Greetings Thrifties! It's been a while. I haven't been in the garden as often, a new man in my life, and some technological issues are amongst some of the reason why I haven't blogged lately. I'm trying to get back into the swing of things!
Well, for one, I've done my second canning project this past Labor Day weekend. I have so many ripe tomatoes from the garden--from Black Krim and Brandywine to Mortagage Lifter and Cherokee Purple. They were sitting in the fridge (although I know that there is a rule for NOT putting them in the fridge. I wanted to prevent an infestation of fruit flies), and I wasn't going to eat them right away. Unfortunately, some of them rotted, so I have to throw them away. To prevent further waste, I decided to take the good ones and make salsa out of them. As I mentioned above, this is my second canning project (my first was some Cranberry Apple Preserves--with which I gave away for Christmas gifts), so here's how I did:
Here is some of my harvest. There are two Branywines and a Mortgage Lifter--along with this huge zucchini. I may just shred the zucchini and freeze it for zucchini bread. If I do that, I'll provide an entry on it.
More tomatoes. There are two Black Krims, two Cherokee Purples, and the rest are Rutgers. All of these tomatoes are going into my salsa. In short...this will NOT be your average salsa.
Oh, and in addition to the tomatoes are some jalapeno and cayenne peppers. The jalapenos will be used in the salsa. The cayennes will be dried and used for either red pepper flakes or for ground cayenne pepper.
The recipe (which I got from the book for which I learned to can) called for 6 cups of diced tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes above are included in this pic. As I also mentioned above, some of them rotted and were therefore disposed. Being that this is the case and before proceeding, I had to run some errands. One of them included going to the garden to see if there were other ripe tomatoes. In addition to what's in the first two pics above, I included some San Marzano and red grape tomatoes--which I did pick up from the garden. This is going to be DELICIOUS!!!!
In addition to 6 cups of tomatoes, what's also needed is 3 cups of diced red onions, 15 cloves of chopped garlic and 6 seeded jalapeno peppers. I deviated slightly in terms of the jalepenos--as I wanted a spicier salsa. So, to give me the extra heat without entirely burning my mouth off, I seeded 3 peppers and left the seeds in the other three. Now, in terms of the garden factor, sadly I had to buy the onions and garlic, but the jalepenos DEFINITELY came from my garden.
(NOTE: The heat in jalapenos come from the seeds. To remove the seeds, cut the top off, and then cut a slit down the length of the pepper. Open the pepper, and take a small knife or implement to remove the seeds. A rule of thumb is to wear gloves when working with hot peppers because your fingers may have residual capsaicin on them (i.e. the heat factor). If capsaicin gets to a mucus membrane (i.e. nose, eyes), then such an1. area can start to burn....OUCH. Because I didn't have gloves, that is the reason I used a small knife and scraped out the seeds).
Next, 1 1/4 cups of chopped cilantro. I didn't grow cilantro this year, so I bought this. It was only a $1.49 a packet, but I know the thrifty factor would DEFINITELY be in growing it. I hear that it bolts (i.e. goes to seed) very quickly, but maybe next year.
Interestingly, cilantro had to grow on me. At first, I thought it was disgusting--tasting like soap. THEN, when I started getting steak or chicken burritos at Chipotle and seeing that the rice is Cilantro-Lime rice, I actually started to like it. Who knew???? I even started to like the smell I was chopping it. With the aroma, I have other things in mind with which to use cilantro.
Here are all of the ingredients in a large stock pot. The recipe also called for a dried hot chile, red wine vinegar, and red pepper flakes.
The dried chile was to be re-hydrated, pureed, and added to the mix. Unfortunately, I didn't have one, so that ingredient was omitted.
I was out of red wine vinegar, but I have white wine vinegar. Oh well. So what did I do? I chucked it in there! Who knows, it'll probably still taste good!
Because I didn't have the first two ingredients (I forgot them while out running my errands), I added extra red pepper flakes (the recipe called for one tablespoon. I think I put in two)
The ingredients were to simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until it thickens. I don't think it thickened too much, so I let it simmer a little longer.
Once done, I put in the canning jars. The yield was for 6 pints, but I only had half-pint jars handy. Again...another deviation! The empty jars were in this canner--which had hot water in it and was on low to keep hot. The purpose in this was to keep the jars sterilized. In hindsight, I should've have the other steps handy (i.e. sterilzation of jars and lids), but I will provide that in another canning entry. I promise.
Any-who, the after filling the jars, I added more hot water to the canner--so that the jars were covered about an inch or two from the top. It was brought to a boil and then allow to simmer (or process--meaning the lids had to adhere to the jar in order to preserve the contents inside) for about 15 minutes.
Fifteen minutes...done.
NOW, the jars needed to be removed from the canner, put onto a towel and kept approximately two inches apart. The jars are to cool for about 12-24 hours. That way, the jars didn't burst and the lids were given more time to seal better.
And here is the finished product. It definitely has a kick to it. You can also taste the "freshness"--in that it is WAAAAAY different than what you would get from the store. I've shared it with others, and it has gotten rave reviews! I have some more tomatoes and peppers the garden that have yet to be picked. Perhaps another batch is in order...lol
Any-who, please consider making and canning your own salsa as a healthier alternative than what's in the store--and as a cost effective one. Being that this blog is titled, "The Thrifty Gemini", let's have a look at the thrifty factor....
The cost of the canning jars were about $12. There were 12 jars in a pack--so that $1 per jar. Considering this, I only used 10 jars. The cilantro was $1.49 a pack, the onions (I bought 2) were about $3, and the garlic was $.50 a head (one head was sufficient). The white wine vinegar and the red pepper flakes were items that I already had in the cost. Considering that, for this project, I paid nothing for the tomatoes, jalapenos, white wine vinegar and red pepper flakes, and the amounts paid for the items noted above, the total cost per jar came out to about $1.49. In an "un-scientific" comparison, the prices averaged between $2.50 and 3.50 for some of the most popular store bought salsas. Need I say more on the thrifty factor.
I hope that you try this recipe. If you have tomatoes in your garden, I encourage you to try this recipe. If you don't have a garden, but have a farmer's market or farm stand (yes, tomatoes are still in season. We are, however, approaching the end of the season), I encourage you to get those tomatoes. I wouldn't recommend buying them at the grocery store because of both the carbon footprint (the average of how much it costs to ship food to any given place) and the fact that those store bought tomatoes have no flavor (as they are picked while still green and artificially ripened with ethylene gas) and chances are, they were grown with a myriad of pesticides and other chemicals. I highly champion eating organic and/or local as much as possible--as well as eating in season. What's more local than your garden or local farmstand? And in terms of the seasonality, this is the perfect way to use produce in the peak of their season, and preserve it--so you can have a taste of that seasonality in colder months. If you make this, please let me know in the comments as to how it turned out for you. That being said, thanks for stopping by and...Think Thrifty!
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