Making Salsa from the Garden

Some of our tomatoes ripened up so Billy and I whipped up a small batch of some salsa today! It was a spur of the morning decision, but we had enough ingredients on hand for a simple recipe. We mixed up cherry tomatoes, roma tomatoes, green peppers, and jalapenos (all from our garden) and a Vidalia onion and salsa seasonings. It smells excellent! And the best way to enjoy a blonde lager? Make it cherry, of course.

Next up I’d like to make some spaghetti sauce if we get enough red tomatoes at once.

Anyone else making some salsa or sauces?

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For your seasoning, have you ever tried “Mrs. Wages”?

Man that looks good.

I am a Leinies fan but i just tried that cherry this week,huge thumbs down.I believe your taste buds are shot Sharon.

Denny O wrote:

For your seasoning, have you ever tried “Mrs. Wages”?

Haven’t heard of that. Is it good?

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Denny O wrote:</div>
For your seasoning, have you ever tried “Mrs. Wages”?

Haven’t heard of that. Is it good?

Sharon, it is rather available @ a lot of places, mild medium and hot.

Mrs. Wages

I’m an old softy guy now (never used to be!) I would get the hot, as I don’t find much of a difference between them.

I don’t really care for Mrs. Wages salsa mix but when I make a five gallon pot of spaghetti sauce I usually start with a couple of packs of her pasta mix just to get started then add all my other goodies from there.

We are about 2 weeks out from making salsa, spaghetti sauce and stewed tomatoes. I dread the time it takes.

I’ve had good luck canning salsa without any kind of seasoning mix.
tomatoes chopped, onion, green peppers, jalapenos (plus whatever other peppers I grow for added head), cilantro, and a little basil. along with salt and pepper. (I’ve added other things as well, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, etc and the plain receipe always seems to come out the best)
Bring big pot of all ingredients finely chopped to a boil then place into canning jar. I usually boil my canning jars and lids prior to pouring salsa in for decontamination and heat matching. Then let cool with lids one and rings just snug. I’ve only lost a couple can of hundreds to not sealing on their own. But that can get ate up in a couple days when refrigerated.

I’ve had good luck canning salsa without any kind of seasoning mix.
tomatoes chopped, onion, green peppers, jalapenos (plus whatever other peppers I grow for added head), cilantro, and a little basil. along with salt and pepper. (I’ve added other things as well, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, etc and the plain recipe always seems to come out the best)
Bring big pot of all ingredients finely chopped to a boil then place into canning jar. I usually boil my canning jars and lids prior to pouring salsa in for decontamination and heat matching. Then let cool with lids one and rings just snug. I’ve only lost a couple can of hundreds to not sealing on their own. But that can get ate up in a couple days when refrigerated.

kro22 wrote:

I’ve had good luck canning salsa without any kind of seasoning mix.
tomatoes chopped, onion, green peppers, jalapenos (plus whatever other peppers I grow for added head), cilantro, and a little basil. along with salt and pepper. (I’ve added other things as well, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, etc and the plain receipe always seems to come out the best)
Bring big pot of all ingredients finely chopped to a boil then place into canning jar. I usually boil my canning jars and lids prior to pouring salsa in for decontamination and heat matching. Then let cool with lids one and rings just snug. I’ve only lost a couple can of hundreds to not sealing on their own. But that can get ate up in a couple days when refrigerated.

I make mine the same way for the most part.

My garden really stinks this year, fortunately I have a good supply from last year yet..

kro22 wrote:

I’ve had good luck canning salsa without any kind of seasoning mix.
tomatoes chopped, onion, green peppers, jalapenos (plus whatever other peppers I grow for added head), cilantro, and a little basil. along with salt and pepper. (I’ve added other things as well, cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, etc and the plain receipe always seems to come out the best)
Bring big pot of all ingredients finely chopped to a boil then place into canning jar. I usually boil my canning jars and lids prior to pouring salsa in for decontamination and heat matching. Then let cool with lids one and rings just snug. I’ve only lost a couple can of hundreds to not sealing on their own. But that can get ate up in a couple days when refrigerated.

We do the same thing for our canned salsa. Additionally, we will add corn, black beans, & sometimes even pineapple. Absolutely delicious!!

Last night I made my first batch of fresh stuff with just what we had laying around. I ended up using cherry tomatoes since our bigger tomatoes aren’t ready quite yet. Turned out amazing!

suzuki wrote:

I dread the time it takes.

It’s a lot of work, that’s for sure, but it’s so delicious and rewarding to eat food you’ve grown and made!

Sharon wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
I dread the time it takes.

It’s a lot of work, that’s for sure, but it’s so delicious and rewarding to eat food you’ve grown and made!

Exactly. That is my motivation. Ill try not to think about the 4 weeknights it takes to get it done. BLT’s last night with first tomatoes. OMG!

You all have particular variety of tomato you prefer?
I prefer a good paste tomato “Polish Linguisa”is my favorite for salsa and canning. Their large with virtually all flesh inside and have a great tomato flavor. Unfortunately I also have a couple of weeks to wait.

1hl&sinker wrote:

You all have particular variety of tomato you prefer?
I prefer a good paste tomato “Polish Linguisa”is my favorite for salsa and canning. Their large with virtually all flesh inside and have a great tomato flavor. Unfortunately I also have a couple of weeks to wait.

