Today I managed to can some salsa.
Our little garden has been producing a good amount of tomatoes and peppers, which is good since that is pretty much all we planted.
Last year it seemed like canning salsa took me most the day and was a tedious task with chopping everything.
Well this year I decided to enlist some help.
I had around 3 options of food choppers and decided on the Ninja
I liked that it had a few different options and was willing to give it a try.
The verdict is...I love it!
It saved me lots of time (like half of what it took me last year) and although it wouldn't work for chunky salsa, it could handle a whole bell pepper, cut into strips, with no problem.
So my salsa recipe has been a work in progress for the last 3 or so years.
I kind of wanted a recipe that was basic, easy, slightly sweet, not spicy (but I do have a spicy one for my husband), and could mostly come from my garden.
We don't typically grow any onion or garlic, so I plan to purchase those and I will buy a yellow and orange bell pepper to add some color (and because I like the sweetness of them more than green but it seems like they don't want to grow in my garden.)
Anyway...
My recipe is:
10 Cups Chopped tomatoes
3 medium to large Chopped Green Bell peppers (BP)
1 Yellow BP, chopped
1 orange BP, chopped
1 red BP, chopped
1 & 1/2 medium to large Onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (finely chopped)
1/4 C Sugar
3/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
3 Tbsp Canning salt
Combine all into a pot, bring to a rolling boil for 20 minutes
Jar
Hot water bath process 15 minutes
Yield: 8 Pint Jars
Done!
Here are a few pictures from my process:
So here is my salsa just getting warmed and ready to boil
I also fill my hot water caner and get that water going since it takes a while to heat up.
When the salsa has about 10 minutes left to boil, I put my lids in a sauce pan of hot water.
With 1 minute left in the boiling process, I pull my jars out of the sink in which they are sitting in hot water (having been recently washed) and line them up near my salsa.
Using my handy jar funnel and ladle I fill the jars.
I wipe off the jar rims, put on the lids and rings, then...
Once my hot water caner starts to boil, I put the jars on the rack (make sure you have something between the jars and the bottom of the pot)
and drop the jars in and make sure they are fully submersed, then process.
Resulting in some yummy salsa.
One more batch and I will have almost a years worth.
Hope my garden keeps producing and I will even make a spicy batch for my husband!
