Need advice on salsa making, non-soggy salsa after water bath canning

FarmerGuy

FarmerGuy

Fixin' to make a lot of salsa in the next couple of weeks. So far, the water bath canned salsas I've made make the tomatoes and peppers too mushy for my taste. Does anyone have a recipe or process to make salsa that will keep without refrigeration that isn't mushy?

I'm up to my ears in serranos right now and I've already pickled more than I need for a year so there are going to be a lot of serranos in this salsa. I'll make a few jars with Bhuts, Savinas and Trinidads for my personal stash (otherwise wife will kick me out of the state!)

Thanks!

*Edit: So far my ingredient list this time of year is going to be San Marzanos and a couple other heirloom tomatoes, serranos (plus superhots in some jars), vinegar, red onion, mature green onions, cilantro, little bit of thai basil, lime juice, salt.
 
Ditto. You want thick-walled, low-water tomatoes, as in Roma, plum variety. Also the shape helps. when you dice it there's not a lot of innards so to speak.
 
The Hot Pepper said:
Ditto. You want thick-walled, low-water tomatoes, as in Roma, plum variety. Also the shape helps. when you dice it there's not a lot of innards so to speak.
Click to expand...

The majority of the tomatoes are the san marzano plums and jersey giants (also plums) which have the lowest interior moisture content of anything I've come across. Really thick walled and they never leave any juice on the cutting board when I'm slicing them up. Great tomato for flavor and consistency but a bit of a PITA to grow since they are ultra-suceptable to BER. First part of the season was not-so-great but now I've got many, many pounds of ripening ones to choose from. Actually made some sun dried tomatoes the other day from them and they are delicious.
 
Oh I didn't read :)

You are set then. The other thing I might add is salt draws out moisture so don't oversalt.

Cilantro is like lettuce, will mush up.
 
I mainly use Roma and many have stated. One thing I like to do is after tomatoes are cut, put them in a colander to allow juices to run off. Once you add salt and other ingredients there will be plenty of moisture pulled back in.
 
FarmerGuy,
any time you add heat to a product you're cooking it and everything will soften. I don't know of any way to preserve long term without hot water bath/canning or freezing the product (which will also mush it up).

As The Boss said, cilantro, and even the green onions will mush up. One trick to getting some crunch back in the salsa is to leave the onions and cilantro out, just process with your recipe of chiles, tomatoes, vinegar, salt, spices and then process it following recommended proceedures. Then when you open a jar, toss in some fresh cilantro, and some fresh diced onions.

Onions are so cheap year-round, it's not like you have to "preserve the harvest right now" for them. Obviously, if you have them, use them, you don't want them to go to waste.

Here's some good websites and some approved salsa recipes. If you're not sure of the pH, etc, it's best to follow tested recipes. It used to be OK to boiling water bath tomatoes because they had natural acid in them that made them safe to process that way. The new hybrid tomatoes have been bred to reduce the natural acid in them, and it is now receommended that tomatoes be pressure canned like all other low acid vegetables or add acid to the tomatoes. So, it's best to follow approved recipes like those in the following websites-

http://www.freshpres...g.com/home.aspx

http://cru.cahe.wsu....395/PNW0395.pdf

http://nchfp.uga.edu...mato_intro.html

Have Fun! Post pics~~~ :cool:
 
thanks for the idea SL - i've always avoided cooking salsa as i don't like the texture. but maybe leaving out the cilantro and onions will help.
 
Killer advice! Thanks so much SalsaLady! Really appreciate it. Looks like I'm getting called out of town tomorrow, but when I get back I'm going to be making a lot of salsa - some with cilantro and some without. Going ot even try one without onions, even though I have a bunch ready to go right now.

Thanks!
 
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