Archer Farms Fire-Roasted Pepper & Habanero Salsa

"Salsa is now the number one condiment in America."

"Do you know why?...Because people like to say SALSA. Excuse me, do you have any SALSA? We need more SALSA. Where is the SALSA? No SALSA?"

That zany Seinfeld. I loved that salsa scene back in the day, and likewise, I LOVE this salsa from Archer Farms. It says "extra hot" on the label, and it actually IS extra hot. It's not super duper painful spicy, but it's got by far the most kick of any salsa I've tried from Archer Farms, and possibly the most kick from any store brand salsa anywhere. Potent stuff.

And not only is it spicy, but it's flavorful, too. It tastes just like pepper and habanero. It's not just heat for the sake of heat. If a sauce is going to be hot, it's imperative that it flaunt intense flavor, not just searing pain. This product delivers.

The chunks of pepper aren't big, but this salsa has got some body to it, for sure. It goes best with tortilla chips, but it also paired well with those Parmesan Garlic Potato Chips that I bought at the same time. Parmesan cheese, garlic, habanero, and fire-roasted pepper...now that was a taste-tacular party in my mouth.

I still prefer it with tortilla chips since they allow the flavor of the salsa to dominate a little bit more. Also I prefer the texture of corn tortilla chips with thick and chunky salsas over that of kettle-cooked potato chips.

I do wish the jar were a little bigger, but a quality salsa like this is well worth $2.99. Low in calories, too.

This is my first salsa review in quite a while. Check out this link to read some Archer Farms brand salsa reviews from the archives.

I give this salsa 9 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Chicken Tortilla Soup

I always assumed tortilla soup would, you know, have tortillas in it. But what do I know?

Instead, it's a red broth with black beans, corn, and little hunks of chicken. Not bad. The broth is mildly spicy, and the corn and beans are nothing to complain about...although, I wouldn't have minded if there were a lot more of them. 

The soup is pretty soupy...you know, brothy, that is. It's mostly just liquid—not nearly as chunky as the picture on the box would have you believe. That alone wasn't the product's biggest weakness, as the liquid part of the soup was pretty decent and flavorful.

The chicken chunks were all near-perfect cubes, and were abnormally dark, even for dark meat chicken. They were a deep brown—such a gloomy color that I think if I hadn't known any better, I would have assumed they were little pieces of low-grade beef. Fortunately, they didn't taste nearly as bad as they looked. But once again, the soup could have used a good bit more of them.

I definitely think this melange would have benefited from little tortilla bits—either the kind that come in a little plastic bag that you add yourself or the kind that are soft to begin with and don't mind swimming around in salty soup for some indeterminate amount of time on Target's shelves. This soup was crying out for carbs but did not deliver in that department.

So I added some carbs myself in the form of good old-fashioned saltine crackers. They certainly helped, but not quite enough.

It was $2.29 for the box at the Target where we discovered it—I believe somewhere in coastal Georgia, probably near Savannah, as our recent adventures have taken us through The Jewel of the South. It's just a little pricier than your average can of soup, but the box is one ounce bigger, too. But in the end, this product just wasn't enough bang for the buck to be a repeat purchase.

I'll give the soup 6 out of 10 stars.

Simply Balanced Organic Sweet Chile Rolled Tortilla Chips

I never thought of or heard of this idea before: rolling tortilla chips into little straw-like tubes. Kinda cool. Novel, at least.

Like traditional tortilla chips, these are crunchy and corn-based and great for dipping in salsa or queso, although with less surface area to scoop up the condiments, they tend not to pick up as much as regular flat chips. But they'd make an excellent addition to any southwestern-style soup or even chili.

They're not super flavorful on their own, but the heat level is nice. There's definitely a bit of spiciness that's not particularly well-advertised on the packaging. Good thing I like my tortilla chips with a little bit of a kick.

They are Simply Balanced, so they're somewhat more "healthy" than regular old Archer Farms selections. I'm not really sure if you can call them "health food" per se, considering the calories, fat, and sodium present, but one must concede they are organic, and they do pack a considerable amount of fiber per serving. Plus, I swear that spicy foods raise my metabolism and help me burn fat naturally. I'm not sure if there's much hard science to back that up, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

These resealable bags are uber-convenient and helpful. Even as quickly as the wife and I can go through a bag of tortilla chips, it's always a bummer when that last little bit at the bottom of the bag has turned stale. At $2.99 a bag, they're a pretty decent value, too.


