Can You Do The Salsa?




Can you… Salsa! Heh. I crack me up!!! Again, mainly because I crack up no one else and I’ll be damned if there will total silence when I make my completely inane dumb plays on words but still… I crack me up!!

I can see you all shaking your heads wondering how that was even a play on words in the first place. Well duhhhh mannnn! Cause this is a post about home canning salsa. Geee, so obvious. *Gives you all the L on the forehead gesture and then realizes that only a 100% L person would even USE that gesture and giggles sheepishly* (on a side note, do Sheep giggle? If they do something stupid do they say that they are looking human? These are the things that my mind contemplates.)

Moving on…as usual… many many moons ago I was like many of you. I bought all my jams, jellies, relishes, salsas and other yummy canned goods at the store. The store I say shamefully!!! Can you believe it!? It’s a dark part of my life I try not to look back on. the therapy took years.  Now however, I have seen the light!!! *Finds a soapbox, gets up on it and starts preaching* Yes brother, I have seeeeennnnnnn the light! And the light shines through canning jars!!!! Can we say Amen!? Say amen with me!

I really need more therapy.

As I was saying, but put more simply, over the years I have come to love home canning (as opposed to canning in say the Wal Mart parking lot). You can make so many flavors you can only find via gourmet stores or web sites (like Blueberry Lime Jam or Jalapeno Cranberry Preserves) as well as make the typical store bought flavors of different condiments and jams but do it knowing that they are fresh, there is no law allowed amounts of rat poop in it and it isn’t filled with preservatives (I guess to keep the rat poop fresh). Not to mention, that old saw about how fulfilling and dare I say empowering it is to can foods yourself is actually true. it’s a rather heady feeling to see jars of tasty foods that YOU made, not some hair netted stranger 2000 miles away.

So today I am putting up what will be my first of many (over time) canning recipes. I am NOT however going to get into the whole teaching you how to can part of it. I will give the recipes and add in a link or two to good sites to go to to learn to can. It’s much easier than what one would think. If you can think “keep it clean and think safe” you can can. This post is for homemade Peach Salsa. I love this stuff! My daughter finally had to learn to make it because I was refusing to let her continue swiping what I made πŸ˜› This has a bit of a bite (but you can make it less so) and a wonderful fruity flavor to it. It is great with chips, with meats, with cream cheese, with a spoon eating it straight from the jar….

Here is a good link to learn proper canning techniques. πŸ™‚

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_home.html

Spicy Sweet Peach Salsa

(Canning Recipe)

  • 3 lbs ripe tomatoes, peeled then chopped
  • 2 1/2 cups chopped onions
  • 2 cups chopped green pepper
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped (can also omit if you want extremely mild salsa or leave in the seeds if you want hot salsa)
  • 5 ripe peaches, peeled then chopped
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup vinegar (white or apple cider)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pickling spices (can be found with canning supplies or in the normal spice aisle), tied up in a cheesecloth square (a coffee filter works well too)
  1. Easiest way to peel your tomatoes and peaches is this: boil a large pot of water. Add the fruits (not all at once) to the boiling water and boil for two minutes. Then dump into a bowl of ice water and let sit for a few minutes. The skins should then slip off easily.
  2. Put chopped tomatoes and peaches into a large heavy bottomed pot along with all the other ingredients.
  3. Boil slowly, stirring often, until thickened which should take about two hours. If your maters (yes, I said maters πŸ˜› ) were really juicy it may take longer.
  4. Take out and discard the pickling spices.
  5. Ladle the salsa into half pint or pint jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Make sure to wipe the rims of the jars thoroughly with a CLEAN hot washrag. Put the clean lids on, making sure to just finger tighten. Don’t over tighten them.
  6. Process in a boiling water bath for ten minutes.
  7. This makes about 3 and a half pints.
  8. Let cool and then undo all your hard work by popping open a jar and getting out the tostitos πŸ˜€
  9. If you have never canned before, please please don’t be scared off thinking it is too much work, too much trouble or too frightening to do. It’s really quite easy and more than worth any work you put into it. I PROMISE you this. If you have any canning questions, please feel free to ask me in a comment here or write me at my gmail address (in my “about me” section)
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30 thoughts on “Can You Do The Salsa?

  1. Being a good Southern Girl – I LOVE peaches! Canning is something I always wanted to do! Good for you for keeping up with this lost art!

