Salsa
Whether for dipping chips or topping your tacos or eggs, salsa is a great way to add flavor to any dish.
If you want to make just a small amount for a party Pico de Gallo is probably the better recipe, but if you have a lot of tomatoes and want to make a large amount of salsa to preserve this the recipe you need.
I actually had a great recipe that I lost. It’s taken me a lot of years, but I think I’m pretty close now with this recipe. A big part of this recipe is adding the chopped vegetables for just a short time so they don’t get over cooked and soft. You’re basically adding some pico de gallo to the seasoned tomato sauce.
Grape jelly? Yes, it’s a great way to add some sweetness and additional flavor to the salsa. I do the same with my marinara if I need to add sugar – think about grapes; it’s sort of like adding some sweet wine.
This is a time consuming project due to all of the ingredient processing and simmering, but you will have a lot to show for it and it’s well worth the effort.
Salsa
Ingredients
- 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes, skinned, seeded and crushed
- 3 cups lemon juice
- 6 Tbs corn starch (dissolve in the lemon juice).
- 2 cups grape jelly
- 8 cups chopped white onions (about 6 medium onions)
- 5-10 finely chopped jalapeño’s or other hot peppers
- 8 cloves garlic, minced
- tomato paste as needed to thicken (I use 2-3 12 oz cans)
- 10 tomatoes, peeled and chopped coarse
- 8 cups coarsely chopped & seeded peppers (bell, banana, Poblano, Anaheim, etc)
- 2 bunches green onions chopped
- 1 bunch fresh chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbs oregano
- 4 Tbs salt
- 2 Tbs ground cumin
Instructions
- Process the tomatoes through a food mill, or by manually skinning and seeding the tomatoes.
- Add the crushed tomatoes to a large stockpot (or 2 stockpots) and simmer bring them to a boil.
- While simmering the tomatoes, brown the onion, garlic and jalapeno together in a skillet.
- Add the lemon juice, corn starch, jelly, onions, jalapenos, garlic and tomato paste to the crushed tomatoes and simmer to the desired consistency. This may take a few hours, because you need to do it over low heat so as not to burn the bottom of the pot.
- When the tomato sauce has reached your desired consistency, add the remaining ingredients and simmer another 20 minutes to heat through.
- Taste to see if any seasonings needs adjusting: if it needs more salt add it one teaspoon at a time and taste again; if it needs to be spicier add more hot peppers; if it needs more acid add more lemon juice; if its too spicy or too tart add more or sugar or grape jelly.
- Ladle into hot jars. Process for 15-20 minutes in a boiling water canner.
- Makes 10-15 quarts, depending on how much you simmer it down.
- Oven Canning: Fill jars with simmering salsa, put on the rings and lids and place in the oven without jars touching each other. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 minutes.