Farmer’s Market: Fresh salsa is Adela’s passion

Special to the Green Valley News

Adela Durazo is the salsa lady at our Green Valley Farmer’s Market. She’s an effervescent woman who offers everyone who walks by a friendly greeting straight from the heart.

“Hi Folks,” she cheerfully calls to a passing shopper. She cajoles another, “You’re welcome to sample!” To yet another, she cries, “Hi! How are you this morning?”

“We sample every product,” she says, pausing to gently call out to a shopper who’s curiously eyeing the products, “Hi honey! I won’t bite, come on over and try one of our fruit salsas!” The shopper edges forward... “It’s made from peaches mango and pineapple. It’s not sweet though, that’s what makes us different from the others.”

The shopper accepts a salsa-laden chip. “Our salsas are mild, hot or stupid hot.” No, she’s not kidding, it really is called stupid hot, what most of us have always thought but rarely said. But then Adela isn’t shy, far from it.

She says her trip from the corporate world to the Farmer’s Market was inevitable.

“My husband grew up in the tropics where fruit was always on the table. Me? I grew up with chilis always on the table. So naturally we began combining the two. We’d take it to friend’s houses as hostess gifts... then they’d say, ‘Don’t show up without that salsa!’”

It was then they knew they had it — that something special they could share with others. Adela says, “I made the jump. I moved to Farmer’s Markets and loved it; we were made for eachother,” she exclaims. If you’ve seen Adela with her customers you’ll have to agree.

Durazo’s Poco Loco has been in business 13 years, selling exclusively at Farmer’s Markets and Adela can’t imagine anything better. The markets give her a chance to maintain 100 percent control over her product.

“I’ll always be this size. I have to maintain the quality. On a fresh product like this that’s everything! I do it all myself. No one else helps me until the product is sealed and labeled,” she says. “I like the one-on-one contact with customers at the market. It’s my passion -— it builds my spirit.”

Adela carries a mild fruit salsa, pico de gallo with roasted green chilis, fresh ceviche with shrimp and crab and guacamole. All are made fresh using five kinds of chilis and are chemical and pesticide free. The salsas last 3-4 weeks in the refrigerator, guacamole one week and all but the pico de gallo may be successfully frozen.

Adela and the other vendors love the Market and we do too, it’s time to remember to “Shop the Market First,” especially in summer so our dedicated vendors and market may continue to thrive!

If you go

Green Valley Farmer’s Market runs from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. every Wednesday at the Green Valley Village, Esperanza Boulevard and La Canada Drive.