Lets talk Salsa!

[z_willus_d]

Originally Posted by brokenbar

Salsa
8 cups tomatoes, peeled, seeds removed, chopped and drained in colander for 6 hours.
2 cups chopped onion
1 cup chopped green pepper
3 -5 peppers of your choice
6 cloves minced garlic
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp pepper
1/8 cup sea salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup lime juice
16 oz. tomato sauce
16 oz tomato paste
Mix all ingredients except tomatoes and cilantro, bring to a boil, boil 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and cilantro pour into hot jars, water bath canner for 15 minutes for pints. I am at sea level.
Makes 6 pints


Up to 1000 ft. Processing time is 15 minutes.
1001 - 3000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 5 minutes to 20 minutes total.
3001 - 6000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 10 minutes to 25 minutes total.
6001 - 8000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 15 minutes to 30 minutes total.
8001 - 10,000 ft. Increase processing time an extra 20 minutes to 35 minutes total.

Couple questions, as I am a salsa fanatic, and your recipe seems different than many I've tried this year.

1. How do you remove the skins from your Zapos and RST tomatoes without cooking or blanching them? I can't envision peeling the skin too easily
2. Do you roast any of the ingredients?
3. Are those green peppers the canned green chiles like Ortega brand, or something fresh from the garden.
4. I noticed you wrote chopped for the green peppers. Are the other peppers chopped in any particular fashion? Do you remove the skins from the other 3-5 choice peppers? I assume these are your Santa Fe?
5. Do you actually just add tomato sauce and paste that you made from the garden or are they store canned? I'm assuming average consistency for the two.
6. When you write, "mix all ingredients except the tomatoes and cilantro..." by tomatoes, do you also include the paste and sauce?

Thanks for sharing your great recipes. Oh, any particular source for the seeds you recommend, or would you say the peppers you've recommended in this thread are true to type from most/all sources?


-naysen

[z_willus_d]

Oh, and if you do use paste from your own produce, I'd be curious to know what process you use for reducing/producing it. It seems a bit counter-intuitive to me if one is going for freshness and minimal cooked flavor taste in a tomato product to then use paste that will have to have been reduced for many hours. I guess if you have at least some ingredients that are fresh as possible (those chopped tomatoes), then you probably still retain the nice, fresh taste you're looking for. I totally agree that you can taste a difference. The tomato flavor changes once it's cooked over heat for a while; kind of a logarithmic path of change that becomes asymptotic toward the tail end.

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Couple questions, as I am a salsa fanatic, and your recipe seems different than many I've tried this year.

1. How do you remove the skins from your Zapos and RST tomatoes without cooking or blanching them? I can't envision peeling the skin too easily
2. Do you roast any of the ingredients?
3. Are those green peppers the canned green chiles like Ortega brand, or something fresh from the garden.
4. I noticed you wrote chopped for the green peppers. Are the other peppers chopped in any particular fashion? Do you remove the skins from the other 3-5 choice peppers? I assume these are your Santa Fe?
5. Do you actually just add tomato sauce and paste that you made from the garden or are they store canned? I'm assuming average consistency for the two.
6. When you write, "mix all ingredients except the tomatoes and cilantro..." by tomatoes, do you also include the paste and sauce?

Thanks for sharing your great recipes. Oh, any particular source for the seeds you recommend, or would you say the peppers you've recommended in this thread are true to type from most/all sources?
-naysen

I blanch the tomatoes as there is really no other easy way. Green peppers are bells or other sweet peppers. All peppers chopped. Paste...I take a bunch of sun dried tomatoes, soak them in water for about 30 minutes, drain and run through food processor. The skin on the sun dried toms is pretty well unnoticeable after the food processor. Tastes better than any paste I have ever bought! I have used store bought tomato paste and it was very good as well in the finished product. Yep..sauce and paste mixed before boiling too. All that brought to boil. Not putting tomatoes in until last, after the boiling, really makes a difference.

Santa Fe Grande is available from several vendors on line and is pretty consistent as to type.

[z_willus_d]

Thanks, that pretty much answers all my questions. I now have something salsa to look forward to for next season. This season, for me, is over. Do you use bells or just more Santa Fe Grande peppers for your chopped Green component?
-naysen

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by z_willus_d

Thanks, that pretty much answers all my questions. I now have something salsa to look forward to for next season. This season, for me, is over. Do you use bells or just more Santa Fe Grande peppers for your chopped Green component?
-naysen

I use both..the peppers help give the salsa some body and thickness. My Mother would have called my salsa "Chutney" I think as it is chunky. Some salsa's I have eaten are more like sauce with a couple of mushy pieces of tomato in each bite. Canned salsa is never going to be the same as fresh but I have tried to make it as similar as possible considering it is cooked/canned. Now my Husband would rather eat canned than fresh. Here in Mexico, their fresh salsa has way too much onion in it for our tastes.

