What to do with your bumper crop of tomatoes and peppers? Your garden is a great resource for gifting. Make this delicious Fresh Tomato salsa to can! Full of perfectly ripe tomatoes, peppers and onions, blended with spices you can control according to your own preferences. Home canned salsa makes a wonderful family pantry staple or food gift for your family, office and friends.
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Welcome back to our Tuesday Garden Blog Hop! This week we are exploring ideas for making gifts from the garden. Please visit each blogger linked at the bottom of this post for more wonderful Gifts from the garden ideas.
Salsa disappears fast around our place. We buy the huge bags of Costco Organic Tortilla chips occasionally. It’s not hard to sit down and gorge oneself on a bunch of those crisp chips dipped into this spicy salsa. If dinner gets too late those chips and a bowl of salsa go really fast!
The fantastic thing about a good basic salsa recipe is it’s easy and you can adjust it to your liking! You may also want to whip up a batch of Salsa From the Back of the Envelope and can that too! We eat super nachos all the time with our homemade salsas. Yummy stuff!
A large garden harvest can give you many batches of salsa. Why not set some aside in fancy jars for gifts? Salsa is very easy to can. It can sit on your shelf all year and be handy for a quick gift for a family member, friend or coworker.
Why Home Preserving:
Preserving your own garden produce is so exciting, and makes sense financially, if you go for the long view. The initial investment pays for itself if you use the equipment. There is no way to truly value the creative recipes you can put onto your pantry shelves, or the amazing flavor and nutrient value of home canned recipes.
Home canned recipes make precious personal gifts your friends and family will enjoy. You can’t buy what you can create in your kitchen.
Fresh Tomato Salsa to can is easy to make and versatile. Adjust the recipe for your personal tastebuds.
Fresh Tomato salsa to can. 2014 tomatoes we loved making our homemade salsa from our own tomatoes!
Canning Helps For the Beginner Food preserver:
If you’ve never attempted home preserving methods you need a good reference book. ‘Putting food by’ is my go to overall home preserving book. Putting Food By
If you are just getting started in food preservation; buy this book and read it cover to cover. Then every year, get it out and refresh on the methods you are using to preserve that year. Each type of food requires different methods of handling.
When it comes to the health and safety of your family be well informed. And carefully follow the instructions!
Another invaluable resource for food canners is the National Center For Home Food preservation. This guide has all the latest safety methods in details on home canning. It’s important to keep up with the news on canning. Tomato varieties are NOT as ACID now as they used to be. When canning older recipes they must be updated to attain the proper acidity and keep botulism from growing in your jars.
Our greenhouse tomatoes on the vine
Your local Cooperative Extension Service will have lots of good information on food preservation; master preservers to help, and workshops with the latest information on this vital topic. So go for it!
You’ll find recipes and wonderful people you never knew were out there. Creative and fun? Oh yeah! Food preserving is endlessly creative and makes a great hobby. Get informed, get equipped, and then get busy. The season is upon us!
Tiburon peppers and abrasion tomatoes 2014. We grew everything you see here. It all makes great salsa!
Making your own salsa:
This Fresh Tomato salsa recipe will require a lot of chopping. I recommend chopping the tomatoes by hand. The onions and peppers can go into a food processor to save you time and tears. If you don’t have a food processor, consider mine. Dave just bought me this Cuisinart 14 cup food processor. I LOVE it!
Otherwise, sharpen your best knife. Canning and freezing large quantities of food means a lot of prep work. But it’s worth every minute of it! It’s Just quite a bit easier with a good food processor!
Tomato Prepping Tip:
Put the tomatoes in boiling water about a minute and then immediately submerge them in ice water for easy peeling. As you can see, the skins loosen from the tomato. Peel your tomatoes for fresh tomato salsa to can.
Prep your tomatoes by blanching them a bit first. Then put them in ice-cold water before peeling. The peels should loosen from the tomatoes. Much easier to peel tomatoes this way. Just don’t Cook the tomatoes. Keep an eye on them. If they overcook you will get mush and tomato juice.
Tomatoes are much easier to peel if blanched first!
Fresh Tomato Salsa recipe:
This recipe makes 5 pints of canned salsa.
- Peel the tomatoes and rough chop large
- Chop the onion, and peppers in a food processor until you like the size (do not LIQUIFY!)
- Add in vinegar, lemon juice, tomato paste, salt, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and 1/2 bunch cilantro. Pulse once or twice in food processor.
- Place in a large pot on your stove and heat the salsa to boiling, then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Fill pint jars and seal. Process 15 minutes in a water bath canner
General Canning Tips for Fresh Tomato salsa:
- Use REAL canning jars for the best safety. Mason jars are designed to withstand the high temperatures canning requires. They are strong and fit the canning lids perfectly.
- The jars need to be HOT and STERILE. I run mine through the dishwasher and keep them hot and sterile until I fill them with HOT salsa. NEVER put cold to boiling hot into glass jars of any type. You can also use a bleach bath in the sink and exchange the water occasionally from a boiling kettle to keep them hot. Just rinse the jars before filling them.
- This recipe calls for a water bath canner. Water bath canners are cheap, last forever, very useful in the kitchen. You will need a canning rack to sit in the canner bottom and hold the jars.
- You will benefit from a canning funnel and essentials when filling your jars. They are just a few dollars, last forever and are infinitely handy in the kitchen for filling canning jars and freezer bags.
