The Spice of Life
After a heart attack, Curt Crook turns to salsa-making and finds peace and passion in equal measure.
Story by Don Gilman Photos by Thomas Boyd
Curt Crook’s life changed in July 2015, courtesy of an event that colored his outlook forever.
A day before departing on what was to be a seven-day motorcycle road trip, Crook and a friend set out from Roseburg to get their tires changed at a Eugene shop. By the time they reached Sutherlin, Crook had to stop when he was overcome by nausea. Once back on the freeway, he had to stop again at the next exit to Oakland.
Finally arriving at the Eugene shop, Crook requested some water. When he stood to get it, he collapsed.
“I dropped over ‘dead’ of a heart attack,” he says.
Crook woke up in a Eugene hospital bed, where he would remain for three days. Overweight and recovering from surgery to insert a stent to keep open a clogged artery, Crook knew he needed to make a change.
To that end, he turned to a hobby he began pursuing 23 years earlier as pastor of the Open Door Christian Fellowship — salsa-making. Over the next five years, Crook would focus enough attention on his avocation to turn it into the successful vocation that is now Papa Curt’s Salsa.
In the early days, Crook would make his salsa 10 gallons at a time, enough to feed 300 people at Super Bowl and Civil War parties. He credits one of his parishioners, Shaun Konopaski, with providing the motivation to see if he could find a larger audience for his product.
“We were sitting around the Crooks’ dinner table and Curt had made some of the salsa,” remembers Konopaski, who later would design the logo for Crook’s business venture. “I jokingly said ‘You should start a salsa business; this is amazing.’
”Crook got more encouragement after he started attending another church and served his salsa at another Super Bowl party to another unofficial focus group.
“They said, ‘Man, you ought to sell this stuff,’” he says.
Crook got the message. Before long he was taking his salsa to Two Shy Brewery, where he would give it with chips to customers willing to fill out a response card asking, “If you could change two things about this salsa, what would you change and why?”
Over the course of three weeks, he collected 750 responses, using the information to refine his product. A second survey, asking respondents how often they would buy the salsa if it were available in retail outlets, gave Crook enough confidence to push forward and in 2017 Papa Curt’s Salsa was in business.
Crook uses all-natural ingredients with no added sugar, a recipe he says makes Papa Curt’s unique among many other brands.
“Most companies use vinegar, xanthan gum and five different preservatives,” he says, adding that after about a week, vinegar can create bitterness in the salsa.
His flavors range from mild to one spicy enough to be called Scorpion, named after the Scorpion pepper, an import from Trinidad. Crook uses habanero and jalapeno peppers for his hot and medium varieties.
His business is now producing about 1,200 pints (150 gallons) each week and going through about 3,000 pounds of tomatoes a month.
“Papa Curt’s is now producing about 1,200 pints (150 gallons) of salsa each week and going through about 3,000 pounds of tomatoes a month.”
When we started, we thought three to four hundred pounds of salsa was a big deal,” Crook says.
Roger Frank, Crook’s friend and property manager for Kunert Electric, has watched Papa Curt’s grow from a micro-business into one poised to take off.
“He kind of got a glimmer of hope a few years ago and just grew from there,” Frank says. “He has just been growing like crazy ever since.”
Already sold in Sherm’s Thunderbird, Nickabob’s, Backside Brewery, Southgate Market in Roseburg as well as outlets in Glendale, Grants Pass and Medford, Crook also has been in discussions with Costco and Walmart.
A fifth-generation Roseburg native, Crook says spending summers working with his grandfather was a powerful influence.
“My grandpa had an 11-acre garden and a little fruit-and-garden stand [Umpqua Greenhouses] for 42 years up in Glide,” he says. “I used to spend all my summers up there as a kid.”
Crook says he loves the opportunity salsa-making provides to explore his creative side. He constantly tweaks and tightens his recipes while also developing new ones.
“I get bored producing the same thing all the time,” he says.
Crook adds that he knew after six months in business he had found a winning product line and credits the feedback he received from those Two Shy customers.
“I adjusted it to the responses from those people. When they said ‘It’s perfect; don’t do anything else,’ that’s when I stopped,” he says.
Crook says his experience with salsa truly has been life-changing. Knowing he needed to lose weight after his heart attack, Cook changed his diet and eating regimen. After 4 p.m., he would eat only salsa with rice crackers, celery and cucumber slice.
“In eight months, I lost 78 pounds,” he says. “It’s the most life-changing experience I’ve ever had.” Crook decided from that point on he would focus only on his passions. The rapidly growing number of fans of Papa Curt’s are glad salsa is one of them.
