#Hot Salsa

I’m not talking about dancing here. If you’ve expected that, you’re reading the wrong blog ☺

Today was a typical Fall-day: Cold, cloudy, and rainy. So we stayed indoors and made Salsa. Actually, we did the same thing last year, only a week earlier.

This year was not a good year for growing some vegetables in the garden, but we did manage to get enough tomatoes and peppers to make one batch of Salsa and a couple batches of ‘Pfeffersosse” (Peppersauce). The tomatoes are not as nice as last year, neither are the peppers. Not many red peppers. Most of them were yellow and many were still green. At this time last year I took a five-gallon pail filled with beautiful red tomatoes to the soup kitchen in Selkirk. This year we barely have enough for our own consumption.

The Salsa turned out nicely. We’ll be eating some tonight. There is nothing better than homemade salsa. They don't put these quality ingredients into the stuff you buy in the stores. We made it hotter this year by adding more hot peppers. Here is the modified recipe:

Note: This recipe makes a hot salsa. For a milder salsa use less hot peppers.

Ingredients:

Chop:
*5 - quarts ripe tomatoes (Roma are the best) (2 Ice cream pails)
*7 - large sweet peppers

*6 - hot peppers (Hungarian banana peppers) (finely chopped)

*3 - medium sized onions
*5 - tablespoons fresh parsley (finely chopped)
*3 - leaves fresh basil (finely chopped)
*2 - teaspoons fresh Oregano (finely chopped) (or dried)

*3 - cloves garlic (crushed)
*1 - tablespoon salt
*Juice of 1 lime

Boil chopped tomatoes for about 15 minutes in a large pot (6 quarts steel pot). Remove most of the liquid to decrease cooking time. Dip a ladle into the boiling tomato pulp and let the foam run into the ladle.

Add the rest of the ingredients.

Boil for 30 minutes on medium heat, and then simmer on medium low until thick, stirring frequently. (Don’t overcook, otherwise Salsa will turn to mush.)

In the meantime:

Sterilize 9 – 500 ml (1 pint) mason jars with Sodium Metabisulfite.

Sterilize new lids

Fill hot water into the jars to make them hot.

Ladle salsa into hot mason jars.

Put sterilized lids onto filled jars. (Don’t overtighten the screw bands. Just fingertip tight)

Put filled and sealed mason jars into 250 F preheated oven for 20 minutes.

Remove jars from oven. Lids will pop and seal when they cool. No need to keep filled jars in fridge.

Note: I use Sodium Metabisulfite to sterilize the jars. Sodium Metabisulfite is available from Wine making supply stores. You just fill one jar to the rim and transfer the sterilizing liquid from one jar to the next, pouring the liquid back into the storage container when done with the last jar. The liquid can be used over and over until it doesn’t smell anymore. After sterilizing rinse with warm water.