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September 3, 2008
Tomato Week 2008: Salsa!
A few weeks ago my sister braved my overgrown garden (Long story...But needless to say some unforeseen things popped up, the garden went wild and we haven't been able to get ahead of its wildness! Plus my sister saw a little slithery being wrapped around one of the plants and let's just say I'm not a snake person so that has kind of made me not want to tame it all the more, but rather clean it up after the cold weather comes back and the snakes go away to their little snakey lairs! I did venture down to pick some green tomatoes though a few days later...But back to the rest of the story! ;oP) and picked a huge bowl full of peppers and tomatoes. Of course we ate some as is, but after a while you've still got tomatoes coming out of your ears and you want something a little different. So that's when it's time to pull out the stops and make some salsa!
Salsa can be made many ways. I actually made this version and canned it using a water bath. My mom got me a pressure canner as an early birthday so I plan on using that next time, but for this batch the water bath worked just fine. I'm not going to go really in depth into the canning process. There are informative websites out there such as this one or if you want something in print in your hand I highly recommend Canning & Preserving for Dummies
What You'll Need:
Red and green tomatoes, chopped (Note: I like to put both red and green tomatoes in my salsa. You can just use red tomatoes if you like or you can use some tomatillos too.)
Peppers, deseeded and chopped (Note: You can use any type of peppers you like here as well. I used sweet banana peppers, pimentos and some sweet chile peppers, but you can use jalapeños and other hot peppers if you like.)
1 large red onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sea salt
2 tablespoons of chili powder
2 tablespoons of paprika
2 teaspoons of black pepper
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 cup of apple cider vinegar
In a very large pot (I like at least a 13 quart pot) fill the pot with tomatoes until it is about half full. (Note: I do not peel or seed my tomatoes when I'm making salsa or canning. Why waste all that fiber? Plus peeling a tomato is a pain in the you know what so why make it hard on yourself? Chop and go my friends, chop and go!)
Next add in your chopped onion and peppers an stir to mix:
Don't worry about exact measurements for this. You don't need them! You want roughly 3/4ths of a pot of vegetables, but if it's not exactly that much or a bit more, no big deal! This is very forgiving...You can't go wrong!
Next add your spices and vinegar and stir well to coat:
Next bring mixture to a simmer and cook for 20-30 minutes or until veggies are soft:
Remove from heat and can immediately.
This gave me two quarts and a small jar, plus a little to put in the fridge.
If you do not want to go through the canning process you can keep this in the fridge for a couple of weeks.
Notes: This really is a make it as you like kind of recipe. If you like it hot, go for the hot peppers or add more hot spices. If you like it mild, then go with sweet peppers and leave out the cayenne. It's all a matter of personal taste.
Posted by Dianne at September 3, 2008 7:06 AM
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