HOUSTON – Welcome to Made in Texas, where we write about products made in the Lone Star State.

Today, we’re featuring the popular salsa that’s in the kitchen of many American households.

The product

Pace Picante Sauce is a salsa made with smoothly blended tomatoes, chunks of savory onions and fresh hand-picked jalapeños, according to the product’s description.

The sauce, which can be used as an ingredient or dip, comes in four different levels of spiciness including extra mild, mild, medium and hot.

The inventor

The person we can thank for the tasty creation is David Pace, a young entrepreneur from Louisiana who settled in San Antonio with his wife.

During his younger years, Pace worked in his family’s syrup business, competed in the first Sugar Bowl and piloted a jet in World War II, according to the Pace Food’s website.

The story behind Pace Picante Sauce

Pace and his wife were working out of the back of a liquor store they rented in San Antonio when he decided to experiment with his family’s salsa recipe.

In 1947, once he had perfected the recipe, he established the Pace Picante Sauce brand.

The couple then formed Pace Foods, an American food and beverage company.

In 1976, the couple divorced and shortly after, Pace sold the company to his former wife, according to the Pace Society of America.

In 1989, Kit Goldsbury, the Pace’s former son in law became the owner after having worked there for 20 years.

Pace died in 1993. And a year later, Goldsbury sold the company to Campbell for $1.1 billion in cash, according to Forbes. At the time, the sauce was considered the No.1 selling condiment in the world.

Over 70 years later, the sauce is still made in Texas today and is considered a favorite in many American households.