    • Oh you soooo need to check out the link I posted about canning. it gives so much good info and I would be more than happy to help via phone or email if you tried and got nervous. πŸ™‚

  2. Great! It is nearing time for our annual trek to the peach orchard. You know there is only so much jam one can make! This is a great alternative. Thanks a bunch!

    • I agree. I love love love jams of all kinds but after a while, when you look in the pantry and there are 200 jars of jam, you realize “ok, it’s time to branch out” lol. This really is a good way to do so. Hope you like it!

  3. Love this! I have to admit I tried to do canning once and I did oodles of jars of various things. Then I panicked and thought I did them all wrong. I was so worried I would not eat them. I know it’s crazy right? I’ve never learned how to can but I would love to learn the right way so I don’t end up being a nutball and throwing out all my hard work.

    • Oh gosh, I can totally understand the paranoia. We are all so conditioned to buy it from the store and if we do it MUST be safe, but if you think about all the E-Coli scares and what have you, it really IS safer to do it at home. Read the link I put up; it has some wonderful info about canning and I am always around if you get nervous and have questions. πŸ™‚

  4. If the stranger is hair-netted in the first place, it’s a good start! I’ve seen behaviour in “professional” kitchens that would make one’s stomach lurch.

    I’ve always appreciated people’s enthusiasm and skill in making/storing jams, salsas, etc. I’ve always been worried I do something wrong and end up with some terrible self-inflicted food poisoning. Eek.

    But YOUR peach salsa looks great and would make a smashing accompaniment to curry (as a chutney) πŸ™‚

  5. Hair netted stranger-ha! Preparing at home is the first step to being food safe. I love me some sweet and spice-so this has got my attention. Still waiting on peaches here though. Thanks for sharing.

  6. I’ve been thinking I should start canning already. While I often did it as a child with my grandma and my mother, I haven’t done it ever since I grew up. And I miss it! It’s always so good to open your own jar of whatever you’ve made. Great recipe, thank you!

    PS: and I completely understood your joke πŸ˜‰

    • If you understood my joke, we should get along perfectly lol πŸ˜› And yes, start canning again!!! Go! Buy Peaches! or berries! or something!

  7. What a fun way to use peaches. I cannot wait to give this recipe a try. I mean what could be better to bring to a picnic than chips and homemade salsa. I’ve been concentrating on some jams and jellies as of late. Come visit me. I’d love to know what you think….

  8. Thanks so much for this recipe! I get jealous when I see people enjoying Mango salsa with those cinnamon chips, I cant have mangos so I feel all left out πŸ™ Now I can enjoy this salsa on some cinnamon chips! Since I cannot think outside the box enough to of thought to make a different fruit salsa…

    • Awww, that would stink not being able to have mango. I love mango. I hope this proves to be a tasty substitute for you. πŸ™‚

  9. Let thr choir say Amen! Preach on sistah about the righteousness of canning and preserving. I haven’t done that in years and I think it’s high time I do the salsa-jam-mango-tango-strawberry-jamboree!

    • WHoaaaaaa. Down girl! Although I must say, now you have me imagining all those flavors in something together πŸ˜€

  10. Peaches and salsa! Two of my favorite foods. I will definitely have to try this once I can find some good looking peaches which is the hardest part.

  11. Oh man! That salsa looks amazing. I’m definitely making this before the summer ends. I can only imagine how amazing it would be on a hot Italian sausage! Thanks for sharing!

  12. This is absolutely the best salsa ever! Everyone loves it and a pint is devoured up quickly. Even my non peach eater husband likes it. IÒ€ℒm canning three times as much this year so we donÒ€ℒt run out

    • Thanks so much, Sue!! My husband is also a peach hater, yet goes through this salsa like crazy. Go figure, huh? I’m so glad you all like it! <3

  13. I made this and itÒ€ℒs delucious. I always make my mimÒ€ℒs Sweet chili sauce, but this is even better. (Sorry mom). So good in fact, that IÒ€ℒm going to get more tomatoes and peaches and make more. My Christmas gift recipients are going to be so happy. Thank you for sharing.

    • I’m so glad you liked it, Roseann! I make a ton of it every year and we go through it all. I’m not even sure how long I’ve been canning this at this point, probably about 15 years. Enjoy!

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