Salsa Trail mascot Señor Salsa is at it again — hot on the heels of those folks back East who don’t know the difference between a jalapeño and a habeñero.

The Arizona Salsa Trail is featured this month in an article called “Hot Stops” in seven AAA regional publications with a combined circulation of more than 2.4 million. The magazines are circulated in the Midwest, where cold temperatures and blowing snow are a staple in January and February.

“This particular article in AAA in the Midwest reaches the market the winter visitors come from,” said Bill Civish, chairman of the Graham County Visitor and Tourism Council.

Pictured are some of the magazines in which the Salsa Trail has been featured.

This is not the first time the Salsa Trail has blazed its way across magazine and newspaper pages. This culinary tourism attraction has so far been a hot topic in up to 25 publications since its inception three years ago, said Sheldon Miller, director of the Graham County Chamber of Commerce.

The “Hot Stops” article, written by Jackie Dishner, is peppered with references to several Mexican eateries along the Salsa Trail. Beginning with the San Simon Chile Company, Dishner describes the landscape of the area and the unique tastes of salsas offered at Salsa Trail restaurants.

For example, Dishner describes Pima as “a tiny town where cotton farms and alfalfa fields replace cactus and sage.”

She also writes “Bush & Shurtz serves farmers who prefer their salsa creamy and mild, but in the next town over, Thatcher, La Casita Café makes a chunky, spicy salsa sold by the pint. It’s a tongue-burning, tear-jerking green concoction worth taking home.”

Dishner describes Safford as “the hub” of the Salsa Trail, and several restaurants, including Gi’mee’s in York and El Coronado in Safford, are mentioned.

Civish said if Dishner’s article does not entice salsa connoisseurs to spend the winter in the Gila Valley, it might at least prompt a visit.

“We’ve had only positive comments from visitors and the press about the communities and the restaurants and the people,” Miller said.

As the chamber and the Visitor and Tourism Council await the arrival of “Arizona’s Salsa Trail,” a book by Christine Maxa featuring the Salsa Trail restaurants, recipes and places of interest, the new Salsa Kit has been introduced. The kit, in a bright red box, contains a cap, a T-shirt, pamphlets, a refrigerator magnet and, of course, a jar of salsa.

“We’ve put them in hotel rooms. We’ve given them to dignitaries. They’ve gone all over the country,” Miller said.

Meanwhile, Señor Salsa just keeps on blazing the trail, with the Gila Valley as the hot, saucy and sassy attraction for culinary tourists.