Canning Salsa!

In keeping with the theme of "Tomato" season, I am sharing with you my salsa escapades!

Canning salsa has been an obsession of our family for as long as I can recall.  We all want to make the salsa our own.  This is my recipe which is taken from my Mom's recipe, my trips to Mexico, and a Canadian man's recipe who used lime juice in his salsa.

Over the years, I perfected my salsa by adding these "must have" features:

• not thick, not runny
• not too chunky (nothing worse watching someone try to put a huge glob of tomato on their chip!)
• hot & spicy (Biker Billy jalapenos for heat; cumin for some smoke!)
• cilantro (just like the pico de gallo I had in Mexico)
• lime juice (adding a tart twist of Mexican flavor brightens up this salsa) 
• not cider or white vinegar, but red wine vinegar (gives it a sweet smooth tangy flavor)

I remove as much of the seed and surrounding pulp from the tomato before finely chopping.  It is worth the effort to have a uniform consistency in your salsa!  If you want to see how to remove the seeds,go to my "Canning Tomatoes - Zucchina Pasta Sauce" post.

Everyone will tell you to wear gloves, be CAREFUL, when chopping up any hot pepper, and NEVER put your fingers in your eyes until after you have washed them.  Do that once and you will never forget this lesson.

But I am always looking for shortcuts, so I use my La Machine food processor to chop them up.  I roughly chop before putting in the food processor and use the spatula between chopping sessions to move the big pieces into the center until they are finely chopped.

• If you don't care for too much heat, remove the seeds before chopping them up or consider using a less hot pepper or even green pepper.

When all the hot peppers are chopped up, they measure about 3 cups. 

I remove the skins, chop into quarters and use the food processor for the onions too.  When the large onions were chopped up, I got 3 cups.

If you have cilantro in your garden, pull up a few bunches and finely chop them until you get 2 and 1/2 cups.  Interesting fact about cilantro:  some folks eat cilantro and think it taste like soap - something in their taste buds!  I feel sorry for them.  Also, cilantro binds with mercury, which is good for removing mercury from your body, and it is just good medicine.  Here is the link to that fact, if you want to know more:  Cilantro Flushes Mercury from Body - Fact Analysis

I finely mince my garlic to the size of a tomato seed, so I have some pieces of garlic on the chip!

Put the tomatoes, hot peppers, onions, cilantro, garlic, ground cumin, tomato paste, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper in a large thick pot, bring it to a boil, then turn down to medium low to let it simmer.  Stir frequently so the salsa doesn't stick and burn on the bottom of the pan.  (See recipe below for the ingredient measurements)

I simmer my salsa by sight so that it is thickened up but not like tomato paste thick.  I like a bit of juice in mine.  It looks like this picture.  It can take anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour or more. 

When ready to jar up, add 3 tablespoons bottled lime juice to each pint jar, then seal up, and process in a pressure canner for 20 minutes at 10 lbs. pressure.  If you want to know how to pressure can, go to my "Canning Tomatoes - Zucchina Pasta Sauce" recipe.

Now, we couldn't wait to share our Bishop Salsa - Hot & Spicy with friends.  What is a great Mexican style salsa without a great sip of tequila?!  Make sure your tequila is 100% agave or you may end up with a headache.  

Another great tip is to serve your salsa with Whole Grain Milling Organic Tortilla Chips.  These tortilla chips are produced (grown and milled) right here in Minnesota - Welcome, Minnesota!  The corn is NOT the GMO variety and is organic!  The real bonus is it is hi lysine cornmeal, corn flour or whole corn - a highly nutritional corn with a complete protein.  Most corn you get nowadays is full of sugars and very little protein!  Plus the flavor will compliment this tart, hot, and spicy salsa!

Enjoy!