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In August, it’s hard to find time to sit down and research some fascinating subject for you because I’m knee deep in tomatoes. Everyday I head to the garden with a five-gallon bucket and fill it up. Sometimes twice a day. I also grow peppers, so that means it’s salsa time! Cue the music!
The original recipe I got from the county extension service says to use:
2 pounds chile peppers
5 pounds tomatoes
1 pound onions
1 cup vinegar
3 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Twelve years later, that’s not at all how I do it. For one thing, I don’t have a scale. Also, I figure any recipe that yields “six to eight pints” is a waste of time when I have bushels of tomatoes to process. Watch me make salsa, after the jump.
Preparing the peppers is the most dangerous part of the process. First, roast them to loosen the skins. I use enough peppers to fill a large cookie sheet, a very old one kept just for this purpose. If you burn a jalapeno, you won’t want to use that cookie sheet for anything else. Cut a slit in each pepper to prevent it from exploding (not a pretty sight).
Bake at a high temperature until the skins are seriously blistered. You might want to open the windows during this process. Then put on the gloves. Do not omit the gloves. Roasted peppers are juicy, and should be treated like toxic waste. A male friend once cut up some of my peppers of a much milder variety. Afterward, he washed his hands and then used the bathroom in the style men do. He was in agony for days.
Cut the stem end off each pepper and open along the slit. The skin should peel off easily (if you roasted them long enough).
Scrape out the seeds and inner membranes. Do not scratch your nose. After you’ve cleaned each pepper, cut what’s left into small bits. Refrigerate until use. Wash all utensils and dishes. Wash your gloves well before you take them off if you are going to use them again. Then wash your hands and use lotion. I’m serious.
To peel tomatoes, dip them in boiling water for 30-60 seconds to heat the skin, then put them in cold water to stop the process. The skin should then slip off easily.
I normally peel enough tomatoes to fill my turkey roasting pan. It takes me about a second to peel a tomato, but it takes forever to peel enough tomatoes… and the entire time, the theme song from Attack of the Killer Tomatoes runs through my head.
Then I chop and drain excess water from the tomatoes, sometimes overnight, which leaves two pots of pure tomato meat. Chop 3 or 4 big onions, and a bunch of cilantro. I use cilantro in one batch, then garlic (also home grown) in the next batch. Using both is just flavor overkill. I code the finished product so I’ll know which kind I’m opening. Combine all ingredients, dividing them as best you can between two pots. I use a cup of vinegar, a palmful of salt, and a spoon or so of ground pepper for each pot. Heat and simmer for five minutes.
At that point, the salsa is done, and the kitchen is covered in tomato juice. During the cooking process, I heat as much water as I can to can the salsa in the canner. I fill the jars halfway from one pot, and the rest from the other, so it doesn’t matter if the proportions were a little different. Always use a recommended safe canning method.
My grandma, who had a large family, used to can vegetables in half-gallon jars in a #2 washtub over a fire outside. It was the only way to do massive home canning before air conditioning. And birth control.
The finished product: 16 pints of weapons grade salsa! Three or four more batches like this, and I’ll have a year’s supply plus Christmas gifts for everyone. There was also a half-cup or so left for sampling. The kids declared it good. But what’s this? While I made salsa, somehow the back room became filled with tomatoes again! When I get all the dishes washed, I’ll start on tomato sauce. This will go on for about six weeks.
Comments (20)
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Miss C, thanks thanks! What a great post. Instructions and visual aids. I sent it to my loved one who has mucho Tomatoes and little cooking experience. She will love it
posted by JaneM on 8-7-2008 at 7:55 am
I’ll try your recipe as soon as our tomatoes turn!
Thanks!
ps- I HAVE scratched my (cold-chapped) nose. I had to sit with my nose dunked in a glass of milk for an hour.
posted by andiscandis on 8-7-2008 at 8:17 am
Miss C, I want to be on your Christmas list. Homemade salsa…yummy…think I’ll go to the store and get some Tostito brand…ah…it’s probably not the same. :(
posted by beth on 8-7-2008 at 8:19 am
I love this article but I especially love this:
“…I heat as much water as I can to can the salsa in the canner”
That’s the can-do spirit Miss C!
posted by Chris on 8-7-2008 at 8:52 am
Looks like my house. We picked three and a half grocery bags full of tomatoes last night. There is a huge bowl full of green beans in the fridge that I need to snap today. Plus, we have about five cantaloupes sitting around the house, waiting to be cut up and eaten, and there are at least ten more in the garden. We can’t give them away fast enough.
