S Is for Salsa

Copyright Theresa Leschmann

I didn’t get to do much with my vegetable garden this year. Between the torrential rains that flooded most of southern Illinois this spring and kept many gardeners at bay until almost summer to the unspeakable heat wave that has taken hold for almost the entire month of July, I just didn’t have the time to combat Mother Nature. Fortunately, I am surrounded by some wonderful farm stands and U-Picks.

This week I happened to stop at Poor Boy’s Market, I little vegetable stand that has been doing a steady business for a few years now. Their sign said “We will order canners for you”. That was exactly what I had stopped in to get. The lady working the stand told me canners were hard to get this this year because of the spring flooding. I braced myself for the sticker shock when I asked how much they were. “$10 for 25 lbs.” she replied. I almost fell over. I’ve paid a dollar a pound in years that were supposedly good! I immediately ordered 50 lbs. and set out to get the onions and jalapenos I would need to make salsa.

Not all of the tomatoes will be used in salsa but better than half will be. My family loves salsa. I make several different varieties but they all start out about the same.

15 lbs. tomatoes

3 cups diced onion

3 to 6 seeded and diced jalapenos, depending on how hot you like it.

4 cloves finely chopped garlic

2 12-ounce cans tomato paste to thicken it up a bit

2 cups bottled lemon juice

1 teaspoon black pepper

1 tablespoon ground cumin

2 tablespoons oregano

I omit any salt or sugar for health reasons but you can add it if you like. You can also change the lemon to lime juice and change the oregano to cilantro for a different taste.

My morning was gobbled up by errands but spent the afternoon scalding all 50 pounds of tomatoes and peeling off the skins. Fortunately, my boys helped. Next I cored and cut the tomatoes in half. I squeezed the tomatoes over a large bowl to remove as much of the water and seeds as possible. Then I chopped the tomatoes and set them in a strainer over another bowl to collect more of the tomato juice. The 15 lbs. of tomatoes comes out to about 3 quarts of diced tomatoes after all of this. I finished chopping the rest of the veggies and put the drained tomatoes and other ingredients in a pot to simmer for thirty minutes.

Meanwhile I started the water in the hot water bath canner, ran the jars and lids thru the quick wash in the dishwasher to clean them again and get them hot. When the salsa was ready, I sampled it of course before ladling it into the 7 pint jars. Lids in place, the jars went into the canner and processed for 20 minutes. At this minute, they are rest on a towel on the kitchen counter.

Seven pints won’t be nearly enough but it’s a nice start on the larder. The rest of the tomatoes are in some large Tupperware bowls with tight lids, all peeled and ready to go in the morning. Another batch of salsa or two and then some diced tomatoes with garlic, oregano and basil. Mmmmmm.

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Posted in: canning,salsa,tomatoes

K Is for Canning Your Own Ketchup

Time for a recipe/how-to. Ketchup is a staple in many households and I thought it would be a good place to start providing recipes and instructions. You may need to adjust the quantities if you want to make more or less, depending on your family’s usage but here’s how I make a batch.

Ingredients and Supplies

This method uses a boiling water canner. You will also need a 4-gallon stock pot or equivalent sized kettle, 1 large stock pot, 1 medium saucepan and a large bowl. Six or seven pint jars with lids and screw caps per batch.

·         24 lbs of ripe tomatoes

·         3 cups of onions , chopped

·         3/4 tsp of ground red pepper (cayenne or other zesty red pepper)

·         3 cups of cider vinegar

·         4 tsp of whole cloves

·         3 sticks cinnamon, crushed

·         1-1/2 tsp of whole allspice

·         3 tbsp of celery seeds

·         1-1/2 cups of sugar

·         1/4 cup of salt

Preparation

Start a large pot of water to boil. Prepare a large bowl or pot filled ¾ of the way with cold water and ice cubes. This will be used to blanch the tomatoes. Blanching is a method of splitting and loosening the skins through the application of first hot water then cold. Skins can be tricky to remove and I have found that to make it easier, I use a paring knife to slice a small “X” on the blossom end of the tomato. You can do this while the water is heating. Once it comes to a good boil, drop the tomatoes in for 30 to 60 seconds. Quickly (and carefully) transfer the tomatoes to ice water. The heat loosens the skins and the cold stops the heating process so the tomatoes don’t actually cook.

Once the tomatoes have cooled enough for you to handle them, simply take hold of one of the sections where you carve the “X” and start peeling away the skins. Remove the cores, quarter the tomatoes and drop them into a 4-gallon stock pot or other large kettle. Add the pepper and onions, and then bring to a boil. Let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Combine spices in a spice bag and add to vinegar in the medium saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil; cover and turn off heat. Let both the tomatoes and the spice mixture rest for 20 minutes. Remove the spice bag from the saucepan and add the vinegar to the tomato mixture. Boil for 30 minutes. Next pour the tomato mixture through a food mill or sieve and return it to the pot. Add the sugar and salt (adjust these for your own dietary needs) and boil gently. You should keep stirring at this point. The mixture is done when the volume is either reduced by half or when the mixture rounds p on a spoon with separating.

Fill pint jars, leaving 1/8-inch headspace. Adjust lids and process in a boiling water canner for 15 minutes at 0-1000 foot altitudes, 20 minutes for 1001 to 6000 foot altitudes and 25 minutes over 6000 feet.

The time to complete a batch is three or more hours, depending on how long it takes to get the various pots of water to boil and how long it takes the tomato mixture to boil down.

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Posted in: canning,catsup,how-to,ketchup,recipe,technique,tomatoes