This is Highly Recommend, a column dedicated to what people in the food industry are obsessed with eating, drinking, and buying right now.
A cascade of amber powder falls from my grandma’s hand. As it hits the pinto beans, dancing in their pot, notes of garlic, achiote, and oregano fill the air. While the beans cook, she pulls the tostones out of the fryer and hits them with a light sprinkle of another powder, this one as yellow as the plantains. A beloved standard in many Boricua kitchens, sazón and adobo are always kept at the ready—and when I need to replenish, I look for Loisa.
Historically, my family (and almost everyone else I knew) always used Goya’s sazón and adobo. So when I came across Loisa, I was intrigued: A company that dared to compete with Goya? (This was a year before the boycott of the brand, which sent many looking for alternatives.) After I got my hands on Loisa’s adobo and sazón, I hurried to my grandma’s house, and with a lot of convincing, she gave it a try. The deep red sazón carried a strong aroma of cumin and garlic, and the almost glistening gold adobo popped with the flavors of turmeric, garlic, and a hint of oregano. After using Loisa, Goya seemed pale in comparison. Even my grandma, grudgingly, was impressed.
Kenny Luna, Scott Hattis, and Yadira Garcia started Loisa to recreate the Latin seasonings they loved but with organic ingredients and no dyes or preservatives—and they ended up with products that taste brighter and more flavorful than the other versions too. The sazón adds smokiness and depth to sancocho or arroz con gandules. I sprinkle the adobo on top of root vegetables for an enhanced savory flavor (your fried yuca will never be the same) and incorporate it into marinades for pernil.
I don’t have to change my grandma’s recipes when using Loisa because the seasoning blends have been formulated with Puerto Rican cooking in mind. They may not be the ones that my grandma grew up with, but Loisa adobo and sazón have earned spots in her kitchen—and in mine.