I give these chips 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Shredded Beef Mini Tamales

I'm not a native Philly guy, but I've lived here long enough to realize that when Philadelphians see "Philly Cheesesteaks" being sold in other cities, they know that 95% of the time, what's being passed off as the genuine article is really an abomination—a sad excuse for the real thing.

Latinos probably feel the same way when they see pre-packaged frozen tamales being sold by a place like Target.

Strangely enough, our friends in Los Angeles shipped my wife a package of tamales from La Mascota Bakery for her birthday, just a few days after I purchased these. The tamales from L.A. were cold and well-preserved on their nearly 3,000 mile journey. And MAN, were they ever good. (Sonia was kind enough to share). Authentic. Great for us, but the odds were stacked against these Target tamales from the beginning.

But my wife, who is Mexican-American, and I were both fairly impressed with Target's offering. I can't lie and tell you they were just as good as the ones from La Mascota, but Archer Farms put forth a valiant effort.

They are indeed "mini tamales," much smaller than any I've had before. It's good if you don't want to have too much tamale at one time, but it's also inconvenient to unwrap each little item not only from its plastic sleeve, but from its corn husk wrapper as well.

Both the masa and the filling were a decent approximation of a fresh, authentic tamale. Now, I'm not saying they were exactly like the real thing. Even I could tell the difference between these frozen dealies and the genuine article in a blindfolded taste test. But, I mean, the Target version was like 85% of the way there. And that's not too shabby at all. Even the lovely Sonia was pleasantly surprised. And that should say something.

I give these tamales 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Spicy Six Grain Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips

After reviewing Archer Farms White Corn Tortilla Chips and Blue Corn with Flax Seed Tortilla Chips, I can safely say that these spicy yellow chips are my favorite so far. They flaunt the robustness of the blue corn chips while retaining some of the delicate flavors of a lighter cornmeal.

And they're spicy.

Not too spicy, to be sure. But considering none of the salsas we've reviewed on here have been all that hot, a slightly spicy chip combined with a slightly spicy salsa is heading in the right direction if you're interested in a little heat.

These chips have a great flavor just by themselves, but I'm a sucker for salsa. The best pairing I've discovered so far is these yellow tortillas combined with the recently reviewed Tomato Chipotle Salsa. The spices in both products enhance one another. It gives you a nice, rounded, peppery heat, and yet you can still taste the corn, flax seeds, and ancient grains in the chips.

I also tried these with the sweeter Mango Peach Salsa. Not a bad combo, but the spices in the chips conflict with the fruitiness of the salsa. White tortillas work well with the sweet salsas.

The texture of these chips is great, too. You don't have to worry about the chip breaking in half when you dip it in the sauce. They're very crunchy, thick, and satisfying.

These will definitely be a repeat buy for me. Spice and whole grains are an excellent combo for a tortilla chip. I'm a fan.

I give this product 8 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Mango Peach Salsa

During my time in L.A., I became aware of sweet, fruit-based salsas. A local fish taco place offered a white fish taco with lettuce, cilantro, and a fruity salsa very similar to this product from AF. In both cases, the sauce is more delicious than I anticipated, and it blends really well with a host of southwestern foods, fish, and chicken dishes, too.

In this case, the salsa is also just fine for dipping with regular old tortilla chips. I used Archer Farms White Corn Tortilla Chips (review coming soon). The combination was perfect. The chips provided just enough crunchiness and saltiness, and the salsa supplied the body of the flavor, and plenty of texture. There really are huge chunks of mango and peaches. The product description mentions jalapenos. They're in there, but the jalapeno chunks are greatly overshadowed by the fruit pieces. Like the Corn and Black Bean Salsa, this product is marked as "medium," but I'd put it closer to "mild." There's a vague, warm tingle from the jalapenos, but it doesn't really compete with the sweetness of the fruit. It blends nicely, but if it's spice you're looking for, try something else. Likewise, if you're looking for a dessert food, this probably isn't what you're after.

Like all AF salsas, it's about $3 for a jar, which isn't cheap. But it's a high-quality product, and just a little bit goes a long way in terms of livening up an otherwise bland meal. This is definitely a product that will wind up on my shopping lists in the future. I'm a fan.

I give this product 8 out 10 stars.

Archer Farms Southwestern-Style Chicken Egg Rolls

At Chotchkie's style restaurants, I love to order these things. They usually come dripping with grease, and the establishment does everything it can to avoid showing you the nutrition information, because, no matter how delicious they may be, if you saw the fat content, you would never order them again.

