Last year I forgot to write up the ingredient ratios for salsa. It was a really tasty batch too. This year, my local produce market had vine tomatoes on sale for $0.69/lb. I haven't seen prices like that since the early 2000s in southern California. Plus, Kerr jars were on sale as well and I picked up five cases of jars. Crazy huh?
The only thing I remember from last year's ratio was that I had more tomatoes than jalapenos which was my primary deviation from Harold Shifflett's video recipe. I also halved the salt.
Also last year, I made salsa with roasted hatch chilies. It was so tasty that it never got to the canning process. I ate it all. Whoops.
Batch #1 yield: 5 pints, one half-pint
Ingredient Ratio, batch 1 (2016):
5 lbs vine ripe tomatoes, cored and diced
4 red chili peppers, stems removed
9 green jalapenos, stems removed
2 green bell peppers, diced
2 heads garlic, trimmed and paper removed
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp sea salt
1 bunch fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped, stems removed
In a food processor, pulse together: garlic, jalapenos, red peppers.
Toss everything into a stockpot and boil over medium heat for 1.5 hrs, or until it reaches a non-watery consistency. No need to use an immersion blender. Everything cooks down, even the tomatoes. So maybe next time reserve a pound of diced tomatoes and add it in in the last half hour of cooking.
Process jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes.
Cost for this batch is a lot cheaper than future batches, as I expect the price of tomatoes to go up when green hatch chilies and tomatillos are available in August.
Item, Cost
vine tomatoes, 5 lbs at $0.69/lb, $3.45
4 red chile peppers, $0.36
1 bunch cilantro, $0.50
9 green jalapeno peppers, $0.75
lemon juice/lime juice, $0.05
2 green bell peppers, $0.50
2 head garlic, $0.88
5 pint jars at $7.19/case+tax, $3.25
1 half pint jar at $6.23/case+tax, $0.56
Total batch cost: $10.30 or $1.87/pint
