Salsa

Several people have asked me for my recipe for canning salsa.  Every year I try to can enough salsa to last my family until the next year.  Sometimes I do well and others not so much.  I also like to have it on hand for a last minute snack to bring somewhere (such as church or a last minute invite).  I keep bags of tortilla chips on hand from Aldi, so it is a cheap and easy snack.

I normally start with either a bunch of homegrown tomatoes or a box from the farmers market.  We have been so busy and it has been so hot here that we did not plant any tomatoes this year, so I bought a box from a farm down the road from us.  I would guess that this is about 20 pounds, but I am not quite sure.

I then peal the tomatoes and cut them into quarters.  To peal them I boil them in water for three minutes and them put them in ice water.  The skins then just slip off.   After they are cut into quarters I pulse them through a food processor.  I leave them kind of chunky.

I then start to add my veggies.  This is what I like to add:

4-5 pounds of onion (I like sweet onions)
4 bell peppers
6 jalapeno peppers (I remove the membranes and the seeds but you can leave them if you like it hot)
8 cloves garlic
several banana peppers
1 bunch of cilantro

I run all of this through my food processor to get it chopped

This is my big kitchen bowl full of veggies.  I then add the spices and the other ingredients:

1 cup of vinegar
1/4 cup of salt
2 tsp pepper
1 tsp cumin
juice of about 6 limes


This is what I do because we don't like it very spicy.  If you want it to have more kick add red pepper or cayenne  pepper to it.  There are really not any rules except that you have to add the lime or some lemon juice for acidity.  If you can items without enough acidity it may spoil and that would be a shame after all of this work.

I also like to add about three large cans of tomato paste just to thicken it up and sometimes I will sometimes add some canning pectin.  It just depends on how thick the salsa is and how thick you like it.

I then cook it on the stove for about an hour on a low simmer.  I had to put this into two large pots.  The last half I vented the lid so that some of the liquid could come off.  How much liquid you have will depend on how juicy your tomatoes are, so this may not be necessary.  I then used my immersion blender and blended it up a little.  I still left it fairly chunky because that is how we like it.

I then fill the jars and process them in a water bath for 15 minutes.  I like to use pint size jars for my family but I ran low on jars and I did use a few quart jars.  If your family is smaller or doesn't eat as much in one sitting you may want to use 1/2 pint jars.

I think finished canning goods are a lovely sight!