ON A RECENT steamy summer afternoon at a local restaurant, a friend ordered a fruity salsa. Tangy, slightly spicy, a bit sweet, and totally refreshing— it contained pineapple, jalapeño, red onion, lime juice, and cilantro—the salsa collected perfectly in the curve of a tortilla chip, a refreshing bite that cooled me down even as it pricked my tongue with mild peppery heat. I decided to make my own at home.
I started with a few existing recipes. Most used sturdy pineapple as a base, a flavorful choice that I loved, so I started by dicing pineapple into ¼-inch pieces. I’m pretty handy with a chef’s knife, but by the time I’d chopped the pineapple, red onion, and other salsa ingredients, my hand hurt. So for my next round I ditched…
