Shriek of Nature

This is based on the traditional salsa you would have at a Mexican restaurant. With seven taste testers in my house, I have tweaked the recipe to make each person happy. Give me an award now.

If you have never canned anything before, this is the perfect recipe to start with since you don’t have to fool around with pectin or brining or anything. Your local farm store or grocery store has plenty of canning supplies but you could also just bum the jars off your fabulous Aunt (thanks for adding to my collection Aunt Marilyn!). You can reuse jars and bands but please don’t skimp on the lids; buy new ones! Put your clean jars, lids and bands into the very large pot you will use for a water bath and let them boil for at least ten minutes to sterilize. Set these aside on a clean towel while you are preparing the salsa.

I don’t do all the coring/peeling/seeding business. I have a Norpro Sauce Master doohickey where I simply wash and quarter the tomatoes and then let the grinder do the rest. .

The other veggies make it slightly chunky but if you want even chunkier salsa, save some of your tomatoes aside, do the core/seed/peel business and chop to the size you want. Also, I dice up all the other vegetables but you could use a food processor. Oh and for crying out loud, wear gloves when handling the jalapeños and if you choose not to, then don’t whine to me when your hands burn until 4 am *cough, cough, I don’t know how I know that, cough*. Even if you want mild salsa, I would still put in at least one jalapeño but take the seeds and veins out and rinse before you dice.

8 cups tomatoes, (after running through Sauce maker); about 5.5 lbs (I grow roma tomatoes for this)

One large red onion, diced

2 bell peppers (orange and yellow for color and sweetness), diced

4 jalapeño peppers, diced (this makes it a medium salsa)

5 cloves garlic, minced

2 tbs. minced cilantro

2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup vinegar, 5% acidity (I don’t think it really matters what kind – I have used white, apple and white wine without any problem)

1 tbs. lime juice

**combine all ingredients in large saucepan. Bring mixture to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer 1 hour or longer to reduce the water so that salsa is thicker.

When the sauce is nearly done, start your water bath pot so that it is boiling when you get the jars filled.

Carefully ladle hot salsa into sterilized jars, leaving 1/4 inch head space. Wipe jar rims clean. Place lids on jars (tight but not Arnold Swartzenegger tight).

Process in boiling water 15 minutes making sure the water is up over the jars by at least 1 inch. Set jars upright on protected surface overnight to cool. Check seals within an hour or so to be sure they sealed properly (shouldn’t be able to dent the center of lid with your finger). I never ever have a problem with this but if you do just put the jar in the refrigerator for immediate use. You can redo the water bath part but you must dump all the jars back into the sauce pot, bring to boil and then do the water bath part again.

Makes about 5 pints; depending on how much you reduced the sauce.

I usually double the batch but you could also cut it in half and even skip the canning step, putting it directly into the fridge. It really needs to sit for a few weeks for best flavor though so canning is the best way to go. I don’t need to say this in *my* house but eat the opened, refrigerated salsa within a week or two.