Salsa the side or condiment, not salsa the dance! Here are the tomatoes. This is why I grow sauce tomatoes each year! Before chopping them, I dunk them in boiling water for a minute. That makes the skins split and slip off like magic. The brief exposure to heat doesn't heat up the inside. Just the skin. Then I chop the tomatoes, onions, poblano peppers, jalapeño peppers, garlic. I also added a few Serrano peppers, because last time, it wasn't spicy enough for my taste (I can add a few chopped hotter peppers when I open those jars. They wont be wasted). I also added chopped cilantro this time too. Then put the tomatoes & vegetables into a big pot, along with a cup of lemon juice. The lemon juice adds a nice sprightly flavor to the salsa. It also helps preserve the salsa. Bring to a boil and simmer for 10 min, then add the cilantro and spices (cumin, oregano, pepper, and salt). Then simmer 20 more minutes. While that's simmering, I have the jars boiling and get everything else ready. Then measure the salsa into the jars, screw on the lids but not tight, put into the canner. The canner will cook the jars of salsa for 15 minutes, then cool down. Here they are. Eight pints of picante salsa. There was about 1/2 cup left over. Very tasty! Those serrano peppers really boosted the spiciness! All of the lids "popped" within minutes of coming out of the canner. Yay! It worked! The screw-on rings are supposed to come off when they are cool, so I will do that tomorrow.
I make mine basically the same only sans cilantro because that tasts like soap to my taste buds and only mildly hot peppers. I freeze my salsa because I'm too lazy to can stuff. Yeah, I freely admit it. The only thing I ever can is jellies and jams.
Anniekay, I know what you mean about cilantro. The recipe says "optional". It also says that about cumin and oregano. I enjoy all three. I like hotter than I used to. I was raised on bland midwestern rural food. Then I enlisted in the US Army, and was sent to Louisiana for boot camp. There, they put Tabasco sauce on just about anything! And there, my love for hot peppers began. Too much gives me the hiccups, but I think my tastes still run in the "hot" range. Making that, I didn't use hand protection when chopping the jalapeños and serranos. That was after slicing onions, and there were tears. So I absent mindedly rubbed my eyes. You know what happened next! I love canning. I'm on a minimal-carb diet now, and it's no use canning fruit. Tomato sauce was for pasta and pizza. So now it's just salsa.
Daniel— what a nice piece you wrote this time. My Bride and I enjoyed it very much. Too bad about your low carb diet. Oh well, as a famous Dutch philosopher once said, “ Every DISadvantage has its ADvantage. The advantage in this situation is…salsa! You did such a great job there, mate, and it all looks so good in the jars. Professional-level work. Further, I would be remiss if I did not compliment those magnificent saucing toms.
Thank you for the generous comments, Sjoerd! I'm VERY grateful for the bounteous harvest this year. And amazed. It was a lot of hard work, of course. Wednesday I made the third batch of salsa. All of the tomatoes, onions, garlic, and chilis were from the kitchen garden. I increased the Serrano peppers for even more pizzazz. My canner only holds eight one-pint jars, so that's what I made. It's so tasty! I have enough sauce toms for another batch. I'm gobsmacked that five tomato plants provided all that! Tomorrow, make the final batch.
Daniel— you are right that working with toms is a lot of work. You could just let them go and you would get a harvest anyway, but the extra care yields higher harvests. Magnificent canning work, mate.
