It’s Monday, production day for salsa company Nola’s Fresh Foods. Owner Sherie Grillon, 38, and her staff are churning out close to 1,500 pounds of the condiment at CropCircle Kitchen, the shared space in Jamaica Plain. The sweet scent of roasting tomatoes permeates the air. Corn roasts next and the aromas are like popcorn. Smoky tomatoes and charred corn are the basis of the company’s Fire Roasted Corn & Black Bean Salsa, a cumin-scented blend kicked up to medium heat with jalapenos. Nola’s other product is Salsa Fresca, a bright, fresh, thick, raw mixture of pureed Roma tomatoes, cilantro, jalapeno, and lemon juice (both $5.99 to $6.99 for 16 ounces). Grillon, a Roslindale resident, attended college in Austin, Texas, where she worked in restaurants alongside native Mexicans who taught her how to make the condiments. “I’ve been making this salsa for 20 years,” she says. For parties, friends persistently begged her, “make your fresca,” which inspired Grillon two years ago to start the business (the company’s name pays homage to her hometown, New Orleans). She hears from people with Mexican roots that the salsa is so authentic “it tastes like home,” Grillon says. “I want it to taste like your mom made it.” Your Mexican mom, that is. Available at American Provisions, 613 East Broadway, South Boston, 617-269-6100; City Feed and Supply, 672 Centre St., Jamaica Plain, 617-524-1700; Fells Market, 326 Weston Road, Wellesley, 781-235-1555; Fruit Center Marketplace, 10 Bassett St., Milton, 617-696-5274 and 79 Water St., Hingham, 781-749-7332.
www.nolasfresh
foods.com. ANN TRIEGER KURLAND