Fresh Tomato Salsa

6 pounds fresh tomatoes, skinned and seeded
- 1 can chopped green chiles
- 2 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped fine
- 3/4 medium onion, diced
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- 1 Tablespoon chili powder
- 1/2 Tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- 1 Tablespoon red wine vinegar

Directions:

The first step in making fresh tomato salsa is to blanch and skin the tomatoes. To blanch the tomatoes fill a large pot 3/4 full with water and bring it to a boil over medium high heat. I used about 12 medium tomatoes, approximately 6 pounds. That gave me 8 cups of salsa. Use your judgement as to how many tomatoes you will need based on that. While the water is heating up prepare an ice bath for the tomatoes near the stove. Once the water comes to a boil put 3 or 4 of the tomatoes into the boiling water. Watch them and you'll see the skin start to crack and pull away from the tomato. It will take about 30 seconds. Once that happens, remove the tomato from the boiling water with a slotted spoon and immediately submerge it in the ice bath. Keep going with this process until all the tomatoes have been in both the boiling water and the ice bath.

You'll see that the skin is now falling off the tomatoes. The next step is to remove the skin completely and core the tomatoes. I do this over a large colander with a bowl next to me for the skin and core that will be discarded. Once you remove the core give the tomato a gentle squeeze to squeeze out most of the seed and some of the juice. I do that over the sink, but a bowl works just as well. You are going to discard the seeds and the juice. There you have it. Once your done you'll have a bowl of skinned and seeded tomatoes.

Now you are ready to make your salsa. Puree three quarters of your tomatoes in a blender with the chopped garlic and jalapeno peppers. Chop the rest of the tomatoes into chunks as finely as you like. I like a little texture in my salsa. To make the salsa, just combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine. Go ahead and taste it to be sure it has the level of spice and heat you like. You can add more of whatever you like.

I like to store my salsa in canning jars in the refrigerator, but remember that you haven't processed this salsa so you'll need to eat it all in the next few days.