Salsa Season is Here Again

It’s the time of year when we like to get a little spicy with our canner, folks. The summer tomatoes are ripening and peppers are abundant, which means it’s salsa time. We love to change up canned salsas from batch to batch depending on what’s growing well in the garden and what strikes us creatively, so we developed a fool-proof recipe for canner salsa that’s super customizable, but still safe to can.

The most obvious way to change it up is by using different tomato and pepper varieties. You can make classic red salsa with a bunch tomatoes, or you can make salsa verde using just tomatillos and yellow tomatoes. We also like to combine red, yellow, and deep purple tomatoes for a colorful, confetti look.

As for peppers, just about anything goes. Go for spicy and/or mild chiles, or keep it super tame with sweet bell peppers. We like to head out to our garden and simply choose what looks good. For our latest batch, we opted for spicy espelette and jalapeños, plus mild shishito peppers and sweet escamillo peppers. If don’t grown your own, head to your local farmer’s market—you’ll find plenty to choose from there during the summer months.

Texture is another way to change it up. Sometime we keep it chunky using chopped peeled tomatoes, but other times it’s fun to make a smoother picante sauce by starting with smooth tomato base and whirling my peppers and onions in the food processor until finely chopped. And if you’ve got the time, you can give the salsa a charred flavor by broiling or grilling the tomatoes (or tomatillos!) and peppers before they go into the pot.

8 Easy  Steps to Salsa All Year
1. Prep the tomatoes.
• For chunky salsa, peel the tomatoes by submersing them in boiling water until skins begin to split, about 1 minute. Transfer to ice cold water, then core and peel. Chop to desired chunkiness, then add to a 5 quart pot and bring to a simmer.
• For smoother salsa, do not peel the tomatoes; just chop them and add to the 5-quart pot. Simmer until soft, then pass through a food mill and return to the pot OR simply blend with an immersion blender until smooth. 

2. Chop the veg. Seed and stem the the peppers and onions, then chop as desired. Use a food processor for quick chopping.

3. All in the pot. Add chopped peppers and onions, plus the vinegar, salt, and citric acid to the tomatoes in the pot. Bring to a simmer.
4. Prep lids, jars, and canner. Place canning lids (not bands) in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and let stand until needed. Wash pint jars. Begin heating boiling water canner or a pressure canner.
5. Fill jars. Ladle salsa into jars, leaving about ½-inch headspace. Wipe the rims of the jars with a paper towel to remove any food bits that impair the seal. Add lids from the small bowl to the jars, then add the screw bands, tightening just until finger tight (if it’s too tight, that could prevent a good seal). 
6. Add jars to canner. If using a boiling water canner, add more water if needed so the jars are covered by 1 inch. Process in a boiling water canner 40 minutes (start timing after water returns to boiling). Process in a pressure canner under 10 lb. of pressure for 10 minutes. 
7. Remove jars. Use a jar lifter or hot pad to transfer jars from canner (for pressure canners, allow time for pressure to release) to a kitchen towel on your counter, leaving a little space around each jar to cool. Tighten bands as needed. Let stand for 24 hours.
8. Wash jars and store. Remove bands and wash jars around the lids. Dry, label, and store in a cool space about 1 year. 

STIR-INS As long as you keep the total volume of anything added ingredients to 1 cup (or less), this salsa is ready for plenty of creativity. Here are some ideas to get you started:
• Ancho, guajillo, or and Mexican dried chile, toasted and ground
• Green onion, chopped
• Corn kernels from 1 ear sweet corn (bonus for grilling the corn first!)
• Fresh mint, chopped
• Ground chipotle pepper
• Ground annatto seeds (look for this at Mexican groceries)
• Lime zest
• Mexican oregano (just a pinch or two, crushed)
• Shot or two of tequila
• Peaches or plums, pitted and finely chopped
• Toasted cumin seeds, lightly crushed

Chunky Canner Salsa

Make this salsa in the heat of summer, when local tomatoes and chile peppers are at their finest. For a smaller 6-pint batch, simply cut the recipe in half.

5 from 1 vote

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Course Appetizer, Snack

Cuisine American, Mexican

Servings 12 pints

Ingredients

  

• 10 lb. tomatoes and/or tomatillos
• 1 to 2 lb. chile peppers (mostly mild), such as poblano, jalapeno, Anaheim, banana, or shishito peppers, and/or sweet peppers
• 1 lb. yellow, white, or red onions
• 8 cloves garlic, minced
• ½ cup vinegar
• 2 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 2 tsp. citric acid or ½ cup lime juice
• ¼ to ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro or 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, crushed (optional)

Instructions

 

• Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Blanch the tomatoes about 1 minute or until skins start to split. Transfer to an ice-bath. Core, peel, and chop tomatoes.
• Add tomatoes to a large nonreactive pot, bring to a boil. Stir in vinegar, salt, and citric acid or lime juice. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, chop peppers and onions. Stir the peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro into the tomatoes. Bring to boiling, stirring frequently. Ladle into clean pint canning jars, leaving ½-inch headspace. Wipe rims and adjust lids and bands.
• Process boiling-water canner for 40 minutes or in a pressure canner at 10 pounds pressure for 10 minutes.

Notes

RECIPE VARIATIONS

Fire-Roasted Tomato Salsa: Preheat broiler. Arrange the tomatoes in a single layer on a large roasting pan. Broil the tomatoes about 6 inches from the heat until charred, then chop, boil, and strain as directed in Step 1. Broil or grill peppers and onions until charred. Finely chop and continue as directed in Steps 2 and 3.

Picante Sauce: Skip Step 1. Core and chop tomatoes; add to a large nonreactive pot, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until soft. Pass through a food mill. (Or puree mixture using an immersion blender or transfer to a blender in batches, and pulse until finely chopped. Strain out most of the seeds and skins through a colander or sieve.) Return to pot and continue as directed in Step 2. In Step 3, use a food processor to finely chop peppers, onions, and garlic. Continue as directed.

Salsa Verde: Prepare as directed, except use tomatillos and yellow tomatoes for the tomatoes, and use only green chiles for the chile peppers. Stir in 1 to 2 tsp. ground cumin.

Keyword appetizer, diy, easy canning recipe, salsa