It's harvest season here, my peppers are ripening, the green beans are everywhere, and the tomatoes never end! Twice a week I've been making chili, pasta sauce, tomato soup etc. and freezing several quarts of it; and every day more tomatoes come in off the plants. My mother has even been dumping more tomatoes on me, as her stomach can only handle so much acid foods...
A friend gave my a large bunch of fresh local cilantro from her farm share, so salsa is the tomato solution of the week. But frozen salsa is not so useful! Fortunately my canning gear is handy for such things! The salsa is chopped tomatoes, diced cilantro, onions and poblanos from the garden, with a touch of salt and pepper. I like to keep my flavors simple!
Even tho we tend to eat tomatoes with savory food, and thus consider them vegetables, they are in fact fruit. They also happen to be high acid fruits, and therefore I can use simple water bath canning methods instead of pressure cooking for precise amounts of time (made more complicated by the altitude here.) I wanted to make lots of little jars, just enough for one sitting of chips and salsa, but I ran out of the small ones. We can call the tall jars "party size" right?
Ready to be labeled and put away... I guess I need to run to the store for some chips right? Behind the salsa is my spicy bread and butter pickles (made with apple cider vinegar and honey). The plums will be ripening soon, and I expect to make plum jam again! What are you putting up for the cold winter months ahead?
It's harvest season here, my peppers are ripening, the green beans are everywhere, and the tomatoes never end! Twice a week I've been making chili, pasta sauce, tomato soup etc. and freezing several quarts of it; and every day more tomatoes come in off the plants. My mother has even been dumping more tomatoes on me, as her stomach can only handle so much acid foods...
A friend gave my a large bunch of fresh local cilantro from her farm share, so salsa is the tomato solution of the week. But frozen salsa is not so useful! Fortunately my canning gear is handy for such things! The salsa is chopped tomatoes, diced cilantro, onions and poblanos from the garden, with a touch of salt and pepper. I like to keep my flavors simple!
Even tho we tend to eat tomatoes with savory food, and thus consider them vegetables, they are in fact fruit. They also happen to be high acid fruits, and therefore I can use simple water bath canning methods instead of pressure cooking for precise amounts of time (made more complicated by the altitude here.) I wanted to make lots of little jars, just enough for one sitting of chips and salsa, but I ran out of the small ones. We can call the tall jars "party size" right?
Ready to be labeled and put away... I guess I need to run to the store for some chips right? Behind the salsa is my spicy bread and butter pickles (made with apple cider vinegar and honey). The plums will be ripening soon, and I expect to make plum jam again! What are you putting up for the cold winter months ahead?
1 comment:
My harvest has been very dismal, so I will simply canning some blackberry jam and apple butter. I am jealous of your salsa! :)
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