Homeade Salsa

Today was  my dadvand I's annual salsa canning marathon.  Normally we do 2-3 batches and yield 12-18 quarts of salsa.  Today, however, we did 4 batches and ended up with 31 quarts!!  No batch is exactly the same and I will go through our process so you can get an idea of the "how-tos".  
Over the years we have experimented with this recipe from using fresh tomatoes to freezing them, but we have finally settled on using canned tomatoes and fresh garden peppers.  Fresh tomatoes slow down the cooking process because you have to spend an hour or more cooking them down and there is a likelihood of burning due to heat and sugars in tomatoes.  We have decided speed is necessary to get the quantity we want.

First, start with your ingredients.  Each batch will require,
*2 large cans (gallon) of crushed tomatoes (for a chunkier consistency consider using diced tomatoes, but stay away from using whole tomatoes b/c you will lose a lot of quantity in juice and it will be more work breaking them down).
*fresh hot peppers - quantity dependent on spiciness you desire (jalepeno, garden salsa, hot banana, habenero)
*2-3 fresh onions
*spices:  granulated garlic (NOT garlic salt), cayenne pepper, chili power -- again this is to taste
*salt and pepper
*Variations:  use fresh garlic, cilantro, cumin, or to keep pepper flavor without the heat de-seed and de-vein the peppers

That's as specific as I can get because truthfully each batch is an experiment in developing flavors and playing with ingredients until we get the desired flavor.  There is a lot of taste testing along the way :-)

So we start by emptying the tomatoes into the stock pot and bring it to a simmer.  As we wait for that, we get our pepper ready by cutting the tops off.  Many times, we use frozen peppers because pepper won't stay fresh long.  If they are frozen, we let them sit in the sink with warm water.  Once the peppers are ready, we put them in the food processor and chop them up.  Do be careful that you don't chop them too fine that they cook down to mush.  You want to had a little thicker consistency to the tomatoes.  I would say we add 4-6 cups of peppers per batch.  Again, depending on the heat and consistency you want the amount will vary.

After you add the peppers, it is time to add the spices.  We start slow and work our way up to a flavor we're happy with.  I would say we use anywhere from 1/8-1/4 of a cup of each of the spices.  The salt and pepper are to taste.  If you want to add fresh garlic this the time to do it.  You will want to let it cook a little to infuse the flavor.  If you want to add cilantro wait until the very last minute or it will cook down to nothing and look kind of nasty in the final product.  After the peppers and spices have cooked, it is time to add the onions.  You don't want to add these until you are about to can because they will cook down to much.  If you add them at the end, they will add not only flavor but crunch and texture.

After the onions have cooked for just a bit (less then 5 minutes), it is time to can.  Be sure to have the jars and lids in the roasting pan (yes I figured out the name to it) and boiling by this point.  Again, this recipe has enough acid in it that additional processing is unnecessary.  We've been canning exactly this way for over 20 years and we've never had a problem.    We're really careful about contamination, and my dad is the "canner".  He is very diligent about having less than 1/4" of head room and wiping the lip of the jar clean.  As you can see from the picture, it is a messy process--but the final product is worth it!

Today's marathon yielded a monster 31 quarts!!! Batch 1 (7 quarts) and 2 (8 quarts) are pretty similar in flavor.  I would call them medium-hot.  Batch 3 (7 quarts) I would consider super spicy due to the habenero peppers we added.  Batch 4 (9 quarts) will give Batch 3 a run for its money in spiciness because we had so many left over peppers that we couldn't re-freeze so we just added them.  I don't think it will ultimately be as spicy, but it is going to be hot.    We also did that batch with 1 can of crushed and 1 can of diced tomatoes.  I think it definitely be chunkier consistency and thicker also due to the peppers.  The salsa making took about 4 hours from start to finish (including clean up) and this a short break to get more tomatoes and jars and have lunch.   My dad and I split up the the final product and it should last us until this time next summer :-).