The Family Business  -  110 years of tradition!

Maria Louisa Salsa is named after my grandmother, Maria Louisa Trevino, who was born in Guadalajara, Mexico in 1900. She came to America in the late 1920’s and settled in San Antonio, Texas. I was born to Maria’s firstborn, Mary (my mother) and my name is Marie.

I was blessed with an Italian father, Joseph Castiglione who was also a first generation Italian American.  Both, he and my mother worked hard to provide a nice living for me and my two brothers. I had the privilege of being cared for by my grandmother, Maria Louisa. I can remember as a 3-4 year old smelling the wonderful aromas coming from her kitchen. She lived in a shotgun style home built by my grandfather, Augustine. Every morning I was dropped off and laid in a bed in a bedroom that faced the kitchen. 5:30 every morning you could find my granny over the stove making fresh tortillas, plain and cinnamon sugared. I could eat them as fast as she could make them. What a wonderful cook she was, using the traditional Mexican spices in her dishes and making her “Fresh Salsa” as she taught my mother to make. I can't remember a time when I was at Ma’s house that she didn’t have her salsa, guacamole, plenty of jalapeño peppers, tortillas, a fresh pot of pinto beans and fresh fruit from her own trees.

My mother passed away when I was just a teenager so my grandmother played an even more important role in my life as I was growing up. I feel proud that my brother and I were able to care for her as she grew older. She lived to be 90 years old. So you can see why I named the family’s secret recipe salsa after her.

I must admit, since it had been so long since I made the secret family recipe,  I made a few changes to accommodate the importance of nutritional and health values that are important to most people in todays world,  such as not adding salt, sugar or arificial preservatives.   In addition to this great recipe, I have blended some of the Italian influences brought to me by my father’s mother, grandma Josephine.

I am now enjoying the many recipes that I have created to include my “Fresh Salsa” and I’ll share these with you. Be sure to visit my recipe section on this web site. Salsa is so healthy for you and if your family is like mine  -  they’ll demand that you have plenty of salsa on hand at all times.

The Family Business -  Why it means so much to us.
As with any family, ours has had it many ups and downs, successes and losses. We suffered through the suicide of two of our family members. My youngest son was diagnosed with a mental disorder and struggled to exist in our day-to-day world. He was a very loving child and we miss him very much. It is my goal to establish and support a Foundation to assist individuals and families with children who have mental disorders, like my son. No one should have to suffer the loss of a family member due to mental disorders and suicide.

Manufacturing
I want to thank my wonderful neighbors, Donal and Tonia Ryan for their encouragement and support. Tonia, one of the biggest fans of my salsa, and Donal is one of the owners of Molly Malone’s Irish Restaurant and Pub with two locations in Louisville and one in Covington Kentucky.  Donal was willing to take a step of faith and allow me to make and serve my salsa in his restaurants. He told me over dinner one evening that someone had helped him at an important time in his life and that he believed in helping others. I could not help think to myself, “If my salsa could be a success in an Irish restaruant then,  it will be a success anywhere.” It’s now a regular menu item. So here we are more than a year later and with the encouragement of my family and friends I decided to take another leap of faith and begin to retail my salsa.

Yes, I still make the salsa at Molly Malone’s. Maria Louisa Salsa is made in 5 gallon batches. Each batch is hand-made from high quality fresh produce and mixed with my special spices to that perfect taste that will result in an explosion of flavors with every bite.

Retail Locations
Maria Louisa Salsa can now be purchased at  2 of Paul’s Fruit Markets Brownsboro Rd, and Middletown locations.  Dolls Supermarket,  Kroger Super Stores and Whole Foods Pending. For exact locations and directions go to my Locations tab.

My prayer is that you and your family will enjoy my salsa as much as my family enjoys it.