I'm pretty new to making salsa, but I'm really enjoying it so far. This is my 4th batch. The others have come out great! I was going to smoke the onion too, but I like it to stay a little firmer. Here is the base recipe that I kinda follow, but I do add some tweaks to it from batch to batch to see how results vary:

Ingredients:

4 cups tomatoes (chopped) – I use Roma

2 cups Jalapeno peppers (chopped) – if smoking the peppers, I cut 3 slits evenly spaced, length ways on each pepper to allow more smoke in and smoke them for 2-3 hours on 180 (225 works too, but they are usually done around 2 hrs)

1 cup bell pepper

5 cloves of fresh garlic (not jarlic!!!)

1/4 cup fresh cilantro (minced)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp of bottled lime juice (supposedly better than fresh)

pinch of sugar (I use maybe a teaspoon or so, but the sugar is optional)

Instructions:

  1. Wash tomatoes thoroughly and cut an "X" into the bottom of the tomato (opposite side of stem, this helps when peeling). Then, bring a pot of water to boil and blanch the tomatoes for about 30 seconds
  2. After 30 seconds, quickly move them to a ready waiting ice bath and let them sit there for about 3-5 minutes
  3. Remove the cores (spot where stem was attached) and peel the tomatoes (skin should come off fairly easy because of the blanching)
  4. Cut tomatoes into larger pieces with a vegetable chopper or finely dice them (matter of preference)
  5. Remove stem of jalapeno and bell pepper (and seeds if you would like), I used SMOKED jalapenos, bell, pepper, and habanero, and finely chop them. Habanero is optional but I usually use 12-15 in a batch to make it pretty hot. If you don't want it plenty hot, I would suggest using maybe 5 or so.
  6. Peel and finely chop your onion and garlic (I usually double the listed amount because I love garlic). Once everything is prepped, combine all the ingredients in a large saucepan and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat.
  7. Once boiling, lower the heat and let it simmer for 7-10 min.
  8. Meanwhile, prepare your water bath canner by filling it with enough water to cover the PINT size mason jars (this recipe will typically fill at least 3 jars), and bring it to a rolling boil.
  9. Place the jars into the water to heat them up for 2 minutes
  10. After the jars are hot, carefully remove them and ladle the hot salsa into the jars, leaving about 1/2" of headspace.
  11. Use a knife to remove any air bubbles at the top of salsa.
  12. Return the full jars to the pot of boiling water and boil for 15 minutes.
  13. Remove from water after 15 minutes and allow to rest overnight. I find it's definitely best to let them sit for about 2 weeks before cracking one open.

by Successful-Fly2489

5 Comments

  1. MagazineDelicious151

    Looking good, end game in sight

  2. Euphoric_Whereas_329

    I found my people on Reddit finally

  3. moteltan96

    Usually, I don’t see the return of investment for removing skins from tomatoes unless I’m using a molcajete. But I guess if you’re just chopping them with a knife and invoking zero use of a blender, that makes sense.

    Have you compared the flavor you get from smoking those vegetables versus charring them under a broiler, which is way more common?