Making and Canning Salsa

At my house we use tons of salsa.  I usually fix some type of Mexican or Southwestern dish at least once a week.  Plus, we love to have tortilla chips and salsa as a go to snack.  Since we use so much of the stuff, we grow our own tomatoes and peppers and I try to preserve at least 30 or 40 pints each summer.  In case you haven’t noticed the salsa you buy at the store is about $3.50 a jar!  It is also loaded with salt.  My family and I prefer the homemade kind, and I think if you try it you will also!

Here is what you will need to make about 7 pints of salsa:

About 22-24 medium sized tomatoes, 3-4 medium onions, a big handful of fresh cilantro, 3-4 cloves of garlic, white vinegar, black pepper, salt, 3-4 jalapeno peppers

Also, Lemon juice and garlic salt

The first step is to remove the skins and cores from the tomatoes.  This is easily done by submerging the tomatoes in boiling water for 1 to 2 minutes.

After you remove the tomatoes from the water let them cool until they are easily handled, then remove the skins and cores.

Using a food processor, with the steel blade attachment, process the onions and garlic until they are a fine dice.  Remove them from the food processor bowl and into a large stockpot.

Use the same procedure to process the cilantro.  Add to the onions in the stock pot.

Now the peppers.  I like to leave in the seeds and membranes of some of the peppers and I remove it from the others.  This is strictly up to you, if you want the salsa hot leave all the seeds and membranes.  If you like your salsa mild remove all the seeds and membranes from the peppers.

Now process the tomatoes.  Note: You will need to process the tomatoes in several batches.  Don’t fill the food processor bowl more than half full unless you want to clean up a mess!  I don’t process the tomatoes too finely.  I like to leave them in small pieces.

Your stockpot should now have in it all the tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapeno peppers.  To these ingredients add the salt, black pepper, garlic salt, vinegar and lemon juice.  Heat the ingredients until hot, not boiling.  At this point I like to taste the salsa and adjust the seasonings as desired.  You may want to add more salt or if it is not as hot as you like it you can add some ground cayenne pepper.

Fill your clean, hot pint jars with the salsa, leaving 1/4 inch of head space.

After the jars are filled, wipe the rims of the jars with a damp paper towel to insure a good seal.

 

Place a hot lid and band onto each jar and tighten the band.

Place the filled jars into the basket of a hot water canner.

Place the basket into the canner pot, the water should be boiling and cover the tops of the jars.

Place the lid on the canner and process the pints for 45 minutes.

After processing,  remove the jars and place them on a kitchen towel to cool.  It may look as though the liquid and solids have separated.  That is o.k. after the jar is cooled and sealed you can shake the jar and it will come back together.  As the jars cool you should hear the lids sealing.  When they are cooled press the center of each lid.  If it did not seal it will make a clicking sound.  If this should happen, just place the jar in the refrigerator and eat it over the next few days.

After the jars are completely cooled you can remove the bands and store the jars in your pantry.  This salsa will keep in your pantry for many months and even years as long as the seal remains unbroken.

Here is the printable recipe: