Homemade Salsa (for canning!)
Happy New Year’s Eve!
(picture heavy post ahead!)
Are you going to do something fun tonight? I actually don’t have any plans, but I’m sure it will somehow involve champagne and watching the ball drop! But really, how the heck is 2014 over?!
Did you guys have a nice Christmas/Hannukah/whatever you celebrate?
I just back to Seattle super late Saturday night (like 2am…yikes), and then woke up and went to the Seahawks game on Sunday—#1 seed again, hell yes! And Sunday was also Mikey’s birthday, so we went to dinner at a new place, and had one of the best meals EVER. I did take pictures, so I may share a review here on the blog!
It’s been so weird to come back to super chilly weather after spending Christmas in 80+ degree Florida! I did some rather atypical holiday activities, such as harvesting crops at a local farm—seriously!
My mom, my sisters, and I went to a farm that has a bunch of pick-yourself-crops on the 20th, and spent the entire day picking strawberries and tomatoes. Then, we spent Christmas Eve canning this salsa and strawberry jam (I’ll be sharing this, too!). Only in Florida, am I right?
My sister, Rebecca, wanted me to share a photo of these particular tomatoes because they are so odd looking, and appear to have noses. She kept saying “Let’s get a photo of the mother and daughter!” I had to inform my mom that Rebecca did not in fact mean me and her, who are both coring to mates at the same time, but the two tomatoes LOL
This is actually one of the best salsas that I’ve ever tried, and I totally attribute that to the super fresh ingredients. We used our self-picked tomatoes, and a rainbow of peppers that we picked up at the farm’s stand. I actually thought about calling this rainbow salsa, but the end result is more red than anything, haha.
This is a slight rendition of a salsa that my mom’s family up in Wisconsin has been making and canning for a while, and it’s really freakin’ tasty.
Somehow, this was my first time ever truly canning something. I’ve made jams and other things before, but always just stored them in the fridge instead of going through the whole process. This was actually SO easy, and it’s nice to have fresh salsa to enjoy the whole year through :). Plus, I super excited to be able to actually take some back with me to Seattle where can’t go around picking tomatoes in the middle of Winter, hah!
This is a fairly spicy salsa (though it mellows over time), but I attribute that to the slew of peppers we used (especially the long peppers that are slightly wrinkly and yellow and orange, which I believe to be a variety of cayenne pepper, but I’m really not sure…any guesses?), but you can definitely use any kind of peppers you want!
The same goes for most ingredients in this, actually. I used a yellow onion and a red onion, but you could use white onions. Any tomatoes will do. Super easy to switch stuff out!
You know how I said this was kinda spicy? It’s also just a tad sweet, and a little salty. It’s basically the perfect flavor combo—just sayin’!
Oh and those tortilla chips? They’re pumpkin tortilla chips and they are fan-FREAKING-tastic! You guys know I can’t get enough pumpkin!
PrintHomemade Salsa (for canning!)
Yield: 9 pints
Ingredients:
- 15 cups chopped tomatoes (cored, blanched in boiling water, shocked in ice water, most of the pulp removed, and chopped)
- 2 large onions, chopped (I used a red and a sweet yellow)
- 2 cups sweet peppers, chopped (I used a variety of bell peppers, a poblano, and a banana pepper)
- 1 and 1/2 cups spicy peppers (I used jalapeños and a variety of long chili pepper; be sure to remove the seeds and membranes if you're sensitive to spice!)
- 9 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- 3 tsp ground cumin
- 3 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup canning salt
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp white vinegar
- 15 ounces plain tomato sauce*
- 12 ounces tomato paste*
Directions:
- Mix all of the ingredients together in a large pot. Bring to a slow boil for 10 minutes.
- Seal in jars, then place the jars in a pot of boiling water for 10 minutes. Remove the jars rom the water and set aside. It may take up to 12 hours for your jars to fully seal, but you should hear a pop, and the center should be sucked in.
- Place any jars that failed to seal in the fridge, and use first.
*You're going to want to use a good quality tomato sauce and tomato paste, here, as it will be barely cooked in your final salsa.
To ensure safety, I would recommend refrigerating this salsa, even after canning, just to be sure there are no risks of botulism!
