Salsa Anyone???

We have been making salsa for 30 years, we always look forward to that first large harvest of tomatoes & peppers.Just so happens that we were on our very last jar of salsa when we made this batch. The plan is, never run out! It is the first of many items we will can and freeze for the winter months, so it’s all downhill from here! Right…..?

We probably make ours different than most or maybe not!

Let’s get started……

This is what you will need:

15 to 20 lbs. of tomatoes a mix cherry, beefsteak & roma
10 Large onions (you can use white. yellow, red, or sweet)
10 Large bell peppers (use both green & red for a dash of color)
Hot peppers to taste (use jalapeno, anaheim, or serrano or if you have the guts habanero or ghost)
10 cloves or 10 T of minced garlic (from jar)
1 cup fresh cilantro or two cups dehydrated
¼ cup of salt
¼ cup of sugar
5 t of Paprika (for color mostly)
4 t Cumin
4 dehydrated Ancho Peppers (adds color and smoky flavor, no heat)
2 cups of white vinegar
Water as needed
1 tsp of lemon juice (added to each Jar prior to place lids) (to cut acidity of tomatoes, or use Citric Acid)

Salsa Base:

Get out your 18-quart stock pot and a sauce pan. Fill the sauce pan ¾ with water place the Ancho peppers in the water and re-hydrate. Boil for about 10 minutes.

Stem half the tomatoes and place them in a food processor and puree dump in stock pot, turn heat on low.

Puree half the onions & peppers, add to the stock pot.

Add to the stock pot the salt, sugar, paprika, cumin, garlic & vinegar.

Add to the stock pot ½ the cilantro

Remove the ancho peppers from the sauce pan and remove the stems. Place in food processor and puree, then add to stock pot

Stir well and taste, add additional ingredients and necessary to get the taste you are looking for.

Bring mixture to a slow boil for about 15 minutes, be careful not to let it burn on the bottom it will ruin the whole batch!

Now we like our salsa chunky, so take the remaining vegetables and chop to ½” pieces, add them to the stock pot after it has boiled for 15 minutes, stir then bring back to boil and then remove from heat.

Fill pint jars with salsa, add one teaspoon of lemon juice to each, place lids and screw caps process in water bath for 20 minutes.

This recipe will make approximately 20 to 24 pints.

Feel free to add other veggies as you see fit, if we have a ton of zucchini we will chop it to ¼” pieces and add it as filler. (we actually tried it with two XL pickling cukes) The zuchinni was made into bread.

You can add fruit if you want the possibilities are endless! (suggestions being, apple, pear, or mango)

Give this recipe a try and let us know what you think, we would love to hear from you!