Friday, September 28, 2012

Salsa Making

Last week Dad gave me some tomatoes . . . and I'm almost out of salsa, so we made some.  He'd told me he was going to bring some tomatoes down, but I didn't have any idea how many, so I hadn't bought anything else for making salsa.

I was having a super busy week, with canning pears, baking and getting ready for a garage sale, so I really only had that night to get the salsa done.  I realized David had a little extra time so I asked him to pick up my peppers, onions, etc., to save me a special trip to town.  I first sent him to the local fruit & veggie stand.  He was able to get all of the veggies there except for habaneros.  I suddenly realized I also needed tomato paste, so he was able to get both from the grocery store.  I thought the veggie stand would be cheaper than the grocery store, but everything was the same price!

{Twice I tried uploading a picture of Rachel chopping veggies, but it refused to upload!}

Our veggies, all chopped and ready for salsa.

Salsa all made.  I made two big kettles of it.  The first batch I made was our normal "hot" salsa.  I made a batch that was a little milder that I use in casseroles . . . some of our family isn't as "Mexican" as the rest of us:)

I was really surprised how FAST our salsa was made.  The girls all helped make part of it.  It only took about 3 1/2 hours to get 21 pints and 30 1/2 and 3/4 pints made, in jars, processed, completely done!

Even with last minute shopping and not getting great prices on any of the ingredients I bought, everything only costed just under $30.  I thought that was a great price . . . as it will probably last us a couple years.

Ever since Mom first got this recipe from a friend of ours and we started making our own salsa, I haven't bought salsa from the store.  It just seems really gross now!

This week I made stewed tomatoes and if anyone else gives me tomatoes I'll be making more of those!  Have a great weekend:)

6 comments:

  1. Been thinking of you missong your Mom. lt must have been bitter sweet to make your salsa.
    Would you be willing to share the recipe? Missy

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    1. Thanks, Missy! Here's the original recipe:
      5 lbs. tomatoes, blanched, peeled and quartered
      3 onions
      2 tsp. garlic powder
      2 tbsp salt
      2 tbsp cornstarch
      3 small cans tomato paste
      6 jalepenos
      2 green peppers
      1 red pepper

      Bring to boil and add 3/4 cup vinegar. Bring to boil and put in jars. Process 15 minutes - makes 7 pints.

      That is quite mild salsa. I add 1 extra jalepeno and 3 habeneros per batch. I also use lemon juice instead of vinegar.

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  2. This is what I keep trying to explain to a lady at dialysis that can't understand how you can afford 12 kids! You plan ahead and do everything in bulk:)

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  3. Do you do all that chopping by hand and do you follow the recipe and blanch and peel your tomatoes? I haven't found a canned salsa recipe that I like-we only make it fresh-but maybe I'll try this one.

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    1. Nadine, I have a Pampered Chef manual food processor right now that I use. Before that I had a non brand one from Ross. It does all the chopping . . . quite quickly. I even put my tomatoes in there this year because I don't like really chunky canned salsa. Yes, I always blanch my tomatoes. It's pretty fast and easy. Someone gave us a jar of canned salsa that we recently used. They'd left the peelings on the tomatoes and they were floating all over in the salsa. I said "this is why I don't leave the peelings on"! And, no, I'd never think of blanching the tomatoes for fresh salsa.

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