Saturday 11 October 2014

Best Salsa





A labor of love. You can not buy anything that even comes close to how good this is. It takes a bit of time but the results a so worth it. Use the best quality produce that you can find. If you can't grow the produce, buy it from local farmers. Make this in the fall to have all winter long. 
Next spring plant a salsa garden. Tomatoes, peppers, jalapeños, onions and cilantro. Presto, salsa!


Start with the jars. Everything must be clean and dry. Wash it all with hot soapy water or run them all in your dishwasher on the "high temperature" setting. You must use jars that are meant for canning. I purchased mine at my local grocery store. Try Walmart or Peavy Mart too. The jars, lids and screw bands all come in one package and you can also purchase the lids and screw bands separately. For more information son home preserving look here or here. Using a stainless steal bowl, soak the lids in hot water, this will soften the sealing compound so that your jars will seal as they cool.
Don't be intimidated, our Mother's and Grandmothers's canned their food every year. You can do it too!

 

Next, prepare the tomatoes. You must remove the skin from the tomatoes. This process is called blanching. Have a large pot of water, boiling. Drop clean tomatoes into the boiling water. Let them sit in the hot water for 30-60 seconds. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and put them into cold water. Let the tomatoes sit in the cold water for a minute or two. I have only used one tomato here for demonstration purposes. You can blanch 5-10 tomatoes at a time depending on how big your pot is and how big the tomatoes are. Using a small pairing knife, start at the stem end of the tomato. Cut the core of the tomato out. The skin should just peal right off of the tomato.



Roughly chop 8 cups of tomatoes. I have used red and yellow tomatoes.


I have used my food processor to chop the rest of the ingredients. You can chop them by hand if you do not have a food processor.
2 cups finely chopped onions.


2 cups finely chopped bell peppers, 4-8 jalapeño peppers(adjust the hotness to your taste) and six cloves finely minced garlic. I have used all green bell peppers here. Feel free to use whatever colour you wish. 



Put all the veggies into a large, heavy bottomed pot. Add the tomato sauce and paste, sugar, salt, cumin,   black pepper and vinegar. Stir well to combine the ingredients.



Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 15-30 minutes until everything is very hot and the veggies have cooked a bit. Remove from heat. If you wish, add a bunch of chopped, fresh cilantro at this point.


Ladle the hot salsa into the clean, dry jars. I like to use this canning funnel. It really helps to keep the spills at a minimum and keeps the tops of the jars clean.  You can purchase a canning funnel where you buy canning equipment. Here is one from Amazon. Leave about 1 inch of space at the top of the jar.



Put the lids and screw bands on to the jars. Make sure that you wipe off the tops of the jars before placing the lids on. Tighten the screw bands just a bit, don't over tighten them. 


Let the jars sit at room temperature overnight. As the salsa cools, the jars will seal. You will know they have sealed because the lids will be concave and will not move when pushed on. I do not 'process' my salsa in a hot water bath. You can do this if you would like to keep the salsa at room temperature for a long period of time. Follow the directions for hot water processing here.
Put the cooled jars in a cool dark place or in the refrigerator. The salsa will keep for several months. Make sure the jars are still sealed before eating the salsa. Sometimes, as it sits, the seal will fail. Make sure it has not spoiled before you eat it.


And now for the best part. 






Best Salsa

8 cups pealed, chopped fresh tomatoes
2 cups finely diced onions
2 cups finely diced bell pepper (any colour will do)
3-5 very finely chopped jalapeño pepper(make it as spicy as you would like)
4-6 finely minced cloves garlic
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup white vinegar
1 1/2 tablespoons pickling or kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1-265 ml can tomato paste
1-296 ml can tomato sauce
 1 bunch coarsely chopped cilantro(optional)

6-8 pint jars

Instructions

  1. Start by cleaning your jars, lids and screw bands. Wash with hot soapy water or run them through the dishwasher. Let everything dry.
  2. Soak the lids in hot water to soften the sealing compound.
  3. In a large pot combine tomatoes, peppers, onions, jalapeños, garlic,sugar, vinegar, salt, pepper, cumin, tomato paste and tomato sauce.
  4. Mix everything well.
  5. Bring mixture to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-30 minutes. Remove from heat.
  6. Add cilantro at this point if you wish.
  7. Ladle the very hot salsa into the very clean jars. Leave about an inch of room between the salsa and the lid. Wipe any salsa from the top on the jars.
  8. Put the lids and screw bands on. Tighten the screw bands loosely.
  9. Let the salsa sit at room temperature over night. Check to see if the jars have sealed by pushing down on the top of the lid. If the lid does not move and is slightly concave, then it has sealed.  The sealed jars will be shelf stable for 2 months, or more. If the lid does move, the jar has not sealed, store the unsealed jars in your refrigerator for a few weeks. You can also put your salsa jars into a water bath and process them to make them last even longer on the shelf. To learn more about water bath preserving check this out, or this one.
  10. Serve with tortilla chips for a great, wholesome snack.