Discover the Texan Roots of This Beloved Recipe Ingredient

Texans are known for producing some of the best recipes, with each city contributing its own unique product from Dallas to Amarillo, Houston, and Lubbock.

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It isn't any wonder one of the best ingredients in most dishes came from a small town in Texas.  Many people use this in their hamburger meat to spice it up, or add it to cheese to make it the best to dip your chips.  Of course, we are talking about,

Ro*Tel

Rotel is a mixture of diced tomatoes and green chiles and it is guaranteed to make any dish better.

Back in 1943 in Elsa, Texas, Carl Roettele owned a small plant where they canned vegetables.   One of those vegetables just happened to be their mixture of tomatoes and green chiles.

Elsa, Texas is located in South Texas in Hidalgo County, near the tip of the state.

Here's a fun fact about the name Ro*Tel

As mentioned above the creator's last name was Roettele, and knowing how humans are, he realized that people would not be able to say his name correctly, so he shortened it to Rotel, and that was the beginning of a spicy legacy.

There was a time when the farthest Ro-Tel was shipped was to Dallas.   However, the spicy tomatoes and green chiles caught on, and in the mid-50s Ro*Tel found its way into Oklahoma and Arkansas, and soon after Ro*Tel was found all over the United States.

Ro*Tel is a popular product that has roots in Texas, where many great food products have been made. The next time you prepare your favorite dishes like queso, taco meat, or even goulash, you can feel proud knowing you are using a Texas-made product when you add Ro*Tel to your recipe.

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