All About Sofrito

When it comes to Sofrito, you will meet an amazing amount of people who swear by a certain brand, or certain texture (fresh or frozen) or those who refuse to use it if isn't homemade.

Me, I'll take it any way I can get it. I've used it frozen, fresh, home-made and even ones that weren't Goya (when I was desperate!). Why, you ask? Why go through all this craziness? Well...because simply put...Sofrito is the best seasoning ever invented.

So what's exactly in it? Well...I went about posting this blog in order to tell you when I discovered myself that there actually many, many different variations depending on where you are. Puerto Rico, Cuba, Haiti, Spain, Latin America and even Italy all have different versions. So, I'm going to give you the ingredients that my mom used to use when she made her sofrito at home.

Cilantro, Green Bell Peppers, Garlic, Onions, Sweet Chili Peppers, Recao (which is small, green-stemmed herb. But sometimes my mom would use parsley if she couldn't find Recao), Tomatoes and Oil.

I'm only giving you a list of ingredients and not a recipe because honestly, I don't know anyone who makes sofrito from scratch anymore. I'm sure that it is done somewhere, but my family - including my mother, the Matriarch - have realized that store-bought Sofrito tastes just as good and is nearly as fresh. But I thought that since you will be seeing Sofrito used in nearly all of my recipes, you'd want to know what it was you were actually eating!

Enjoy!!!