I don’t, yet. This year we went with Champion tomatoes as the tag said they are sweet, meaty, & good for salsa. The tomatoes we had last year were very juicy and had more “water” than I liked, so we switched it up. I’m curious to other opinions of this too!

when i get those juicy tomatoes, i always squeeze the extra fluid out. really helps the process.

Roma tomatoes are my favorite. They’re a smaller, meatier tomato without as much juiciness as larger tomatoes. I also use either cherries or grape tomatoes as well. I planted cherry tomatoes this year rather than grape tomatoes, but they’re so similar I sometimes forget which is which.

We were gone a week and now I have what looks to be about 12-15 gallons of ripe tomatoes to do something with tomorrow. First on the list is Bruschetta for dinner tomorrow evening. Then spaghetti sauce. After that its fresh salsa Then depending on how many love apples are left I may freeze a couple bags. I’d like to get 5 quarts of sauce before they wither away.

I have a year’s worth of beans on the poles too so they’ll get picked and froze.

Sharon wrote:

Roma tomatoes are my favorite. They’re a smaller, meatier tomato without as much juiciness as larger tomatoes. I also use either cherries or grape tomatoes as well. I planted cherry tomatoes this year rather than grape tomatoes, but they’re so similar I sometimes forget which is which.

romas are meatier but i find not near as flavorable. although they work great for fresh salsa.

i like the beefmaster of big boy for canning maters.

oh Tom such is the life of one that has it made!!!!!!

my garden sucks this year so no salsa or any other real canning. fortunetly i have enough to carry me till next season.:???:

I like romas for sauce to but this year looks like I will be adding whatever my dad has leftover. My, I cant remember for sure either 20 or 24 plants look like they will give me if im lucky two five gallon buckets full of tomatoes. That will not make the 40qts of sauce I wanted to make.

chuck100 wrote:

I believe your taste buds are shot Sharon.

Perhaps it’s all the spicy peppers!

Have you tried this one yet? It’s very light and tasty!

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I planted Mariannas [?] this year instead of Romas and have been happy with them. Two, three times the size of Romas and super meaty, little seed core. I have a pile of Big Beef planted for utility tomatoes and some “heirloom” varieties for slicing for the table. “pinks” are starting to come along now and DennyO can elaborate on them. I have some pinks that will push two pounds right now….very large tomatoes.

I planted on “bunching” tomato plant and its a beast. These are the tomatoes on the vine sold in the grocery stores with 4-5 fruits per vine. Super good flavor from smallish, 4-6 ounce maters. I have a ton of these ready right now but they’ll go into sauce.

I love this time of year when gardens are laying the veggies out for everyone.

I like the beefsteaks for canned salsa. A friend who put himself through grad school as a chef at Chez Bananas in Minneapolis (now gone) gave us this recipe:

10-12 Pounds Peeled and Cored Tomatoes

1-2 Green Bell Peppers – chopped
8-10 Jalapeno Peppers- chopped
4-5 Sweet Banana Peppers- chopped
1-2 Large Onions- chopped
3-4 Cloves of Garlic – minced

½ Cup Cider Vinegar
¼ Cup Sugar
1/8 Cup Salt
1-2 Tablespoons Cumin

24 Ounces of Tomato Paste

Fill an 8 quart kettle ¾ full of tomatoes. Add chopped peppers, onion and garlic. Simmer approximately 30 minutes, until peppers/onions are tender.

Add vinegar, sugar, salt and cumin. Simmer 30 minutes more.

Add tomato paste, simmer 30 minutes more.

Ladle salsa into sterilized jars, leaving ¼ inch headspace. Seal and process in boiling water bath or pressure cooker for 10 to 15 minutes.

For additional heat add dried red pepper or double the jalapenos. The more you cook the jalapenos the milder they get; the opposite is true for the dried red pepper.

Yield is 12-14 pints of salsa.

I’ll be doing spaghetti sauce and bruschetta again today. When I pluck the Mariannas today I’ll be pulling the vines as they’re pretty much done. The bunching tomato plant is finished too. Thankfully the weather cooled some so the maters having gone totally ballistic on ripening. Personally I think we get better quality when the tomatoes ripen in cooler air. We’ve been doing BLTs for lunch a lot lately to help keep things in check and I plant to get another batch of fresh salsa done for the weekend as well.

The pole beans are giving up a 5 quart pail full every 2-3 days with no sign of a let-up. The Big Beef tomatoes are 6 1/2′ high and are covered with green fuits clear to the tops of six plants so I’m going to have a good late pick.

Brad, Do you de-rib and seed the japs?

This is what the wife and I ended up with for salsa. Started at 3:30pm and finished at midnight!
–2quart, 48 pint, and 11 half pint jars

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Yes. Nitrile gloves are a good idea while seeding and chopping peppers and onions.

Also, the longer you cook the jalepenos, the milder the salsa. If you want hotter salsa add dried cayenne pepper. The longer you cook the salsa with the cayenne in it the hotter it gets.

Making salsa this weekend. Will supplement the peppers grown in my garden with a basket of mixed hot peppers from the St. Paul Farmers Market.

Made salsa last weekend for the first time ever. Turned out good but I decided I really like the flavor of the veggies without the chili powder or cumin. I think next time I’ll go without seasonings except salt and pepper. I really like the Mexican restaurant salsas that are made fresh.

My barred owl makes fresh pico almost every other day. She mixes all sorts of chopped veggies into tomatoes and peppers with lime and maybe cilantro, depending on if anyone’s worried about dish soap flavor. Carrots, beets, chopped spinach; it all tastes good fresh. We go through a lot of corn chips.