Our Favorite Salsa Recipe

Our garden was planted heavy on the fruits and veggies that our family will eat the most of and those that we can preserve through the winter, like tomatoes and peppers, both hot and sweet. I have been waiting (read that drooling over) to have enough ripe produce to make my first batch of SALSA. The wait ended tonight while Sean finished tiling the kitchen corner, Daddy Dale worked on taming the field where the pond is going to someday live and then washed my car for me (thank you. Thank you! THANK YOU!!) Momma Twombly and I created SALSA. Sweet, Hot, Spicy, Delicious Salsa.

This is the recipe:

MILD SALSA

1 white onion, chopped

1 yellow onion, chopped

1 red onion, chopped

6 pounds fresh tomatoes, chopped

1 jalapeno, serrano, or red rocket hot pepper, chopped*

3 banana peppers, chopped*

3 colored sweet bell peppers, chopped

3 (8 ounce) cans tomato sauce

1/2 cup white vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder

1 1/2 tablespoons salt

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

10 pint canning jars with lids and rings

 

* Add hot peppers to taste. We use this recipe for mild. After we fill 6 mason jars with the mild salsa, we add 2-3 additional hot peppers (use jalapeno, serrano or other hot pepper variety you like.) seeds and all to the pot, stir, and fill the remaining mason jars.

 

 This recipe is simple. Everything goes into a large stock pot and simmers for 1-3 hours on the stove top. The longer you cook the salsa, the softer the ingredients and the more your salsa will thicken as it reduces. I generally only cook mine for just an hour. I like my salsa both chunky and firm in texture.

I think I will make Chicken Quesadillas tomorrow for dinner as a delightful and delicious reason to crack into a bottle.


If you decide make this recipe, let me know how it comes out for you.

  

A word of caution. Salsa includes tomatoes, a highly acidic ingredient, and onions and peppers that are low-acid foods. Recipes may call for adding vinegar, lemon or lime juices or other ingredients that also will impact the acidity of the overall recipe. It is imperative to correctly measure and/or weigh the tomatoes and peppers when preparing Salsa. This is because failing to balance the acid level when mixing ingredients in the salsa can create an environment in which food-borne bacteria – including Botulism can grow. You can safely substitute tomatillos for tomatoes or kinds of peppers for one another, but be very careful to keep the acidic ratios balanced.

 

It has been a very long weekend, but a lot of projects got accomplished. I took lots of pictures and am looking forward to writing a long post about it... tomorrow.

Also Linked to Dining With Debbie. Check out the GREAT recipes you'll find at Debbie's site.