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In the recent 'travel' thread, I mentioned that taco salad (sans the
wheat shell) was a good choice when eating out, and I said that salsa
is usually glutenfree (except for the questionable vinegar).  A reply
came through that salsa often contains modified food starch which, as
we all know, CAN contain gluten.

This bothered me a lot (I love taco salad and salsa), so I combed the
Mexican food aisle today and read all the labels on taco sauce and
salsa.  Here's what I found:

Anything labeled 'salsa' did not contain modified food starch.  Brands
I looked at included LaVictoria, Ortega, Chi Chi's, Pace, Old El Paso,
and the store brand (Master Choice).  These products did, however,
contain 'natural flavors' which we might want to check out.

On the other hand, anything labeled 'taco sauce' DID contain modified
food starch, source unidentified.

>From my limited knowledge of Mexican cooking, I know that 'salsa' is
a fresh dressing made from tomatoes, onion, chilis and cilantro, while
taco sauce is a dressing that is cooked and blended and thickened (hence
the 'need' for modified food starch.

I guess it's time I go back into my Mexican cookbook and start looking
up homemade versions of salsa, taco sauce, enchilada sauce, mole, etc.