Kitchen Notes: Preserving the Harvest

I realize now that making a case of salsa (12 pints) for the year was excessive, so I only made five more pints to go with the five pints leftover from last year's canned batch. Although, now that I am eating the stuff that didn't make it into the jar, this recipe ratio is really good. Slightly sweeter than the default batch. What a difference ripe tomatoes and sweet peppers make.

And the best part? No onions.

Makes: 5 pints + 1 cup
Heat: mild

Ingredient Ratio

1 green bell pepper, small dice
1 red bell pepper, small dice
1 orange bell pepper, small dice
12 tomatillos, washed/peeled, quartered
12 green jalapenos, stemmed/seeded
2 red Fresno chiles, stemmed/seeded
2 heads of garlic, cloves peeled and roughly chopped
5 lbs ripe vine tomatoes, quartered
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
juice of 2 fresh limes
2 tbsp kosher salt

Add all to a stockpot and bring to a boil. Cook for 1.5 hours.

I ended up having to cook this on a simmer heat for an additional hour to get to a salsa consistency (not watery and thick enough to be held on a tortilla chip). I also used a slotted spoon to fill the jars and I had more than a pint of 'salsa water' leftover, which I haven't used for anything.

The garlic got a rough chop in the food processor.

These items got pureed together: tomatillos, jalapenos, red Anaheim chiles

I also used an immersion blender, but didn't blend the whole batch. Though, the sauce wouldn't be in the chunky category for salsa.

I've been sterilizing washed jars in the oven at 170 F (lowest the oven can go) for 30 minutes.

The lids and bands, get the boiling water treatment. I have yet to get food poisoning using these methods.

Processed in a boiling water bath for 30 minutes. Really, canning time is just under an hour since after you add the jars to the water, it has to come back up to temperature, even though everything is already hot.

Remove from heat and set on racks to cool. Tap on lids after jars have cooled for an hour to check seals. Leave to cool completely for 24 hours. Once you're sure that the jars are sealed properly, you can store the jars with or without the metal band.