“It has a zestiness in it,” said Crews, who is a student at Tonganoxie Junior High School.

Crews said it was a good idea for the cafeteria to let students vote on their favorite of three salsas, and he said similar taste-trials should be held.

“When we have nachos, we should do it on which kind of cheese we like, that would be cool,” Crews said. “Also, we could do it on what kind of cake we like best.”

Melissa Ostermeyer, school superintendent’s secretary, said the taste trials were being held as part of a school cost-cutting effort. School cooks have prepared their own salsa. But buying ready-made would be less expensive, so Ostermeyer planned to let the students decide their favorite brand.

Steve Woolf, principal, watched over students in the cafeteria during lunch time.

“The more input from the kids the better,” Woolf said.

How much say the students ultimately will have in which salsa will be selected is still unknown. Here are results of the test: Brand C (Ortega), 78 votes; Brand A (Nugget), 53 votes; and Brand B (Old Heritage), 27 votes.

“Nugget is the least expensive,” Ostermeyer said. “Ortega is the most. We’ll have to sit down and do some cost comparisons, see how much we actually use.”

But even the higher-priced brand, Ortega, is still less expensive than having the cooks make their own, she said.