Saturday, July 7, 2012

Canning Salsa

We love salsa around here.  A lot!  I think that growing up in Texas with so much Mexican influence on the local foods it's just natural for us.   I love salsa on eggs, in beans, breakfast taco's, burrito's, chips and salsa,  the list goes on and on.  And so with all the tomato's and peppers we have right now the time is right to make some salsa.  I didn't really have a go to recipe to start with but now I think I just might have found one. I love that this recipe is so flexible.  And of course you can change up the amount of onions or peppers, or even use canned tomato's if you don't have fresh.    I'm working on my 3rd batch now which makes 18 quarts put up!  That just might be enough to last till next year but I just might put up at least one more batch.... just in case, ya know?

                      Salsa 

Directions
 6 pounds Roma (plum) tomatoes
1/4 pound Roma (plum) tomatoes, chopped
2 tablespoons garlic powder
1/4 cup lemon juice ( I used 3/4 cup just because I thought it needed it for canning)
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon ground cayenne pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 red onion, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
1 pound jalapeno peppers, chopped
1/3 bunch fresh cilantro, chopped

Bring a large saucepan of water to boil. Briefly place 6 pounds tomatoes into water to loosen skins and set color. Drain, peel and crush.
Mix chopped tomatoes, garlic powder, lemon juice, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin into the saucepan with crushed tomatoes. Whip to desired thickness. Bring to a boil. Mix in red onion, white onion, yellow onion, jalapeno peppers and cilantro. Continue boiling until vegetables are soft and mixture has reached desired consistency. Remove from heat. Refrigerate until serving.

You can click the link up there to find the original recipe and read all the wonderful reviews.  Of course I've tweaked it a bit.  I added bell peppers (because I've got so many this year) and uppped the amount of onions and lemon juice.I was kind of leary about using a pound of peppers just chopped. So the first batch I did I removed the seeds and membranes.   It ended up like a very mild salsa. So much so that it would probably be really good as a base for something like spaghetti or chili.  Not exactly what I was wanting but it won't go to waste.  The next batch I just chopped the whole jalapeno's.  Much better!  Of course Mar's loves all things HOT and so the last batch I added a couple of cored and seeded habanaro's.  It's still not to hot for me and he likes this last batch the best.   Chunky veggies that still maintain some firmness is one of the reasons I like this.This recipe is going to go on my list of have to do canning. for next year.

Tweaks I did to this..... 
 1 Tablespoon sugar, 
3/4 cup of lemon juice
extra onions
Bell Peppers
I didn't have fresh cilantro so I used dried because thats what I had on hand.  (which reminds me... I need to start some more seeds)
I drained all the juice I could from the tomato's and then just added back what I needed for the consistency I wanted.

And there you have it.  Great Salsa!! 

16 comments:

  1. I just love salsa and use it all the time. Yours sounds really good.

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    1. LOL! My fellow Texan, where would we be without some good salsa????

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  2. Love salsa! I thought I would try one of those packets to season some salsa. So yesterday I used Mrs. Wages HOT salsa mix. Did the packet say HOT? OMG! I had to add 2 extra cans of tomatoes and it still has quite a kick to it.

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  3. i looooove salsa!!! i think it is because i am Canadian and we have such a long history with salsa - bahahahahahah! your recipe looks great and thanks for sharing it Scigurl. jeesh i hope we get enough tomatoes, onions, peppers and garlic (i use crushed fresh garlic in my salsa) to have enough to can. last year was a bust - but then we were running around like chickens with our heads cut off. i got fingers and toes crossed that this year will be a bumper for everything.

    hey did i mention that i love salsa???? bahahahahahha! lots of love to you and Mars, your friend,
    kymber

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    1. Yeah kymber, you Canadians know your salsa! LOL!!!!!!!! I've got a feeling your garden is going to be amazing this year. As for last year.... We had record high temps last year which just killed most everyone's tomato's around here. Out of all the 60+ plants we had last year we were able to do nothing more than have some to eat fresh. A dismal tomato year for sure.

      Love to you and Jamie!!!
      And could you take a picture of your big ol' sky over the river for me? I'm kinda missing the whole big water-big sky thingy!!

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  4. Sci,

    Now I'm going to keep this recipe for my roma tomatoes and peppers when they all come in. I'm looking forward to some great salsa. My husband, Bulldog Man was raised in the El Paso area, so Mexican food is a good thing to always make in this house. He also loves the hot stuff like Mars! Give Mars a hug and try to keep cool girl! Your Okie Friend Sandy.

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    1. Sandy,
      I don't think this recipe will let you down. I'm pretty impressed with it myself. El Paso huh? Mars' grandparents lived there when he was a kid so he has some memories of it. And I actually lived there for a short while several years ago. (Long story!) Good luck with your garden, and here's hoping you get some of this rain they are teasing us about!

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  5. Sounds like a great recipe! Salsa is one of the things we HAVE to can every year...but this is the first year we will have to buy tomatoes from a market to do so. Our tomatoes flooded out TWICE. :(

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    1. Dang! That really sucks about your tomato's. You know, I've never made salsa to can before this year. But we DO use alot of it and I am happy with the results so I can see adding this to the "To Do" list from here on out! Nothing tastes as good as homemade and home grown.

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  6. Sounds like a great recipe to me! About the only thing I don't put salsa on is my ice cream!

    Of course, none in my coffee either!

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  7. Thanks for sharing the lovely recipe. Seems to be very appetising indeed.

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  8. Short of a fast food "Mexican" chain in my home town there wasn't any Mexican style food growing up. Once I ended up in California working for Uncle Sam, I quickly grew to love it. Just the other day, instead of going to Applebee's or some other chain, I hit a local small place and had "street tacos", fresh marinated carne asada on homemade hot corn tortillas, with goat cheese, cilantro and fresh lime wedges. OMG they were good.

    I will have to try and make my own salsa. You've given me inspiration.

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    1. Brigid, If anyone can make salsa it would be you! I grew up eating Tex-Mex and didn't know that other folks didn't eat it too! I miss it here. But on a good note, there's a great Mexican Restaurant in Tiny Town. Just Yummy!
      Oh, and good margarita's don't hurt either!

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  9. Just a tomato tip for your salsa and spaghetti sauce... instead of boiling / peeling/ crushing your tomatoes, just wash them and cap/core them then stick them in a food processor or blender. It purees the skins so you can't even tell they were left on the tomatoes. It saves soooooo much time. I wrote about it somewhere on my blog from when I canned my spaghetti sauce. Now I only dice tomatoes if I want something chunky.

    I also blend them during the week as my tomatoes come on and I can't can them until the weekend. I just pour the puree into a jug and keep in the frig until I have enough to can a whole batch of sauce

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    1. LB, funny you mention that. The last batch that I put up I just tossed in the food processor. I can't believe I didn't do that before. SO much easier. What a great idea to blend them up till you have time to can them!

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