Serving Whitman County since 1877
Serving Whitman County since 1877
It started two years ago with a garden surplus. Now it’s a new business in Palouse, Victerz Salsa, made in the kitchen of the community center.
Nick and Nancy Whitesell in the Palouse Community Center kitchen Dec. 30 making Victerz salsa.“This is something new for us,” said Nancy Whitesell, a Victerz co-founder, along with husband, Nick. “We had a really good yield on tomatoes one year.”
In 2010, they brought in a thousand green tomatoes from their garden to ripen in their basement. Then the Whitesells started to think of what to do with them.
“It’s taken us about this long to get the recipe down to what we think is a perfect salsa,” Whitesell said.
Along with refining the ingredients and recipe, they decided on a name and packaging and obtained the correct certifications to manufacture the food for sale, nick-named after their dog, Victor.
On Dec. 30, the couple had a second manufacturing session in the Palouse Community Center, which they rent to make batches of the salsa.
In order for the product to be legal to sell in stores, it has to be made in a commercial kitchen. The center’s kitchen was just certified by the USDA in December.
“We thought it would be a great way to support the center by running a business there and for us to have access to a commercial kitchen, it’s a plus-plus,” said Whitesell.
The first session took place Dec. 9, in which the couple spent eight hours making nine cases of salsa, which is put into 16-ounce Kerr jars.
“We ran out of tomatoes,” said Whitesell. “It’s not an exact science. The measurements are the same but it may take nine tomatoes one time and eight another.”
The ingredients in the salsa include tomatoes, green peppers, onions, vinegar, garlic, habanero peppers, salt and secret spices.
“With habaneros, we can adjust the heat level without adjusting the flavor,” said Whitesell.
Nancy and Nick get the ingredients from multiple suppliers.
The Kerr jars with the golden lids give the salsa a home-canned look, Whitesell said.
A Clarkston designer created their label.
“We want our label improved a little bit more,” said Whitesell. “But for now it gives us the homemade look, that’s what we’re going for.”
The salsa is made one batch at a time, in regular 13-quart kitchen kettles, which the Whitesells bring from home.
Victerz Salsa was sold for the first time at last summer’s Palouse Music Festival. After that the Whitesells had a booth at Palouse Days and then had a table at the Potlatch Craft Fair in December.
They just got the jars on the shelves at McLeod’s Palouse Market on Dec. 21, when Nancy and Nick gave out samples at the store.
“We will be doing a lot of standing at stores asking if people would like to try it,” said Whitesell.
They test every batch and a representative from the USDA came to the Victerz manufacturing session Dec. 9 for a processing inspection. The result was a 100-percent rating.
The salsa sells for $3.75 to $3.99 a jar.
All together, Whitesell said it’s a fair amount of work.
“My husband and I get to spend a lot of time together,” she said. “We were really surprised it took so much to get to where we are.”
Part of the preparation work was for Nancy to be certified for commercial food manfacturing by taking a USDA-required 36 hours, or eight courses in acified foods, microbiology and more, all of it online through University of California-Davis.
“I was already a germophobe,” said Whitesell. “Now I’m really a germophobe.”
Now that she is certified, as is the community center kitchen, the stage is set for many sessions with the kettle pots.
“It works perfect for us, and there’s plenty of room,” Whitesell said.
It was all part of their business plan.
“That they were building the community center, that gave us the, ‘you know what, I think we can do this,’” she said. “It was a motivating factor, definitely.”
While Nancy and Nick keep making more salsa, they hope to continue selling at McLeod’s while they pursue more stores after the new year. In addition, they plan on getting a spot at the Farmer’s Market in Moscow.
In the meantime, Nancy just ordered 20 cases of Kerr jars from Dissmore’s in Pullman, where she works as a pricing coordinator.
Nick Whitesell puts newly-made jars of salsa in a hot water bath to seal the lids.
Garth Meyer is a former Whitman County Gazette reporter.
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