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Making a Very Small Quantity of Homemade
Salsa from Fresh Tomatoes!
Making your own salsa is
something families remember years later. No store bought salsa, even if it
is shipped from Texas,
compares with the taste of that made from your own tomatoes from your garden or
fresh-picked from a local farm! In the middle of the winter, you can have
tortilla chips and your salsa and taste the summer flavor of fresh tomatoes. But
let's say you only want to make 1 jar. Strange, but it happens!
Here's how to do it, in easy steps and
completely illustrated. This method is so easy, ANYONE can do this! It's a great thing
to do with your kids!
Click here for a PDF
print version!
Ingredients and Equipment
- Tomatoes - about 2 lbs (About 6 medium sized tomatoes)
- Salsa mix or your own seasonings. The
Ball salsa mix sells for about $2.00 to $4.00 per packet. A packet will
make about a 7 pint jars, so you will need to divide the seasoning
packet contents into 7 equal amounts, and only use 1/7th. Or see below for seasonings.
- 1 Water bath Canner (a huge pot to sterilize the jars
after
filling (about $30 to $35 - $30 at mall kitchen stores and local "big box" stores. Note: we
sell canners, supplies and kits through our affiliates:
click here or see the bottom of this
page) Tomatoes are on
the border between the high-acid fruits that can be preserved in a
boiling-water bath and the low-acid fruits, vegetables and meats
that need pressure canning
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- Pint canning jars (Ball or Kerr jars can
be found at Publix, Kroger, Safeway and local "big box" stores - about $8 per dozen jars including the lids and rings).
Be sure to get wide mouth jars to fit the pickles in! Pint size
works best!
- Lids - thin, flat, round metal lids with
a gum binder that seals them against the top of the jar. They
may only be used once.
- Rings - metal bands that secure the lids
to the jars. They may be reused many times.
- Jar grabber (to pick up the hot jars)
- Lid lifter (has a magnet to pick the lids out of the boiling
water where you sterilize them. ($2 at mall kitchen stores and local "big box" stores, but it's usually cheaper online from our affiliates)
- 1 large pot.
- Large spoons and ladles
- Jar funnel ($3-Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger and Safeway and local "big box" stores; sometimes even hardware stores)
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Process - How to Make salsa from Fresh Tomatoes
Step 1 - Selecting the
tomatoes
It's fun to go pick your own and you can obviously get better
quality tomatoes! At right is a picture
of tomatoes from my garden - they are so much better than anything from
the grocery store. And if you don't have enough, a pick-you-own farm is
the pace to go! At right are 4 common varieties that will work:
| Top left:
Beefsteak |
Top right:
Lemon Boy, yellow |
| Bottom left:
Roma, paste-type |
Bottom
right: Better Boy |
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The
picture at left shows the best variety of tomato to use: Roma; also called
paste tomatoes. they have fewer sides, thicker, meatier walls, and
less water.
Also, you don't want mushy,
bruised or rotten tomatoes! |
Step 2 - Removing the tomato skinsHere's a trick you may not know: put the
tomatoes, a few at a time in a large pot of boiling water for no more than
1 minute (30 - 45 seconds is usually enough)
then....
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Plunge them into a
waiting bowl of ice water.
This makes the skins slide
right off of the tomatoes! If you leave the skins in, they become
tough and chewy in the sauce, not very pleasant.
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Step 3 - Removing seeds and water
After you have peeled the skins off the
tomatoes, cut the tomatoes in half. Now we need to remove the seeds
and excess water.
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Step 4 - Squeeze of the seeds and water
Just like it sounds: wash your hands then
squeeze each tomato and use your finger or a spoon to scoop and shake out
most of the seeds. You don't need to get fanatical about it;
removing just most will do.
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Step 5 - Drain and dice the tomatoes
Toss the squeezed (Squozen? :) tomatoes into
a colander or drainer, while you work on others. This helps more of the
water to drain off. You may want to save the liquid: if you then
pass it through a sieve, screen or cheesecloth, you have fresh tomato
juice; great to drink cold or use in cooking!
Next chop them up - I like 1/2 inch size
cubes.
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Step 6 - Get the
jars and lids sterilizing
The dishwasher is fine for the jars; especially if it has a "sterilize" cycle.
I get that going while I'm preparing everything else, so it's done by the
time I'm ready to fill the jars.
Be sure to let it go through the rinse
cycle to get rid of any soap!
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Lids: Put the lids into a pan of
boiling water for at least several minutes.
Note: everything gets
sterilized in the water bath (step 7) anyway, so this just helps to ensure
there is no spoilage later!)
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Step 7. Mix or your own seasoning?
