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it’s salsa season 2010
August 30, 2010
You can tell it’s canning time again because another heat wave has started.
The kitchen may be steamier than a bathhouse but the first of at least five batches of salsa is chilling on the counter. Hot weather be damned, four more batches will have to be churned out in the next two days, otherwise we’re taking a whole lot of raw Roma tomatoes to Pinery Provincial Park for the long weekend. I wonder if deer would like them?
The recipe I use is adapted from Blue Ribbon Preserves by Linda J. Amendt. Her recipe calls for chopping all of the ingredients but I like to run most of them through the food processor for a less chunky final product, which we find a little more versatile for cooking.
Salsa
This recipe is meant to make about 6 pint jars or 12 half-pint jars. Maybe I just don’t measure very carefully (well, I know full well I don’t) but the quantity often varies for me, and today’s batch yielded exactly seven pints.
Wear rubber gloves while handling the peppers. I did, and even kept the gloves on through the cleanup of all things hot pepper, and then washed the gloves with soap before taking them off, and still 45 minutes later I stuck my finger in my eye and burned it with capsaicin. Argh!
Neither the fresh coriander nor the garlic are part of the original recipe, but I add either one or the other to each batch. Today I added both, because they were there.
12 cups cored and chopped Roma or other plum tomatoes*
3 cups chopped onions
3 cups seeded and chopped Anaheim, Colorado or poblano peppers
1 3/4 cups seeded and chopped jalapeňo peppers
1/2 cup white wine vinegar
1/2 cup strained fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons kosher salt or pickling salt
a couple of handfuls of chopped fresh coriander** (optional)
a head or two of garlic, crushed in a garlic press rather than put through the food processor
If you like your salsa chunky, throw all of your ingredients into an 8-quart stainless steel pan just like this. If you prefer it without the big chunks, do what I do: run 10 cups of the tomatoes and all of the onions and peppers through the food processor for a minute before adding them to the pot. Chop the remaining tomatoes so there’s at least a little bit of variety in the final texture. Now, carry on!
Over medium-low heat, bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to avoid sticking. I’m going to assume you know how to deal with jars and canning and whatnot and cut to the important stuff: leave 1/2″ of headspace when filling your jars. Process both pint and half-pint jars for 15 minutes. Then wait a couple of weeks and enjoy your delicious salsa!
* Actually, since I use Romas and they’re not all that juicy inside, I never bother to core them, just take off the stem end and toss them in. This could be why my batch was bigger than anticipated.
** If using coriander, keep it aside until after the salsa has finished simmering, then stir it in just before filling the jars.
Posted by jodi on August 30, 2010 at 8.30pm
Categories: mama's in the kitchen
Comments on "it’s salsa season 2010"
Your salsa looks fabulous I’m getting into jam/pickle making this year and I’m considering getting a preserving thingo as well :-)
Posted by Claire on September 1, 2010 at 3.58am :: link
it looks delicious! a friend gave me her slow cooker and a big bunch of jars and the picture above really induces me to try your salsa. may be a stupid question, but: how is this salsa used afterwards? as a basis for cooking tomato sauce or is it already a finished sauce which just has to be warmed up? i’m asking because of the vinegar in it – sounds a bit like the finished product would be some kind of chunky ketchup.
Posted by coolcat on September 2, 2010 at 4.31am :: link
thanks for answering, and thanks for sharing your recipe, i’ll definetely try this :)
Posted by coolcat on September 2, 2010 at 7.51am :: link