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"Salsa Maker Spices Up Life in Adopted State"
Hugo resident's original recipe fills up 18,000 jars of salsa a
year
Press Publications, 1/16/08
by Mike Morgan, Staff Writer
 HUGO
- Clyde Wagner wasn't expecting to go into the salsa business
when a friend asked for his advice on a recipe a few years ago.
The Texas native agreed to lend a hand, thinking it would be a
fun chance to socialize and use the salsa expertise he acquired
during 21 years living in Amarillo, where few dishes aren't
dressed with the Mexican sauce.
The two work buddies headed to the kitchen and spent a few weeks
experimenting with different types of tomatoes, pepper and other
ingredients.
While their goal was to spice up their own parties, what they
came up with is now available to anyone who shops at grocery
stores like Lunds and Byerlys.
When they first made something they liked, Wagner and Mark
Bourget replicated it into a few batches and started breaking it
out for friends and serving it at barbecues and work
get-togethers. Soon people began asking if they could take some
of it home. Some offered to buy it. After a while, the two
started thinking maybe thinking maybe their prized creation
could turn into a small business. First they had to figure out
how to cook the salsa so it would retain the taste but last
longer than what they made fresh. Calling around to commercial
kitchens, they eventually got in contact with a retired food
chemist who worked with Pillsbury developing products like
Toaster Strudels.
The three fiddled around with different ingredients, types of
vegetables and ways to cook it to get the same fresh taste of
their original creation.
Two years later they settled on a process and obtained legal
rights to the recipe.
"Minnesalsa" was born. That's how Hugo became the unlikely home
of the head of a salsa company, though Wagner still has a day
job in the mortgage business.
"It's still kind of a hobby," he said of making salsa.
Minnesalsa can be found at stores alongside big company
offerings like Pace and Ortega. But according to Wagner, the
products' similarities stop at their aisle placement.
Soon after setting on a process, Wagner trademarked the slogan
"The Original Micro-Brewed Salsa." Because Minnesalsa is made in
small batches, Wagner says it gets cooked evenly and retains its
taste better than mass-produced products, which are often made
in 100 pound kettles.
The other difference is that Wagner believes the ingredients and
varieties of tomatoes and peppers are superior to what other
salsas are made from.
The recipe calls for specific brands of ingredients and Wagner
says his supplier's contract states that can't use the recipe if
the brands of ingredients it calls for aren't available.
Wagner has no plans to slow down the salsa. He's still looking
into new products and sees the small operation as a way to teach
his four young children about business and work.
His oldest often goes with his dad to hand out samples of one of
the company's four products at local grocery stores.
In addition to hot, medium and mild salsa, Wagner also offers
one flavored with black beans and corn.
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