Simple Salsa for Après
What to do with all those beautiful tomatoes that are overflowing at this time of year? Make some salsa and jar it up for the winter! I am fortunate to have a good friend who is a great gardener and she shares her harvest.
This is a super simple recipe for basic salsa that can also be used for warm water canning – this is simple water bath canning not to be confused with pressure canning – i.e. anyone can do this, but follow canning directions precisely and use this guide as a reference: https://www.freshpreserving.com/water-bath-canning.html
The salsa is easy to make and can be heat-adjusted based on how you prep the jalapenos (see note). It makes about 8 pints of salsa so have a handful of mason jars ready. You can eat right away or can some and save for après this winter!
Ingredients
9 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes (see note)
2 ½ cups chopped green bell peppers
2 ½ cups chopped white onion
4 medium jalapenos, small chopped (see note)
8 large garlic cloves, chopped
6 teaspoons canning salt
1 cup white vinegar
1 12-ounce can tomato paste
Preparation
Remove skins from tomatoes (see note below)
Place all the ingredients into a large pot and simmer for 20-30 minutes until it is thickened.
Meanwhile fill a canner or really large pot full of water and heat. When warm, add clean jars to heat up to 180 degrees. Once they are warm and salsa ready, remove jars from pot, keep the water in the pot.
Ladle salsa into mason jars leaving ½-inch headspace. Wipe lids of jars clean with a paper towel and then place lids on. Use new lids only – they are only meant to be used once for canning purposes. Using a wide mouth funnel makes this a very simple and clean task.
Return water to a boil. The level of the water in the pot must be one inch or more than the mason jars.
Add the jars to water bath and cover with a lid. Let process for 30 minutes. Remove the jars with tongs.
Place the jars on a towel (not directly on a cool counter and not into the fridge). Leave the jars undisturbed for 12-24 hours. Shelf life is 18 months.
Easy Peasy Tomato Peeling
Score the bottoms of tomatoes and place in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds.
Remove and place in a bowl of ice water.
Wait until just cool enough to handle and skin should easily peel right off.
Heat
For spicy salsa use four jalapenos with all the seeds intact. For milder salsa, seed one to two of the peppers. For very mild, seed all the peppers.
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