At farmers markets and local stores, this entrepreneur has been building her salsa brand

Rachel Willoughby likes to say that she didn’t mean to start a business, she just likes salsa. And she had a difficult time finding one she likes.

“Texture is important,” she said. “If it's too chunky, you might get a big chunk of onion and that’s all you taste. I like to blend it so you get some of everything in each bite.”

Beginning about 20 years ago, she started making a batch a week until she perfected the recipe. Others liked it, too, she learned. She’d bring salsa to parties and events and eventually some of her fans helped convince her to start RAWsalsa.

This month, she celebrates seven years in business after receiving her official paperwork on Cinco de Mayo in 2017. She began selling her tomato salsa at local farmers markets and added pineapple salsa the next year. Since then, she’s continued to add products and has more plans in the works, too, from chips-and-salsa snack packs for local bars to a mobile Nacho Wagon for events.

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The regular varieties include tomato, pineapple, tomatillo and mango. And then there are seasonal salsas. Right now, it’s strawberry but Willoughby will soon add blueberry and then peach later in the coming months. She makes a batch of cranberry salsa before Thanksgiving and guacamole when she has time.

For each new product, Willoughby refines the recipe until she’s satisfied.

“I’m really proud of the strawberry,” she said. “It took a while to get right.”

The result is a salsa that’s not-too-sweet with a subtle strawberry flavor. Like most of her products, she said that most people consider them to be moderately spicy.

“I like to have a balance of everything, including spiciness,” she said.

It was a similar process for her queso. She decided to work her way through the cheese selections at La Huerta Fresh Produce in Wilmington, where she gets many of her ingredients, learning how they tasted and melted until she came up with just the right blend. She also pickles her own jalapeños and uses those products to make a cheesy jalapeño corn dip.

All of them are fresh and sold in compostable containers or packaging that can be recycled locally. She has considered bottling her products but she didn’t like the effects the heating and preservatives had on her salsas. So she instead went through the more intensive process to make and sell refrigerated products. (The name RAWsalsa alludes to the fact that her products are uncooked but are also her initials.)

She and her staff regularly appear at markets, from those in southern Brunswick County to Hampstead. RAWsalsa is also adding wholesale accounts, which include Tidal Creek Co-op and Biggers Market.

She's also still working to expand her product like. An onion dip might be next. Locally, you may soon start seeing RAWsalsa packaged with N.C.-made Mamasita’s Chips at bottle shops like Fermental. And, maybe later this year, full chips-and-dips service on the mobile unit.

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Allison Ballard is the food and dining reporter at the StarNews. You can reach her at aballard@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Wilmington StarNews: Fresh salsa, from tomato to pineapple to strawberry, at Wilmington markets