Let's Make Salsa

It's that time of year: harvest time! I grow my own vegetable garden every year, and this year I grew it with the aim of being able to make salsa at the end of the season. So I planted lots of tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and jalapenos. I had a good harvest, so it is time to make some salsa with the results! If you don't have a garden, that's fine, there is plenty of locally-grown fresh tomatoes, peppers, garlic and onions available at your local Farmers Market as well.

This salsa recipe is one I've made and enjoyed for years. Heat level can be controlled by how many and how much of the jalapeno you include in your recipe. I also don't peel my tomatoes, but feel free to do so if you like it better that way.

Recipe

2 cups chopped peppers
4 cups chopped onion
16 jalapeño deseeded and chopped
4 bulbs garlic finely chopped
Sauté above ingredients with 1/4 cup olive oil 15-30 mins then add:
14 chopped/peeled tomatoes (I do not peel the tomatoes)
1.5 cups vinegar
2 small cans tomato paste
3 tbsp coarse salt
1 bunch chopped cilantro ~1 cup
Cook and cover ~ 1 hr

Instructions

Before we begin: a note on heat. I like spicy, and if you follow these instructions as shown and use 16 deseeded jalapenos I'd judge this to be almost a medium heat recipe. For mild I use 4-6 jalapenos, and for hot I just include the seeds with the jalapenos.

Chop

First thing to do is to take the onions, peppers, garlic and jalapenos, and chop them up. I cheat with the garlic and use a small food processor to dice them up nice and small

Chopped onion and bell pepper

Jalapenos ready for chopping

I use gloves and goggles when chopping up the jalapenos. I takes just one time to rub your eyes after you thought you washed you hands enough to never want to feel that burning sensation ever again.

Garlic peeled and ready to be chopped

This is my food processor cheat

I cut off the tops and halve the jalapenos first, then I use a spoon to scoop out the seeds from the jalapenos before further chopping them up.

Start cooking

Get a big pot, set it to medium heat, add a dash of olive oil, and cook the chopped veggies until soft, stirring frequently. During this time I wash and dice up the tomatoes, as by the time I am done it is usually time to add them.

Add the tomatoes and the rest

Add your diced tomatoes, vinegar, salt and tomato paste and stir/cook/simmer for at least an hour. It is up to you whether you keep a lid on or not, as it will affect the thickness of the salsa.

That's it! This isn't a hard recipe, most of your time will be spent chopping the veggies.

Bonus content: Introductory canning

Canning

Once you finish the salsa, you need to store and save it somewhere. This recipe will make approximately 4 L of salsa, and that's more than what I can eat if saved in the fridge, so canning is a necessity.

Canning is the process by which you preserve food in jars such that bacteria can not grow. Since the salsa in this recipe is cooked, it gives us a lot of leeway for canning as the cooking process has already taken care of any harmful bacteria that made it in with the veggies.

Sterilize your jars and ladle

I run my jars through my dishwasher on a sterilization cycle to make sure they are clean, before ladling in the cooked salsa. The alternative is to get a big pot of water boiling, and to fill the jars with the boiling water and leave them in the pot for 10-15 minutes to sterilize that way.

After sterilizing the jars, empty them of the boiling water and use the jar right away. Funnel in the salsa with a ladle leaving about an inch of air space at the top of the jar.

Seal and boil

Put on the lid and seal it nice and tight, then put the whole jar in a pot of boiling water (you can use the same pot of boiling water you use to sterilize the jars with if you plan things out right), making sure the tops of the jars are submerged in the water about an inch. Depending upon your altitude and the volume of food you're canning, there are all sorts of charts for how long you need to leave it in the boiling water. Since everything is cooked, I just go with 15 minutes; It hasn't failed me yet.

While in the boiling water, you'll see little bubbles come out from under the lids. That is what you want. You are removing the air in the jar to help create a vacuum seal that will keep the food fresh and safe. The boiling will also help to further sterilize the jars (and lids).

Store, save, and eat when you need it.

Once canned, I just store the jars in a pantry cupboard for up to a year. Once opened, you need to keep the salsa in the fridge. That's it! One method I like to do is to fill and can many 250mL jars so I can give it away as gifts around the holidays.

If you have any questions, please feel free to fire them my way at jgoertz@wpl.ca

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse