MotherKaren’s Weblog
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My Throbbing Hands
After reading about “canning sins” I discovered that salsa can be dangerous if any veggy besides tomato is increased in the recipe. One can always pressure can her salsa in order to safely preserve a family recipe. Before Aynie was born I grew and diced some potent jalepanoes for pepper jelly. I didn’t wear gloves when I diced the peppers. My hands throbbed for two days. I had to take OTC’s. WEAR GLOVES!
I didn’t like the pepper jelly either.
I retrieved this salsa recipe from the USU Extension Site:
http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Salsa%20-%20Generic%20Recipe.pdf
Boiling Water Canning
GENERIC SALSA
Brian Nummer, Ph.D., May 2008
Generic Salsa Recipe –per pint jar
(multiply quantities by desired yield)
¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice*
½ cup tomatoes (peeled, deseeded**, and diced to approx ¼”)
½ cup any combination of onions, bell peppers (diced to approx. ¼”) and pureed hot peppers including seeds
(other vegetables not permitted)
¼-½ tsp salt*** (up to 1 tsp)
0-1 tsp dry spice (cumin, pepper, garlic powder, celery seeds, coriander)
*This recipe was designed to use ¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice per 1 pint salsa. Do not use fresh squeezed
juice or vinegar or alter this acidification procedure. Doing so may not safely acidify the salsa resulting in a risk
of botulism.
**Drain and discard tomato juices for a thicker salsa
***Optional
Procedure: Peel tomatoes by placing them in boiling water for approximately 1 minute or until skins loosen.
Plunge in cold water, then peel skins and discard them. Peel onion skins. Wash peppers. Dice all vegetables to
approximately ¼ inch cubes.
Puree hot peppers including seeds (the heat of hot peppers is concentrated in seeds). Caution: Wear plastic or
rubber gloves and do not touch your face while handling or cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves,
wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.
Hot pack – combine vegetable ingredients in a saucepan. Add salt and up to 1 tsp (total) of dry spice as desired.
Heat salsa to boiling with constant stirring. Pour ¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice into each clean pint canning
jar. Pour in hot salsa ingredients leaving ½ inch headspace. Attach 2 piece canning lid. Invert jar several times
to mix salsa and lemon/lime juice. Process using the following recommendations:
Recommended process time for Generic Salsa in a BOILING-WATER canner
Process Time at Altitudes of 0 –1,000 ft 1,001 –3,000 ft 3,0001 –6,000 ft Above 6,000 ft
Hot Pints 15 min 20 min 20 min 25 min
Sources:
Hillers, V.A. & Doughter, R. (1996, rev. 2000). Salsa recipes for canning. Washington State University Cooperative Extension.
USDA. (1994, rev 1999). USDA Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539. Retrieved from
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/utah_can_guide_00.pdf
Nummer, B.A., Thacker,M., D’Sa, E.M., & Andress, E.L. (2004). Studies on safe acidification of salsa for home boiling water canning. University of Georgia.
Retrieved May 15, 2008 from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/papers/2004/04ift-tomatosalsaPos
Do Lunch with MotherKaren
Come try Jeff Bruning’s fresh salsa recipe, bean dip (made without added fat) and fresh grilled tortillas. Calendar August 7th, Thursday, 12 Noon till 1 PM at my house. We will also have a water-bath canning refresher course (15 minutes MAX) in case you want to bottle all those tomatoes or salsa.
Check Out Jeff’s Salsa Recipe
Those peppers and tomatoes are almost ready. My cilantro is over-ready. Here’s Jeff’s famous recipe:
Jeff’s Favorite Salsa4-6 10oz cans diced or stewed tomatoes
(stewed have slightly different taste, so experiment with it)
one yellow or white onion chopped (some even prefer red onion)
4 jalapeños diced (or more if you want it hotter)
1 teaspoon minced garlic (from a jar) or equivalent garlic paste
cilantro to taste (usually use about ½ to ¾ cup chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
lime juice to tasteThat’s everything. I usually add one (or so) cans of tomatoes, all of the onion, jalapeños, cilantro, garlic, and salt and pepper, then blend until smooth. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Then just pulse the rest of the tomatoes to the desired chunkiness for texture. Mix well in the bowl and add lime juice to taste. You may prefer to add salt and pepper at this stage for more control, and taste testing.
One note: you may need to add more cans of pulsed tomatoes when done, depending on how strong the jalapeños are that were used. These vary quite a bit from different sources, and it is difficult to know initially exactly how hot it will turn out. So I control the heat with more or less tomatoes as I am making it.
Jeff Bruning
Here’s a link to preserving tomatoes: http://extension.usu.edu/files/publications/publication/FN_Harvest_2005-04pr.pdf
Check Out Some of Those Links
Get ready for the summer produce that will be available soon by reading up on water bath canning. Remember veggies and meat must be, must, must, must be pressure canned. I don’t care if your uncle and grandma and neighbor named Frank never got botulism from their water bath canned green beans. Don’t you do it.
