Thursday, August 13, 2009

Salsa Sunday

I know today is not Sunday, but that is what I did all day this past Sunday...made homemade salsa.
My good friend Janet and her daughter whom I both think a lot of, advised me to grow some German Queen tomatoes this year for salsa. Last year was a mess, the tomatoes were too seedy being the wrong type. Although the salsa came out quite tasty, it was a lot of work. This Spring, I was also advised by our local extension agent to grow some Roma's for salsa. The good husband planted the tomatoes and told me the German Queen's were planted late so they were not ready. Roma's here I come. I picked a bucket full along with some Bell peppers and had lots of onions in the pantry. I was ready to go...
Three hours later I completed the tiresome chore of cleaning, peeling, coring, seeding and hand chopping the required 10 cups. Our's were much smaller than what you see at the store. Word to the wise, do not leave your fresh tomatoes in the boiling water over 12 seconds in order to peel. They will be mushy, difficult to chop and a sloppy mess. Why are there directions out there telling folks to leave them in for a minute? Size did not matter, I tried regular tomatoes and all of them were mushy. Thankfully, after ruining several, I googled and found about.com southern food... which offers sound advice. They advise only 10 seconds, but the skin didn't come off easily around the cored area so I left mine in a couple more seconds.

Now on to the peppers. Much easier, but had to go out and get more. Six large Bell's yielded only 3 cups and the recipe called for 7.5 cups. The onions were last, my eyes watered a bit, not much and I completed all of the prep work.


I boiled the jars, and lids (supposed to only simmer the lids, not bring to full boil) added the extra's and began to spoon in my salsa....guess what? I only got 4 quarts! So much for recipes. They are pretty jars and the good husband liked the salsa, so I suppose all is well on the farm. :)


15 comments:

Joan@anythinsggoeshere said...

It looks fabulous even though it didn't work out quite like you expected. I would have had to did into the first bowl! Looks yummy!

Michelle said...

This salsa looks delicious!! And so beautiful in the jars. :) I have never canned anything YET. The whole boiling the jar process terrifies me for some odd reason. Lol!

Steph said...

I had thought about making some salsa next year when we have a house and garden of our own, but that just sounds like too much work! lol

Dog Trot Farm said...

Lots of work, but well worth the effort. Your jars look so pretty! I love to don a pretty apron, get out the old caning kettle, and jump right in. I'm just an old fashioned girl.

BALLET NEWS said...

Hello, just wanted to stop by and leave you a comment because I've really enjoyed reading your lovely posts. Your pictures are fantastic too - thank you for sharing your writing !

lisa said...

I thought that my canning was work. Boy, are you going to town!! he,he

Kathleen Coy said...

Oh, I love homemade salsa!
I'm growing tomatillos for the first time this year for salsa verde. I'll let you know how it turns out. :-)

The Pink Geranium or Jan's Place said...

Oh my gosh, you impress me so much!!! This looks wonderful. I will not have enough Tomatoes for anything but our salads this year, but next year will plant more.

You were right, I had posted about my B'Day..then removed it. Since you guys busted me.. I re-posted :)

If you don't already view "The Good Cook" (Linda) on my blog roll, you should, she has so much fun with her cooking...my daughter and her have become very good friends actually via blogland and emails. They both love to cook, Linda is amazing !

Kritter Keeper at Farm Tails said...

thanks jan, will look her up!

Kris said...

It all looks absolutely delicious.

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Looks and sounds so yummy!!! I need to do that sometime!!

Ali said...

Mmmm, it looks so good! I wanted to make salsa so bad this year, but my tomato plants bit the dust. I have never had such bad luck with them! Next year though, I will make sure I watch after them better!

Julia said...

We have a huge salsa party every year. It's formally called the "Tomato Harvest Party" and it's happening this coming saturday. Salsa is the best. Now if I only got motivated enough to can some.

Teri said...

You rock! It looks amazing, and now I'm hungry!

Rural Rambler said...

That first photo is simply beautiful. Lots of work but oh so satisfying. I love salsa heated up over rice and on grilled hot dogs :)