Johnna French from Johnna Knows Good Food on Cinco de Mayo and National Salsa Month

The conversation is about Cinco de Mayo and National Salsa Month. The speaker, Jonna French, talks about her preference for mild salsa and how salsa can be personalized to individual tastes. She also mentions Cholula de Tostones as a tasty alternative to traditional tortilla chips. The conversation then shifts to guacamole and the popularity of avocados in the US. Jonna provides a recipe for a Tomatillo salsa that can be used as a base for both salsa and guacamole. The conversation ends with a mention of where to find the mentioned products and the coincidence that St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo always fall on the same day of the week. How about this on Cinco de Mayo? And of course with May, big National Salsa Month. One of my favorite foodies back with us to talk about some recipes and also Cinco de Mayo. We have Jonna French back with us this morning here at RNJ. Good morning, Jonna, Burt Barron, WRNJ. Happy Cinco de Mayo to you. How you doing? Good morning and happy Cinco de Mayo. This is one of my favorite days of the year. Me too. I'm so happy to be in so many good places. Have you started the party there yet? Not yet. Okay, actually I should say, well, has the party ever ended for you? I'm not really sure about that either. But thanks again for checking in this morning here. National Salsa Month, you know, it's kind of a love-hate thing that I have with salsa because I'm not like a really big spicy food guy. So I like a salsa that's got kind of a sweet and mild taste. You probably make recipes of all different kinds of salsa. What do you like to prepare for something like that? Yeah, so salsa, really the beautiful thing about it is you don't have to have it spicy. If you like it your way, have it your way. I am not a spice girl. So I really like, I don't use a lot of jalapenos. I don't use a lot of peppers in my, you know, my salsa. And that's the beauty of it. Salsa is one of those things, it's like a, you know, a sauce or whatever, you know, whatever else that you can kind of merge together, but you can make it your own. It's not specific to, you know, a certain number of ingredients that make it so great. It really is one of those dishes that is unique to each person. So every time you go to someone's house, they're going to have their own individual and unique take on salsa. And that's the beauty of this mom. Yeah, kind of the way I like it too, is if you have a nice salty chip, I mean, that accounts for a lot of the flavor right there for me. So I don't need the salsa to be over the top if I have a nice, really salty, crispy chip that I'm using. I like that too. Absolutely. And I love Cholula de Tostones. They're great for this because they're like, you know, this hearty, crunchy, flavorful, like crispy. They're made from plantains, which is wonderful, and they're really good for you, but they're a great dipper and alternative to, you know, the traditional tortilla chips that you might dip with your salsa and your guacamole. It's, you know, just a nice twist on it. And they, you know, you can get them in all kinds of flavors. I like the sea salt, the Caribbean lime, and the roasted garlic, of course, because they just kind of merge well with pretty much any type of salsa that I prepare. Yes, me too. The sea salt was my favorite one too. Those are really good for having a little snack and a little party, maybe for Cinco de Mayo or for Salsa Month as well. Someone planning a party, John. Guacamole, avocado, still in big demand, things like that. When you're putting together a Cinco de Mayo get-together, and we know they're taking place everywhere today, where do you start with, and how do you make that great party moment for everybody? So you know what the fun thing about today is? I would start, honestly, with the salsa, because you can sit that out, people can have it. And then with the salsa, honestly, you can twist a little bit of that into your guacamole and make your life a little bit easier. So I have a fresh Tomatillo salsa, apologies, on the pronunciation right now. I am geared up for this day, so I'm excited. This salsa is great, and you can, like I said, you can twist it in, just cut up your avocado and twist a little bit in at the end. It's a basic white onion, salt, a couple of peppers, Tomatillos, and cilantro, fresh mint, garlic, and a little bit of fresh lime juice, all blended in together, mixed in together, folded in together, and then take a little bit of that, cut up your avocado, and add that to your avocado, and you have two dips ready to go. And then you can work on getting your shot glasses ready for the tequila. Yeah, that sounds wonderful. Are we ever gonna see the avocado and guacamole craze, John, is it ever gonna cool off in this country? Because people still go crazy. If there's like a bowl of guacamole, people like run for it, because they want to get to the guacamole. Prices are going up, demand continues to go up. It's not just the fad, the love of guacamole and avocado. I think that's here to stay in the U.S. What do you think? Oh, absolutely, because it's so good. It's flavorful, it's great, it's diverse. And now, you know, avocado is a staple on the avocado toast trend. So we're not getting rid of it. I forgot about avocado toast, right? All the things we're putting on toast. Someone says, hey, let's spread some avocado on there. And it created another craze, a little like cut up tomatoes or something on there. Yeah, that's really good, that's a good snack. Guests this morning, our NJ Morning Program, we got Jonna French from Jonna Knows Good Food. We're talking about National Salsa Month, of course, so we've got the Cinco de Mayo upon us. The tostones that you were mentioning, Jonna, where can we find those if people want to give those a try? Yes, definitely at Acme Market and online at salula.com or on social media at Salula. And you can also check me out at JonnaKnowsGoodFood.com. All right, we'll follow you on the social media stuff there, too. But Jonna, happy Cinco de Mayo, too. Enjoy Salsa Month. I'm sure we'll talk again as the food crazes continue across our country here. But have a wonderful Cinco de Mayo celebration. And, you know, I just found out not long ago that every year, and you could set your calendar by this, Jonna, St. Patrick's Day and Cinco de Mayo always fall on the same day of the week. Did you know that? No, I did not know that. Yeah, and when I found out on St. Patrick's Day, it was, you know, one day ago that I found out. But if St. Patrick's is Friday, Cinco de Mayo also a Friday. They're always the same number of days apart from one another. So that helps with party planning, right? Absolutely, what better day to party than on a Friday? This is true, this is true. Have a great weekend. Thanks again for the time. You, too.