how to: can your own salsa.

The garden I planted in May has yielded major benefits all summer, and as of the last three weeks, buckets and buckets full of tomatoes.  Fresh, ripe, deliciously sweet tomatoes.  There’s really nothing like them.

Our only problem has been eating the tomatoes fast enough.  When we ran out of crusty bread to eat them with, I decided it was time to start canning.  It’s what I do.  I’d never made salsa before though, and I have to tell you hard work aside, homemade salsa is the best stuff I’ve ever eaten.  There’s just no other kind of salsa out there for me anymore.

Okay, ingredients for salsa are as follows:

• 2 bell peppers
• 30 tomatoes
• 2 or 3 onions
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 c vinegar
• 8 tsp salt
• limes 3 or 4
• 10 cloves garlic

First, you want to wash and stem your tomatoes.  Pull off the green stuff, rinse in the sink, get all the dirt off.  Then, blanch them.  Have you ever blanched tomatoes?  It’s the best thing ever.  You don’t want all the tomato peels in your salsa, they’re chewy when cooked, so take them off by blanching.

Put them in hot, boiling water for about two minutes, maybe three.  When they start to split and look like the tomato in the photo above, it’s time to take them out of the water.  Place them in a bowl of cold water straight out of the boiling cauldron and you end up with these:

The skin slides right off.  It’s actually a little fun.  My kids really got into the blanching step, and anytime you can involve child labor, it cuts your stove top time practically in half.

Once you’ve diced all your tomatoes, get them bubbling at a low/medium simmer for 30 minutes.  While those are getting soft, chop the rest of your vegetables:  chile and green peppers, onions, whatever you want.

This is your salsa, not mine.

Now mince your garlic.  You’ll smell nice and garlic-y for days.  Once the tomatoes have boiled for 30 minutes, add all the vegetables in with them.  Start it off on low heat and start adding liquid: vinegar, freshly squeezed limes, and your sugar and salt.  You want to let that bubble for at least 30-40 minutes.  Taste test with chips as you go. 

For real.

Once the salsa is ready to rock and roll, pull out your canning jars.  I use whatever’s in the basement but both Kerr and Ball make great jars.  Put salsa in the pint jars, it’s just better that way.

Use a funnel to direct the flow of salsa.  You don’t want to waste any of that precious stuff on the counter top.

Once the salsa is at about the neck mark of the jar, you’re full.  Clean off the rim of the jar and put on a warm lid.

Here’s my little canning tip, one I learned growing up, canning every summer while my friends were at the local pool.  Not bitter, nope, not at all.  Anyway, put your lids a few at a time in a shallow sauce pan with water, on a low boil for a few minutes before you put them on the jars.  They get a little warm and gummy and it helps the seal stick better.  That’s what I have to show for no tans in the summer as a youth: canning tips.

When all your jars are full, but not too full, it’s time to seal the deal.  Oh, hee hee hooo, hoo hoo.  I’m pretty funny tonight.

It’s really important to seal the jars, kill any bacteria you might have lingering in the vegetables, make it all nice and sanitary.  For this batch of salsa I did a hot water bath for 15-20 minutes.  Put them all in a nice hot bath of water, let it boil, and don’t take the lid off for a good little while.  When you do check on them, make sure the lids have all popped {sealed} before you call it good.

Gas stoves are pretty great at this.  See that power-plus boil knob on the left?  Yeah, we’re pretty tight.

Now take the jars out, set them on a dish towel on the counter, and you’ve just made yourself a batch of homemade salsa.  Delicious.

—I used my new-ish Frigidaire stove to make my salsa this year. It was a marvelous experience.  I’m the one who cut the vegetables, boiled the tomatoes, and got garlic on my hands, but the stove really made it magical.  No, truly.

I wrote this review while participating in a Test Drive Campaign by Mom Central on behalf of Frigidaire and received a Frigidaire Refrigerator, Range/Microwave, Washer/Dryer set, and a Dishwasher to facilitate my review.

Allison

Hello there! I'm Allison Czarnecki, founder + editor of Petit Elefant, a blog all about style on a budget for every part of your life: style / home / travel / family. I do a lot of how-to beauty + style tutorials, travel posts, easy recipes, home remodel projects, and cool DIY crafts you totally want to try. I'm super happily married (to a hot Polish immigrant) and am the mother of two kids, a daughter and son, all of whom are featured here on the regular. We live in the country but we're a little bit rock + roll. Welcome!