[kenny_j]

Brokenbar, I always love reading your posts. I have never made salsa, but my son makes it all the time. He made fresh (no cooking), a large bowl, and diced up one peach and added to a similar mix as you describe. Best thing I have ever tasted. I swear I taste cheddar cheese, but their is no cheese in it. Delicious.
kj

[ChristinaJo]

I make mine similar to Ted's link of Pioneer woman's recipe, except I add more cumin and add oregano. I don't use the rotel or sugar, or vinegar.

chopped:

tomatoes, onions, cilantro, hot pepper
the garlic is chopped, sprinkled with salt and smashed
cumin
oregano
lemon or lime juice, or both what's your mood?
combine all

Use a counter top blender, or processor. I have a stick blender. Love it.

For my pico, the same ingredients just chunks combine and let sit. Good Stuff.

And people, get the good tortilla chips. Not the "rounds" stuff.... homestyle tortilla chips.....warmed, salted.......ready to dip.

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by ChristinaJo

I make mine similar to Ted's link of Pioneer woman's recipe, except I add more cumin and add oregano. I don't use the rotel or sugar, or vinegar.

chopped:

tomatoes, onions, cilantro, hot pepper
the garlic is chopped, sprinkled with salt and smashed
cumin
oregano
lemon or lime juice, or both what's your mood?
combine all

Use a counter top blender, or processor. I have a stick blender. Love it.

For my pico, the same ingredients just chunks combine and let sit. Good Stuff.

And people, get the good tortilla chips. Not the "rounds" stuff.... homestyle tortilla chips.....warmed, salted.......ready to dip.

REAL chips and great salsa is a gourmet meal where I come from! Few things satisfy me as much. Okay...time for a snack...

[kenny_j]

Just helped my son make a bowl of fresh, first time for me being involved. 2 peaches added to about 2 gallons of salsa. After draining tomatoes, it still seemed a little wet, but in the end we added some over dried beefsteaks from last yr. I dry them way down then freeze. Frozen they crumble a little tougher than potato chips. By tomorrow, they will have soaked up the excess water. We also add diced up jalepenos, seeds removed. Soooo good.

I love the variety of Mexican salsa's. A single restaurant may have mango salsa, peach salsa, and many others. I also don't like a lot of onion in large chunks though I do like my salsa chunky with different chili peppers providing different heat levels. If it is a fruity salsa, lower the heat. If it is a tomaoty salsa, raise the heat. I also like a variety of fresh green herbs (chopped, not blended) in the salsa. A little lime juice instead of vinegar provides the freshest taste. Corn chips for dipping should have corners. Fresh is best.

The best commercial Salsa in my house is Walmarts "Great Value" brand with black beans and corn included in the salsa. It doesn't have any heat so other folks can eat it. I sometimes spice it up with a little jalapeno for my taste preference.

Ted

[Salsacharley]

The best commercial salsa on the plant is "New Mexico Salsa" by Cibola ★★★★★★★★. You can get it in medium, medium-hot, and "HOT".

http://www.chimayotogo.com/

Originally Posted by Salsacharley

The best commercial salsa on the plant is "New Mexico Salsa" by Cibola ★★★★★★★★. You can get it in medium, medium-hot, and "HOT".

http://www.chimayotogo.com/

When I said the Walmart brand of Salsa is the best commercially available, I meant "easily available in most areas of the country". In fact, Tascosa Hot Sauce is the best commercially available. I don't know why they call it hot sauce instead of salsa. We used to purchase it by the case at the front door of the factory on each trip back to our home town. It is only sold commercially in the United brand of grocery markets and they are located in Texas only. It is made with no preservatives and no artificial thickeners. They do have a web page for ordering by Texas ex pats like myself. We became addicted to the Tascosa salsa in the early 1980's though their web page says the company was formed in 1991. I suspect the current owner purchased or inherited the company in 1991 from the original owner.

I found over the years when no Tascosa hot sauce was available and I was suffering severe withdrawal symptoms, I could mimic it by adding a lot of ground black pepper or white pepper to other high quality salsa's.

http://www.tascosahotsauce.com/

Ted

[recruiterg]

Brokenbar, do you really use 16 oz tomato paste? Seems like a lot.

[brokenbar]

Originally Posted by recruiterg

Brokenbar, do you really use 16 oz tomato paste? Seems like a lot.

Well...I make my own out of sun dried tomatoes so I don't use as much but when I have used canned commercial paste I have used the 16 ounces and the salsa has been grand. This is what help[s this recipe be nice and thick.

[kath]

Originally Posted by recruiterg

Brokenbar, do you really use 16 oz tomato paste? Seems like a lot.

I used 16 oz. of my own version of tomato paste in her recipe today and it turned out great!

kath