Here are a few definitions of salsa that may be helpful to understand the various types:

Hot Sauce: This traditional salsa is usually made of vinegar, salt, water and hot Tabasco peppers. It is stilled for a few years and then packaged in slender glass bottles. Hot sauces were made famous by McIlhenny and Tapatio.

Picante Sauce: This salsa is usually a blend of tomatoes, bell peppers, onions, chile peppers, spices, salt, vinegar, and water. It is then cooked to preserve its integrity and vacuum sealed in a glass jar. Picante sauces are uniform in texture and flavor. They were made famous by Pace and La Victoria.

Fresh Salsa: Made from fresh raw vegetables. No canned tomatoes or processed ingredients. Because it is of all fresh vegetables, it must be stabilized and kept refrigerated. Unlike the uniform flavor and texture of cooked salsas, fresh salsa provides a different adventure in each container. Each ingredient can be identified by taste and appearance.

Pico de Gallo: Directly translated as "Bird's Beak," for the triangle-shaped cut of the vegetables, Pico de Gallo is authentic fresh salsa, popular in Mexico.

Specialty Salsas: New variations such as Mango Pineapple Salsa have recently become popular as exotic dips and marinades.