Either works equally well. The salsa mix for canning has the advantage of being tested
and easy. It's basically
corn starch, onion powder, salt and seasoning. It doesn't have any
preservative to improve the canning, so the advantage is only that it is
easier. The packets are usually enough for 7 pints, so you must
only use 1/7 for a batch of 1 pint. You can save the remaining for
later. However, I like my custom-made from fresh seasonings better, so here is the
recipe for that:
I use an electric chopper (food processor)
to dice the seasonings fairly fine, about 1/8 inch cubes.
| 1/3 cup chopped onions |
1/4 Teaspoons of oregano |
| 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic, |
2 Tablespoons diced assorted mild
peppers (red, yellow, orange, banana, whatever you have) |
| 2 Tablespoons diced, fresh
cilantro |
3 pinches black pepper |
| 2 Tablespoons diced celery |
1/2 of a diced jalapeño
pepper or 1 teaspoon crushed dried red pepper seeds |
| 1 pinch salt (optional -
I don't put any in!) |
3 oz or 1/2 can (half of a 6 oz) of tomato
paste - if you like a richer thicker flavor and texture |
| 4 Tablespoons 5% apple cider
vinegar (or 4 Tablespoons of lemon juice) |
Optional: 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin |
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Either works fine!
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Step 8 - Mix ingredients in the pot and bring the sauce to a
gentle simmer
<-- Start with the chopped tomatoes in the
pot... |
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Add the seasonings and bring to a gentle
simmer, just to get it hot - there's no need to cook it; only to get it
hot enough to ready it for water bath processing to kill any bacteria and
enzymes..
Taste it as it cooks. If you like the sauce hotter, add 1
Teaspoon of chili powder.
And if you like your salsa thicker, add a small can of tomato paste. |
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Step 9 - Fill the jars with sauces and put the lid and
rings on
Fill them to within ¼-inch of the top,
seat the lid and hand-tighten the ring around them.
Be sure the contact surfaces (top of the jar
and underside of the ring) are clean to get a good seal! |
Step 10 - Store in the fridge!
I'm assuming that if you are only making one pint, you'll be eating it
within the 4 to 6 weeks that it will keep in the fridge |
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Other Equipment:
From left to right:
- Jar lifting tongs
to pick up hot jars
- Lid lifter
- to remove lids from the
pot
of boiling water
(sterilizing )
- Lid
- disposable - you may only
use them once
- Ring
- holds the lids on the jar until after
the jars cool - then you don't need
them
- Canning jar funnel
- to fill the jars
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Summary - Cost of Making Homemade Salsa - makes
9 pints
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| Item |
Quantity |
Cost in 2004 |
Source |
Subtotal |
| Tomatoes |
20 -
25 lbs (to make about 16 cups of prepared tomato) |
free
from the garden, or $0.50 cents at a PYO |
Garden |
$0.00 |
| Canning jars (pint
size, wide mouth), includes lids and
rings |
9 jars |
$8.00/dozen |
Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger and Safeway and local "big box" stores; sometimes Big Lots and even hardware stores |
$6.00 |
| seasoning |
See
step 7 |
$2.00? |
Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger and Safeway and local "big box" stores |
$2.00 |
| Sala mix |
1
packet |
$4.00 per
package |
Grocery stores, like Publix, Kroger and Safeway and local "big box" stores; sometimes Big Lots and even hardware stores |
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| Total |
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$8.00 total
or about $0.95 per pint INCLUDING the jars - which you can
reuse! |
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* - This assumes you already have the pots, pans, ladles, and
reusable equipment. Note that you can reuse the jars! Many
products are sold in jars that will take the lids and rings for
canning. For example, Classico salsa is in quart sized
jars that work with Ball and Kerr lids and rings
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Home Canning Kits
This is the same type of standard canner that my grandmother
used to make everything from applesauce to jams and jellies to tomato and
spaghetti sauce. This complete kit includes everything you need and
lasts for years: the canner, jar rack, jar grabber tongs,
lid lifting wand, a plastic funnel,
labels, bubble freer, and the bible of canning, the Ball Blue Book. It's
much cheaper than buying the items separately. You'll never need anything else except jars & lids! To see more canners, of different styles, makes and prices, click here!For more information
and current pricing:
Click here for
a larger photo, more information, pricing, ordering, etc.
Average Customer Review:
Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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What did I do wrong if my jars
spoil?
Tomatoes are a low acid fruit - adding lemon juice
helps, processing at least 35 minutes in the water bath canner, or better still,
using a pressure canner almost eliminates spoilage. If you don't have a
pressure canner, you must boost the acid level of the sauce, by adding 2
tablespoons of lemon juice or 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid per quart of
sauce.
My question is about salsa. I was going to borrow a pressure cooker to
make salsa this year (for the first time). My grandma told me that I didn't
need the pressure cooker, I could just make salsa using the "inversion" method
like I did the blueberry jam. Can I do this?
Well, Grandma may be sweet, but a lot of her generation died of cancer from
smoking, heart attacks from eating too much saturated fat... And food poisoning!
:) Jam should get 5 minutes in the boiling water bath, too.
Tomatoes have enough acid to require only a water bath for processing; but by
the time you add the other ingredients which have no acidity, you've got a food
that can spoil easily. That's why most salsa recipes include a couple of cups of
vinegar or lemon juice (both very acidic).
Even so, a pressure canner affords greater safety that a boiling water bath, and
is more versatile. But if you follow my recipe and use vinegar or lemon juice as
stated in the recipe, the boiling water bath will work fine.
And let Grandma make the cookies rather than the preserves! :)
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