Canning Zesty Salsa

I decided to try something different with some of the garden produce this year since my pantry shelves have been filling up nicely with things I consider to be staples. We don’t eat a lot of salsa so I debated about making any but, as Gerry said, if we have some homemade we’re likely to eat more of it. Makes sense to me!

I love the fact that the tomatoes, green peppers, and onions all came from my garden and I’m thinking I might have to add a jalapeno plant to next year’s garden too.

Yield: I got 6 pints from this recipe which was derived from the one in the Ball Blue Book.

Ingredients

• 10 cups chopped, seeded, peeled, cored tomatoes. (I used about 14 cups because that’s what I had available)
• 5 cups chopped and seeded green peppers (I used about 4 cups because, again, that’s what I had available)
• 5 cups chopped onions
• 2 1/2 cups chopped and seeded hot peppers (I used 500 grams of jalapeno that I purchased)
• 3 cloves of minced garlic
• 3 tsp. salt (I used Kosher salt)
• 1 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• The recipe in the Ball Blue book included 2 Tbsp. minced cilantro which I omitted because we don’t care for it.

Instructions

Blanche and peel tomatoes.

Chop green peppers, onions, garlic, and hot peppers in food processor and combine with tomatoes in large pot.

Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until desired consistency is reached. The original recipe said to simmer it for 10 minutes. This is subjective based on the water content of the tomatoes and how thick you want your salsa. I simmered mine for about an hour and a half.

Ladle hot salsa into hot jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Wipe rims to ensure they are clean and apply lids and rings. Process in water bath canner for 20 minutes

For my altitude here in Kamloops I need to increase the processing time by 5 minutes. You need to check the altitude for your location and adjust accordingly.