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condiment First time Salsa

Had a few extra tomatoes so I decided to make some salsa, first time too. Here's the list of ingredients. They were coarsely chopped and ran through the food processor until the chunks were small. I like a bit of texture to my salsa.

5 medium tomatoes, skinned and seeded
5 Roma tomatoes, skinned and seeded
1/2 green pepper, seeded
1/2 yellow pepper, seeded
2 bhut jolokia peppers
2 Red Savina habaneros
4 red habaneros
8 Hot Paper Lantern peppers
Hot peppers had the stem removed only, seeds and membranes were kept.
1 lg sweet vidalia onion
5-10 green onions, suit your own taste
6-10 cloves of garlic, suit your own taste
small handful of fresh cilantro,
1/4c red win vinegar
2 tbsp good virgin olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice

Once everything is chopped up run it through a food processor until it's the consistency you want. I then put it on the stove and let it simmer for a couple of hours to blend the ingredients. Enjoy!
 
Everytime i make salsa i never simmer it. It just goes into the fridge for a few hours to blend. does simmering it give it a different flavor? Or is it just to reduce it down and thicken it up a bit?
 
Sick, I roll like you. Never cook salsa. Right into the fridge after it's made.

IMO, cooking DOES blend the flavors quickly, but you also soften the ingredients. I prefer the veggies with their natural crunch for my homemade stuff. It makes it seem "fresher."

Also, my wife cuts EVERYTHING by hand. That way it's chunky, but there are no large chunks of anything - it's very consistent. I hate it when "chunky" salsa means "huge chunks of tomato, everything else is liquified." If you're processing or blending your ingredients, I don't see that cooking will make a difference in the consistency.
 
klyth said:
Sick, I roll like you. Never cook salsa. Right into the fridge after it's made.

IMO, cooking DOES blend the flavors quickly, but you also soften the ingredients. I prefer the veggies with their natural crunch for my homemade stuff. It makes it seem "fresher."

Also, my wife cuts EVERYTHING by hand. That way it's chunky, but there are no large chunks of anything - it's very consistent. I hate it when "chunky" salsa means "huge chunks of tomato, everything else is liquified." If you're processing or blending your ingredients, I don't see that cooking will make a difference in the consistency.


That is exactly like me, except I cut everything by hand.
 
Sick you're right on the money for the heating reason, thicken it up.

And, just because you run things through the food processor doesn't mean you have to turn everything into juice. There are recognizable chunks of every ingredient, especially the garlic.

Thanks for the comments gents.
 
I like cooking mine personally usually its alot and I like to store it in the pantry for 2 to 6 weeks then pull it out and the flavor is melted thru out the sauce then. Don't get me wrong for the fresh salsa is great also but I am the only one in this house that likes it HOT so its cooking that I prefer and it stays alot longer in jars.
 
Good point okie joe about it having a longer shelf life when cooked.

If we're going to eat it right away I won't cook it and I rarely get the food processor involved.

This is the first time I've made more than we could eat at one setting. I ended up with ten half pint jars, seven of them that I ran through the pressure cooker and canned, and three that we'll probably eat this weekend.

I'm sending a few out to friends who say they like it hot hot. We shall see.
 
That sounds delicious... though cooking can enhance the flavors depending on which method you use. Try to charbroil tomatoes, onions, peppers and some tomatillos. Chop them roughly and grind them with a coarse mortar and pestle. Doesn't get much better than that. Oh yeah, I forgot... never forget fresh lime juice
 
I agree with Andres on the lime juice...I don't cook mine if I am going to eat it within a few days...if I am going to eat it within a couple of months or so, I will use the hot water canning method...or want to be able to keep it for a year, I will use the tried and trud pressure cooker canning method...

No one has said anything about pH on this thread, but if you want it to keep, you have to have your pH down around 4.1-4.2 to insure a safe long shelf life...
 
AlabamaJack said:
I agree with Andres on the lime juice...I don't cook mine if I am going to eat it within a few days...if I am going to eat it within a couple of months or so, I will use the hot water canning method...or want to be able to keep it for a year, I will use the tried and trud pressure cooker canning method...

No one has said anything about pH on this thread, but if you want it to keep, you have to have your pH down around 4.1-4.2 to insure a safe long shelf life...

I always hear about PH, but what exactly is it and how do I check it? I hated science in skool, and that is why I forgot what it means.

I know my salsa tastes better fresh, but haven't had many complaints from the people that I have give the jarred cooked version. I made some with the Mustard & Capacchino Habaneros I had picked up in the PA Hot Sauce Show. Got a nice kick. Me like. :P
 
back in the 50's people down south would have 4th of July picnics and bring potato salad (made with mayonaise) and leave it unrefrigerated and not iced down....there were many cases of botulism that killed a bunch of folks...and another thing that was advertised about canned goods back then was if the can was "swollen" don't eat it....same principle applies to the way we can things now...when you pressure cook your foodstuffs, the lid "sucks down"...if the lid isn't sucked down or you can push it down, I would not eat it...
 
pH is the potential hydrogen which is an indicator of the acidity of a product. The acidity(vinegar, lime/lemon) prevents nasties like botulism from growing since they(botulism spores) thrive in an oxygen free environment such as a bottle of sauce or salsa. I never trust the paper testers and always calibrate my pH metre before use. Even letting a sauce/salsa sit without a lid can change the pH of the product.
 
A pressure cooker can be used to can stuff. Usually you have a "pop top" on your mason jars, when you get to a certain heat/pressure level that top pops inwords and created a seal with the jar. You know when you open a can of salsa for the first time and you hear a pop...that's the pop top ;)
 
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