Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa by Yummy Yammy Wows the Peachy's Pantry of Whom You Know-We Highly Recommend It!
If you think salsa is just a tomato-based topping for tortilla chips and tacos, boy are you (and your tastebuds!) in for a treat! Yummy Yammy, founded by Lisa Johnson, is revolutionizing the world of salsa by creating it with 100% fire roasted sweet potatoes, instead of tomatoes. Healthier and much more nutritious than traditional salsa (sweet potatoes are, after all, a superfood, and the entire jar weighs in at a mere 250 calories), the Yummy Yammy salsas also experiment with different flavors, which opens up a whole new world of possibilities for meals and snacks. The Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa is mouth-wateringly delicious - with flavors of roasted red pepper, white bean, and basil, your taste buds will be transported to Italy! I have tried it as a dip for fresh veggies and also as a spread on Italian bread, but the possibilities for uses are endless. This will definitely be a staple in my pantry going forward!
When I see the word “Tuscan”, I’m already SOLD, no matter what product it’s attached to. When it’s associated with food, even better! The Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa from Yummy Yammy is fantastic. Unlike other “salsas”, it tastes hearty as well as flavorful due to the sweet potato base. I tried it on its own as well as with some goat cheese on crackers, and it was a great snack. Next try will be on a turkey sandwich as a replacement for mayo and mustard, and my mouth is already watering in anticipation!
Yummy Yammy has come up with the perfect solution to solving the junk food dilemma. They've made a salsa that is fat-free, and only 250 calories for the entire jar, so it's the perfect new hot item to have on the shelf. Their Tuscan flavors blend red pepper, white bean and basil for a delectable flavor base with the sweet potato. Don't limit your thoughts for this new item to salsa. Think of it as a side dish, a base for a vegetable casserole, or a quick lunch with some rice. Sweet potatoes in a jar, what could be more appetizing? Use it to make nachos, because it's so delicious that way. Then try a casserole, layering on the Yummy Yammy with vegetables and meat. So good.
Eating healthy is important but sometimes it can be difficult. That is why I love Yummy Yammy's sweet potato salsas. Available in many varieties, the Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa is one of my favorites. Filled with the flavors of roasted red pepper, white bean and basil, your taste buds are sure to sing. This naturally sugar free and far free salsa will become your favorite go to snack.
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Yummy Yammy had its inception in 2009 in the Norwich, Vermont kitchen of Lisa Johnson, a mother of two working for a nonprofit. Johnson was looking for a quick and easy way to add more sweet potatoes into her family’s busy schedule. Why sweet potatoes? Not only are sweet potatoes an excellent source of Vitamin A (the natural form of beta carotene, a highly touted antioxidant), they also provide Vitamin C, fiber, magnesium, potassium, calcium, iron, B6, niacin, thiamine, riboflavin, Vitamin E & Vitamin K, have no fat at all, are naturally low calorie and low sodium. A 200g sweet potato even has 8g protein (yes, veggies have protein). This impressive resume supports calling sweet potatoes a "superfood.”
In addition to being packed with nutrition, sweet potatoes are delicious—if done right. “You can microwave a sweet potato, but it cooks so unevenly. And if you boil them, they can turn into flavorless mush. That’s no way to turn a kid on to sweet potatoes,” explains Johnson. She wanted her kids to be able to eat sweet potatoes frequently, but was having trouble making time for 30-40 minutes of oven roasting for every sweet potato meal.
"One day I just stamped my foot at myself and said, 'Lisa, you're an intelligent woman. Figure it out!' And suddenly it occurred to me to make a bunch at once, keep them in the fridge, and throw them - already cooked - into the dinner at the last minute."
She soon realized that if she was having that problem, she couldn’t be the only one. With increasing rates of obesity intersecting with increasing hours of work, it’s not hard to see consequences from people not having time to eat well. "At first I made this food because I needed something that was delicious, quick to put together, had great all-around nutrition, didn't have any junk in it, and that we could eat on the run,” she says. “Turns out, a lot of other busy people need that, too.”
She started selling Tex-Mex Dip—a tasty concoction of sweet potato purée, black beans, corn, and hot peppers—at Dan & Whit’s, a general store in Norwich. It was refrigerated, and made in small batches in Johnson’s kitchen. It was a big hit, and expanded to other local stores as well as the Norwich Farmer’s Market in short order.
Greater demand inspired greater production, until Johnson found herself in her kitchen, surrounded by nine crock-pots, waiting for a circuit breaker to blow in her 1870 kitchen. Her daughters had long since come home from school, but were barred from the kitchen for food safety purposes. “Normally they’d come home and I’d give them a hug and a snack,” Johnson remembers. “But when I wasn’t finished cooking by then, I had to say ‘Don’t come across this line, -- it’s sanitized. Don’t touch me, see you in a few hours.’ What kind of way is that to welcome your kids home?” It was when she still wasn’t finished hours later when her husband came home from work that she realized that something had to change.
That epiphany sent Johnson to the Vermont Food Venture Center in Hardwick, VT, as one of its first businesses in July 2011. The VFVC is an expansive, modern food processing facility, including an incubator kitchen for new Vermont businesses. It also allowed the now-renamed Fiesta Dip to be shelf-stable rather than refrigerated for the first time. Its new place outside of the dairy case brought Yummy Yammy to more and more stores throughout New England, including the Boston area, where it was a big hit at the Boston Food and Wine Expo of February 2013.
Soon, the operation was beginning to outgrow its original branding, and even the VFVC. In a huge overhaul, Johnson renamed the product “Sweet Potato Salsa,” and added two completely new flavors: Tuscan Sweet Potato Salsa, with roasted red pepper, white bean, and basil, and Moroccan Sweet Potato Salsa, with lentil, curry, and kale in addition to Mexican Sweet Potato Salsa, formerly known as Fiesta Dip. She also bid a sad farewell to the VFVC to contract with Sauces ‘n’ Love, a co-packer in the Boston area, allowing for even greater volume—and just in the nick of time! Yummy Yammy was a smash hit at the New York Fancy Food Show of summer 2013, inspiring new orders further afield, including Québec, New York, and Georgia.
Throughout this phenomenal growth, Yummy Yammy has striven to uphold its original principles: that all the ingredients of food should really be food, and that nutritious food can and should taste wonderful. Johnson has worked tirelessly to ensure the highest quality and taste in her naturally nutritious products. That means no preservatives, no colors, no fats, and no sweeteners: everything in the jar is working together to make a food so delicious you want to eat the whole jar, and so nutritious you can.
