from Jennifer Holbrook
My friend taught me to make homemade salsa in a water bath canner. You have to be EXTREMELY careful when water bathing salsa. This recipe comes from the extension service and is safe. My friend has used it for years. The recipes were tested to ensure they contain enough acid to be processed safely in a water bath canner. If you make this salsa, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you do not change amount of vegetables in the recipe. You can change the amount of spices you put in, and the types of spices. But you cannot change the amount of tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic or bottled lemon juice. If you change those items, you will be changing the acid balance and your salsa could become very unsafe (and even deadly). So, please measure, follow the recipe exactly and be safe.
That said, my kids LOVE this salsa. They ate a whole jar the night I brought it home. I love the salsa because it has no added ingredients like sugar or preservatives (well, except lemon juice). It’s all veggies and spices! Extremely healthy.
Roma or Paste tomatoes are best. If you use slicing tomatoes, you have to cook it longer because they are full of water and you have to cook the water out. It takes longer and you get less jars of salsa because they are so much water. We found Roma tomatoes for $14 for 25 lbs. at a farmer market (Rorabecks). Call around and see if you can get a good deal if you decide to make it. A case is ½ of a bushel, and is 25 pounds. You need 25 pounds to get the 42 cups of tomatoes.
You can substitute green tomatoes, or tomatillos, in any of these recipes. You can also use whatever type peppers you want, just don’t change the amounts. If you want mild salsa, then use a lot of green bell peppers. If you want it spicy, you can use habaneros instead of jalapenos (or a mix). The last batch we did, we used the jalapenos whole and didn’t take the seeds out. It had a little kick but wasn’t unpleasant. Using a variety of peppers gives it more flavor, too. You can’t increase the amount of peppers used, but you can substitute one type of pepper for another. You can also remove the skin of long green chilies by heating the peppers (unless you chop them finely like we did). To peel, then you place peppers in the oven on broil for 6-8 minutes until the skins blister. Then place the peppers in a pan and cover with a damp cloth. Cool several minutes, slip off the skins, discard seeds and chop. Use rubber gloves to cut the spicy peppers, and don’t touch your face or any part of your skin while working with hot chilies. Your skin will burn for a few days if you do.
Do not thicken these salsas with flour or cornstarch before canning. After you open a jar to use, you may pour off some of the liquid or thicken with cornstarch. We cooked the salsa an extra 10 minutes to cook more water off, and the consistency is fine. You may not need to, depends on your tomatoes.
I think you all know how to use a water bath canner, so I won’t put those instructions here, but if you need them let me know and I’ll give them to you.
So, we skinned them by dropping them in boiling water for a minute or so and them putting them in ice water. Skin comes right off. Then we blended them.
We chopped the vegetables in a cuisine art food processor. Very fast. Salsa doesn’t have big chunks, but my kids like it that way so they are happy.
Here is the recipe we did (it is 1 ½ of the original recipe. The percentages of vegetables and lemon juice are the same, just a larger batch to accommodate a ½ bushel, or 25 pounds, of tomatoes):
42 cups peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes
6 cups seeded, chopped long green chilies (we used 4 cups bell peppers and 2 cups mild chilies)
7 ½ cups chopped white onion
¾ cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeno peppers
9 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 cups bottled lemon juice (do not use fresh)
3 TBSP salt
1 ½ TBSP black pepper
4 TBSP fresh oregano, chopped
3 TBSP cumin
1 small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped (about 8 TBSP)
Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano and cilantro in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into pint jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.
Process in a boiling water canner:
15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude
20 minutes at 1,001 – 6,000 feet
25 minutes above 6,000 feet.
This recipe makes 24-26 pints of Salsa. This recipe works best with paste tomatoes. Slicing tomatoes require a much longer cooking time to achieve a desirable consistency.
Here is the original recipe:
28 cups (7 quarts) peeled, cored, chopped tomatoes
4 cups seeded, chopped long green chilies
5 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup seeded, finely chopped jalapeno peppers
6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 cups bottled lemon juice (do not use fresh)
2 TBSP salt
1 TBSP black pepper
3 TBSP dried oregano, or 6 TBSP fresh oregano, chopped - optional
2 TBSP cumin - optional
2 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped - optional
Combine all ingredients except cumin, oregano and cilantro in a large pot and bring to a boil, stirring frequently, then reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Add spices and simmer for another 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Ladle hot into pint jars, leaving ½ inch headspace.
Process in a boiling water canner:
15 minutes at 0-1,000 feet altitude
20 minutes at 1,001 – 6,000 feet
25 minutes above 6,000 feet.
This recipe makes 16-18 pints of Salsa. This recipe works best with paste tomatoes. Slicing tomatoes require a much longer cooking time to achieve a desirable consistency.