- Wipe the lip of your jars to keep the sealing edge clean after filling them with salsa. This is easy to forget. DON’T! Or your jars will seal poorly or not at all!
- Boil your canning lids (available in most grocery stores, You will need the box with the screw bands. Amazon currently only has regular mouth sized) in a small separate pan on the stove. They need to boil a few minutes to activate the seal along the edge. Then let them simmer on low heat as you seal the jars.
- Remove the jars once processed to a towel on your counter to dry. Away from cold drafts. The jars will make little popping sounds as they seal. The lid tops have a raised part that depresses when they seal. Leave the jars alone until they are room temperature. The seals need time to set. It’s not recommended to move hot sealed jars.
Nutritional Information:
Recipe Yield: 5 pints
50 three Tablespoon Servings
12 Calories/serving:
- Fats: 0 grams
- Carbs 3 grams
- Protein: 1 gram
Your Printable Recipe Card:
Fresh Tomato Salsa to Can Recipe and Tips
What to do with your bumper crop of tomatoes and peppers? Make this delicious Fresh Tomato salsa to can! Full of perfectly ripe tomatoes, peppers and onions, blended with spices you can control according to your own preferences. This makes a wonderful family pantry staple or food gift for your family, office and friends.
Ingredients
- 4 to 5 Cups of peeled tomatoes-chopped, use paste type tomatoes like Roma for thicker salsa
- 2 large onions-chopped
- 2 Cups green or red peppers-chopped
- 1/3 Cup jalapeño peppers-chopped
- 1 Cup Apple cider Vinegar
- 2 Tablespoons Lemon or lime juice
- 1 6 oz. can Tomato paste
- 1 Tablespoon Salt, to taste
- 1/8 Cup crushed Garlic
- 1 Tablespoons Chili powder
- 1 Tablespoon Cumin
- 1 Tablespoon Oregano
- 1 Tablespoon turmeric
- 1/2 bunch cilantro
Instructions
- Peel the tomatoes and rough chop large(They will cook down)
- Chop the onion, and peppers in a food processor until you like the size(do Not LIQUIFY!)
- Add in vinegar, lemon juice, tomato paste, salt, garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and 1/2 bunch cilantro. Pulse once or twice in food processor.
- Place in a large pot on your stove and heat the salsa to boiling, then reduce heat to simmer for 30 minutes.
- Fill HOT pint jars and seal. Process 15 minutes in a water bath canner
- For safest and best practices can this recipe ONLY IN PINT jars.
Nutrition Information
Amount Per Serving Calories 12
More Salsa Recipes you may enjoy:
Homemade Salsa From the Back of the Envelope
More ideas on preserving Your Garden Harvest:
How to Roast peppers for the Freezer
Our Tuesday Garden Blog Hop:
Originally posted October of 2016
National Center for Food Preservation Salsa Recipe:
Test Tube Dried Flowers and Herbs Handmade Gifts
Wednesday 22nd of August 2018
[…] Tomato Salsa @ Homemade Food Junkie […]
Catherine
Monday 13th of August 2018
I have been making salsa for years, and have done a lot of reading about safe food canning practices. I fear there may be a mistake in this recipe, where it calls for 2 Tbs of cider vinegar, should it perhaps say 2 cups? I do not believe there is enough acid in this recipe to safely preserve the salsa even after canning. I used two cups of cider vinegar and cannot imagine how thick it would be without the extra vinegar.
On another note, the recipe calls for 2 Tbs salt. I used 1 Tbs and it is still VERY salty. Perhaps this much salt is necessary due to the low amount of vinegar called for? Even so, it would make for an extremely salty salsa.
I would welcome your reply.
Diane
Tuesday 14th of August 2018
Hi Catherine, THANK YOU for your input into this recipe. You are correct about the vinegar. It should say 2 cups. I will change the recipe. The salt is just a taste option and not for safety in this recipe. I will reduce the salt called for to 1 Tablespoon and mention that it is to taste. I'm going to remake the recipe soon and adjust the salt if necessary. I really appreciate your comment. Have a great day!
Chris
Friday 8th of September 2017
I'd like to add black beans to this recipe. Will it change the way I need to can it? I was going to use a pressure canner. Thanks! Cheers!
Diane
Friday 8th of September 2017
Hi Chris, That sounds delicious! I have never tried to can salsa with beans. I looked up these links for you. If you are canning dried beans you will need to pressure can the salsa Canning Dried Beans. If you plan to add cooked canned black beans you can waterbath the recipes as described in this FoodNetwork recipe. Thanks a lot for the question. Hope that helps!
Terry
Saturday 26th of August 2017
can i use all lime juice and omit the vinegar and the tomato paste? Thank you.
Diane
Saturday 26th of August 2017
Hi Terry, I think it would work if you are using saucing type tomatoes like Romas. I added the paste because my tomatoes (Arbason variety) were actually very juicy. I needed the paste to firm up the salsa. That said. If you don't mind taking the time to cook the recipe down until the consistency is as you prefer, even juicy tomatoes can work.Or add more peppers :) Eliminating the vinegar reduces the juice somewhat. Let me know how it goes for you. I'd love to know how it comes out. Have a great day!
Angie
Saturday 29th of July 2017
I really want to make a huge effort to get into preserving more next year. I didn't have any veggies to do it with this year, so next years gunna be a big push! Thanks for all the great tips :)
Diane
Saturday 29th of July 2017
I hope you do get into preserving your garden when you have one angie. Nothing like a taste of summer when the snow flies :)