From Archer Farms, it's a similar experience, but they're not quite as unhealthy, and they're not quite as tasty. The egg roll shell came out of the oven crispy and flaky. I felt that the chicken wasn't very flavorful, but the other ingredients kind of made up for it. I definitely tasted the corn and black beans—probably the two most healthy ingredients. I often wonder if someone could devise one of these egg roll appetizer dealies with low fat and mostly veggies that could compete with the flavor of one of these heart-stopper appetizers.

Another saving grace of these snacks was the zesty ranch dipping sauce. To me, it tasted almost like a spicy mayo, rather than ranch, but the little spicy zip it had was good enough for a thumbs-up from me. Many of these frozen appetizers show a dipping sauce on the package, but they don't actually include it in the box. Fortunately, that's not the case with these southwestern goodies.

At $4 for half a dozen, it's a little steep, but you'd pay double that if you were dining out. All things considered, I would think about buying these again, but I probably won't any time soon, because I really want to try all of the other frozen snacks that Archer Farms has to offer.

I'll give these egg rolls 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Southwest-Style Orzo

For those of you not familiar with orzo, it's basically the illegitimate love-child of pasta and rice. It's wheat-based, but it's tiny like little grains of rice. It's usually cooked with some kind of oil, and it winds up tasting and feeling like something in between an actual grain and a small piece of pasta. One tasty brand to check out: Delallo 89508-8pack Delallo Orzo Whole Wheat Pasta - 8x17 oz. (Google Affiliate Ad).

The powder/sauce for this stuff is pretty much the same as the sauce on the Southwest-Inspired Couscous that we reviewed recently. The southwest sauce was my favorite part of both of these dishes—it has kick and good taste—though the orzo itself impressed me a bit more than the couscous did.

The orzo came out soft, with just the right amount of sauce to flavor it. Since it's being cooked and stirred on the stove top, it was easy to manually distribute the sauce evenly. It would be very hard for me to distinguish Target-brand orzo and another gourmet brand in a taste test. I think Archer Farms did this one pretty well. No major complaints. 

The price was something like $2. Unlike the couscous, it doesn't come with its own preparation bowl, and it's not supposed to be microwaved. It might take a bit longer to make, and you might dirty a pot and a dish, but in my opinion, it's worth it. If you're having something at home, I'd go with the orzo over the couscous. But if you need something for the break room at work, you might have to look for something else.

I give this product 7 out of 10 stars.

Archer Farms Southwest-Inspired Couscous Lunch Bowl

A weird thing happened when I opened this package. The little balls of dry couscous started climbing up the sides of the round plastic black bowl like bugs trying to escape from a trap. Fortunately, I didn't panic, and I realized that it was actually the static electricity I had generated while unwrapping and opening the packaging that was causing the couscous to move on its own. It weirded me out a bit, but I pressed on and continued preparing this couscous dish.

It's been a while since I've had couscous. I thought I remembered liking it, but after this meal, I'm not really so sure. It wasn't terrible by any means, but really liking couscous is definitely a prerequisite for enjoying this bowl.

I added the recommended amount of water and stirred it for quite while before popping it in the microwave. I thought that it might actually need more water, since some would undoubtedly evaporate while heating, but when it was done, there was an excess of water instead, though some more of it did get absorbed while "fluffing" the couscous with my fork, as recommended on the preparation instructions.

Despite copious stirring and fluffing, the powder flavoring wasn't distributed evenly. It seemed to settle at the bottom, making the top layers too bland and the bottom layers too strong. The flavoring had a nice southwestern kick to it, and it was flavorful as well—like a good southwestern style salad dressing almost. Mmmm...salad dressing from an OXO Salad Dressing Shaker, Black (Google Affiliate Ad)! The couscous itself felt and tasted instant, which of course, it is, but you never want instant stuff to taste that way. I had forgotten how gritty and unusual the texture of couscous is, and I think the quick microwave preparation might enhance those potentially-negative properties of the couscous. As I said before, you really have to love couscous to make this purchase worth it.

Our bowl was on special for $2.19. And considering that it's relatively healthy, save for a hefty dosage of daily sodium, it wouldn't be a terrible lunch if you happened to be a fan of the taste and texture. Unfortunately, I wasn't. Also, the last little bit of couscous is nearly impossible to get out of the bowl with a fork, as there are frustrating little grooves for them to hide in on the sides of the container. All things considered, I don't see myself making this purchase again any time soon.

I give this 5 out of 10 stars.