We always try to make homemade tomato sauce, but we’ll have to give this salsa a try. Now I just need some sort of recipe for the cantaloupe..
posted by scoobnut on 8-7-2008 at 9:36 am
My mom used to can salsa when I was young. We couldn’t open our eyes indoors for a week after she made a batch. That stuff was toxic. Which leads me to my pooint: how do I get on this Christmas list? I make a mean banana nut bread… we can trade. :)
posted by adrienne on 8-7-2008 at 9:42 am
Nice article, but I can’t believe you peel and seed all of the tomatoes and peppers. Way to much work.
My tomatoes are just starting to come in and I will certainly be making a batch of salsa, but won’t be canning it.
I’ve got to say, after three batches of 2 gallons each, I’d pretty much hate salsa.
posted by Florida on 8-7-2008 at 9:58 am
Try throwing all of the peppers in a plastic bag for a few minutes after roasting and it should steam the skins off and make them easier to peel.
posted by Parker on 8-7-2008 at 10:21 am
I’d like to suggest that you roast the tomatoes just like you roast the peppers. It really deepens their flavor and saves you the extra step of blanching. Possibly, it might cut down the time needed to drain the tomatoes. When our garden has produced an overabundance of tomatoes, I roast them and then freeze them. They then can be put in soups, stews, batches of chili and even spaghetti sauce. Great fodder for colder weather!
posted by Alice on 8-7-2008 at 10:43 am
I second the request to be added to the Christmas list! That is some yummy looking salsa!
posted by nikki on 8-7-2008 at 11:04 am
As another with mucho tomatoes and little cooking experiencem I’d like to see your tomato sauce experience as well!
posted by Parker on 8-7-2008 at 11:39 am
Alice, I left out a step! While the peppers are cooling, I cover them with a wet dish towel, since that helps loosen the skins. I should add that.
Parker, I don’t know if the tomato sauce recipe would be as interesting. But it might be easier to photograph, since the kids do most of the work!
posted by Miss Cellania on 8-7-2008 at 1:01 pm
I’d pit my grandpa’s tomato juice against your salsa any day, except he’s got so many health problems he doesn’t make it any more. He also doesn’t make apple butter or pickled honky (banana) peppers, either. *sadness all around* I need to get all the recipes from him before he goes. He’ll be 90 in October.
posted by Joanna on 8-7-2008 at 1:09 pm
All my tomatos are still green – they are huge but green – they seem to not even be thinking about turning red – they are taunting me I know it.
We are having a big canning party later this month (if they ever turn red). I have 5 plants, my husbands cousin has 3 plants and another friend has 7 plants. So we are all going to get together one weekend and can tomatos. We will probably just blanch and pack them so we can use them as we please later on (turning them into spaghetti sauce or paste or whatever).
posted by Beth on 8-7-2008 at 3:23 pm
Joanna, you really should get him to tell you his secrets! Then you should make those things yourself.
Beth, to give you an idea of what I am into, I have around 80 tomato plants. Plus other vegetables.
I am NOT planting this much next year.
posted by Miss Cellania on 8-7-2008 at 3:30 pm
After reading the last comment from Miss Cellania (I have around 80 tomato plants) and seeing the below reCaptcha I had to share it:
pluck master
posted by Pk on 8-7-2008 at 5:41 pm
I always make the stuff without boiling and roasting. I just throw it all in a blender together.
Yesterday I threw in a little mango and it went so goooood on our fish tacos.
posted by Jill Harness on 8-7-2008 at 7:55 pm
I seem to have trouble posting this??
Salsa sounds good, however garlic adds a lot Ms C..we also only add some white vinegar as we open jar…not too much..Of course, ours does not last long enough to worry about it…
I could live on this stuff, sure worth the effort!
Good luck with your canning and I hope this will post once only!
posted by Lu on 8-8-2008 at 12:54 pm
Thanks for sharing! I too was wondering about the necessity of, or rationale behind, peeling the tomatoes. I never do, seems like too much extra work, and I would say the results are absolutely fine.
posted by Paula on 8-11-2008 at 1:51 am
I like to make fresh salsa, but I love the idea of having this canned and ready year round. I’d have to add garlic and cilantro though. Oh, and lime juice. Thanks for the great instructions.
posted by Bee O'Brien on 8-19-2008 at 9:22 am