Lets talk Salsa!

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I wanted to pass on a couple of steps in making salsa that can make a huge difference in the quality of the end product.

I HATE runny salsa…Salsa should cling to a chip without plopping in your lap before you get it to your mouth. That said, I have developed a method that leaves your salsa much thicker and richer without requiring much cooking down.

I remove the skins, remove the seeds and chop my tomatoes. I then place the tomatoes in a large colander atop a bowl or kettle and go away and leave it for about 6 hours. You will be amazed how much liquid comes out of those chopped tomatoes. You will have more liquid than I do as the tomatoes I use are much, much drier, have fewer seeds and hardly any gel fraction.

The recipe I use calls for tomato paste and tomato sauce. I add my other ingredients, cippolini onions, sweet peppers, hot peppers, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, cumin & lime juice and bring that to a boil. I let it boil for 10 minutes. Then I add the tomatoes and the cilantro, mixing well and fill my jars. Cooking the tomatoes less contributes to a chunkier and thicker salsa. My recipe calls for 10 minutes in the canner.

I have also switched to growing and using the pepper “Santa Fe Grande” exclusively in my salsa. This is a terrific pepper. Lush, 2-3 foot plants just covered with 3 to 4” long peppers that go from creamy green color to banana yellow (and eventually to orange then red.) These are a little less hot than jalapenos but than means you can add a few more and the yellow, red and orange colors contribute to a beautiful salsa. I also add the hotter, larger yellow “volcano pepper” to a batch for my Son and habanero’s to a batch for a friend who has no taste buds left at all! Whatever pepper you use is fine.
Anyway, that’s my salsa hints for the day!