Well, it's that time of year again! Time to make up some salsa so we can savor the fresh taste of summer throughout the winter months. There's nothing quite like opening a fresh home-canned jar of salsa in the off-season to bring back the joys of fresh garden produce from the summer. Even though it's a ton of work to can salsa, it's a must on my canning list because we are a family that LOVES our salsa and chips ~ Oh and the hotter the better!
This mega batch of salsa was an authentic batch of salsa complete with peeled tomatoes ~ which takes FOREVER y'all. Hence the all-day canning session and massive exhaustion the next day. But, when the harvest comes in you got to do what you got to do and now we will have an abundance of salsa to enjoy all winter long. Absolutely worth it, if you ask me. Now if only the tomatoes could slow down just a tad.
Looks like Christmas but tastes like summer. My favorite holiday and my favorite season all rolled up into one festive canning delight.
I think salsa is so pretty.
Look at all those pretty jars. I can't believe we did all that!
I debated on trying a new recipe this year, but decided against it and stuck with my tried and true recipe. I'm just kind of particular about my salsa and sorry y'all but salsa should NEVER have tomato paste or sugar in it ~ in my opinion, of course. But, I get it, just like everything else in this world, everyone has their preferences, and far be it for me to discredit any of them. I just know what we like and I concluded it was best not to mess with a classic family fav.
I'll go ahead and share our recipe just in case someone might be looking for one void of sugar and tomato paste. But, it's nothing fancy just a basic combinations of tomatoes, onions and bell pepper mixed with some apple cider vinegar and herbs. I find that simple and basic are my typical favorites in life. No sense in over thinking a recipe and making things unnecessarily complicated or harder to make. Go with authentic, natural ingredients and you will seldom fail.
Zesty Salsa
Ingredients
- 10 cups chopped cored and peeled tomatoes
- 5 cups chopped green bell pepper
- 5 cups chopped onions
- 1 cup chopped hot peppers (I used 2 cups which made it way too hot for most folks)
- 1 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 cloves minced fresh garlic
- 2 tbsp finely chopped cilantro
- 1 tbsp salt
Directions
- Combine all ingredients in large stock pot.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes.
- Ladle into prepared pint jars
- Wipe clean, place lid and rim on jars
- Place jars in canners
- Process in a water bath canner for 15 minutes
- Remove lid canner and wait 5 minutes
- Remove jars from canner and let cool
Even though we've canned so many jars of salsa already, I'm thinking since they're so hot I'm going to do up another batch of a milder salsa. That way we can use it in more recipes and our little bitty ones can eat it. Might as well make the most of our surplus of tomatoes these days for who knows what next year may look like. While I'm beyond exhausted from the harvest of this gardening season ~ who knew we'd end up with nearly a bumper crop of everything ~ I'm super grateful for the bounty the Lord has blessed us with. And as long as it keeps coming in, I reckon I'll keep putting it up. 😊
With Love & Hope,
Jennifer
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