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I can’t believe summer is almost over! At least in our neck of the woods. With the end of summer comes a lot of canning. Green beans, corn, tomatoes, pears, and salsa. Most years we make quite a bit of salsa but last year we made a little bit TOO much (is there really such a thing as too much salsa?? Yes. Yes there is…) so this year is just one batch and I believe I have perfected my recipe.
First comes a lot of chopping and dicing. For the onions and peppers I use my Kitchen Aid food processor attachment.
It keeps me from crying while I chop all those onions and it saves me time as well. I don’t think I would take the time to dice them so small if I were to do it by hand but I really like the size I end up with in the salsa when I use this attachment.
If you don’t have the attachment you can chop by hand or use a food processor. I have used all of those methods with great success.
Now with the tomatoes I just do a quick chop with a knife. You can see that I don’t really try to get the pieces small. They cook down so quickly that I don’t want to waste my time with that. I’ve tried to use the dicer attachment for tomatoes but it doesn’t seem to want to work on such a soft piece of produce. Let me know if there is some special trick to it!
After all that chopping is done I put it all in a big pot (I actually just use a canner cause it’s the only thing I have that is big enough to hold everything) with all of the remaining ingredients except the tomato paste. I like to do this outside since it can really heat up the house and I wanted to have two levels of heat so I separated the mixture into two pots.
I simmered mine on low for about 45 minutes and then added in my tomato paste and did the taste test. This is a good time to add more jalapeno if it isn’t as hot as you want it.
Then all you have to do is can it up! Fill clean mason jars with the salsa and process for 15 minutes.
Now since I am only making one batch of salsa that leaves me with a lot of tomatoes, so I’m thinking I will do a batch of tomato paste. Let me know if you all are interested in seeing a post on that. I mean look at this guy! Can’t let ’em go to waste!
Alright now it’s time to get to the real work…
Clean up! This was canning, lunch, and breakfast mess combined. EEK! 😀
Canned Salsa
Yields ~16 pints
15 lbs tomatoes
4 lbs onions
2 lbs sweet peppers (any color of bell peppers will do)
1/4-1 1/2 c jalapeno peppers (depends on desired heat level)
3/4 c cilantro (optional)
1/2 c minced garlic
1/3 c salt
3 t pepper
4 t cumin
1 c vinegar
1/2 c sugar
2- 6 oz cans tomato paste
Dice tomatoes, onions, sweet peppers, and jalapeno peppers. Put into a large pot (or separate pots if making different heat levels) and add in remaining ingredients except the tomato paste. Simmer over low heat, just enough to lightly bubble, until onions and peppers are tender and translucent. Usually takes about 30-60 minutes. Add in tomato paste and simmer until desired thickness is achieved. This is also the time where you should taste test. If you want it spicier, add more jalapeno peppers.
While salsa is simmering wash jars. If I can, I like to use our dishwasher sanitize cycle but you can wash by hand with hot soapy water. Once the salsa is finished cooking, fill your jars. Wipe off the rims of the jars then put the lids and rings on. Place jars on a rack in a water bath canner and bring up to a boil. Process the salsa for 15 minutes. Remove the jars to a dish towel on a flat surface to let cool. Once the jars have cooled enough to touch, check the seals. If the lid pops back up or you pop it into place they didn’t seal properly. Place any jars that didn’t seal in the fridge and use within 10 days.
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