aside.
Meanwhile, fry the tortillas. Pour about half an inch of vegetable oil into a skillet and heat over medium heat until the oil reaches 350 F (measure using a kitchen thermometer made for high heat).
While the oil is heating up, line a baking sheet with paper towels and place a wire rack over it. Heat oven to 200 F. The warm oven will keep the fried tortillas warm until the tacos are ready to assemble.
When the oil reaches 350 F, use tongs to place one tortilla into the hot oil. Cook the tortilla for about 15 seconds on the first side. Using the tongs, flip the tortilla over and fold the shell in half. Hold in place with the tongs and continue frying until crispy, about another 15 seconds. Using the tongs, remove the fried tortilla from the oil and place on the prepared rack. Repeat with seven additional tortillas. Place the fried tortillas in the warm oven until ready to use.
To make double-decker tacos, add 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil to the skillet and heat over medium-high heat until oil is glistening. Using tongs, gently warm one tortilla at a time until you have eight warm and soft tortillas.
Spread 2 tablespoons of bean dip onto the warm tortillas, then place the fried tortilla on top. Wrap the warm tortilla around the fried one, then assemble tacos as desired. Serve immediately.
