Hot Stuff From South of the (St. Clair County) Border

Columbia is known as a farming community, and even outsiders know that tomatoes are one of the crops grown here. What's been known to only a few (until now, that is) is that Columbia is also the home to the finest salsa north of El Paso: Senorita Merz Slo-Simmered Salsa.

In 1996, Linda Merz began making salsa on her kitchen stove in Columbia, using fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic from her father-in-law’s farm. Linda began cooking batches of salsa on a regular basis, and the demand grew. With the assistance of her husband, Steve, and other family members and friends, production moved to the garage, then to kitchen space rented from local restaurants after hours, and finally to King’s Food Products in Belleville.

Today, Linda's salsa is sold not just in Columbia's Market Place, but in many Dierberg's and Straub's across the region--and by a variety of other food vendors, as well.