I’m really excited about this one today, because it’s freshly made, and it’s a result of the produce in my garden.
The other day I went out to pick some mini bell peppers for the kids to snack on, when I decided that a few of my pepper plants were not as they should be. The peppers were multi-colored like they were supposed to be, but they were pointy- and very much looked like a hot pepper. So I plucked a ruby red one of the plant and took a big old honkin’ bite- only to have my suspicion confirmed that these were indeed hot peppers. Very hot peppers. As in, I couldn’t get something else in my mouth fast enough peppers.
Anyway, these plants threw a monkey wrench into our mini pepper snack, but it did open up the window of opportunity to perhaps have enough hot peppers for a small batch of salsa. So today I went out and picked every single hot pepper in my garden- which wasn’t many, but as it turned out, was just enough for a batch of fiery Jalapeno Salsa. (Do I really need to mention what book this salsa is from? Yup, the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, of course!) Only I would be using an assortment of hot peppers with nary a jalapeno in sight.
See? Lovely aren’t they! Thankfully I also had enough tomatoes ripe and ready from the garden, and in literally 20 minutes, I had hot salsa going into jars to be processed.
This salsa is hot. It’s a bit of fire rolling across the tongue, but the flavor that accompanies is so wonderful, that you can’t help but eat it- despite the sweat rolling down your face. Last year we found that this salsa was amazing with eggs- scrambled eggs, omelets, quiche, you name it, it went beautifully. This year’s salsa is a bit different given the variety of peppers, but the first taste was spectacularly delicious- maybe even more so because it all came from plants that I grew from seed.
By the way, I did make this salsa in a half-batch and it worked perfectly. I canned it in tiny 4-ounce jars, as I wanted to be able to share a little. The half batch made 28 ounces of fiery hot salsa.
Jalapeno Salsa
makes about six 8-ounce jars or 3 pint jars
3 cups cored peeled tomatoes 3 cups chopped seeded jalapeno peppers 1 cup chopped onions 1 cup cider vinegar 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped 2 TBS finely chopped cilantro 2 tsp dried oregano (PS: use Mexican Oregano if you have it) 1 1/2 tsp salt 1/2 tsp ground cuminPrepare canner, jars and lids
In a large stainless steel saucepan, combine all the ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Reduce heat and boil gently, stirring frequently, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Ladle hot salsa into jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles and adjust headspace, if necessary, by adding more hot salsa. Wipe rim. Center lid on jar. Screw band down until resistance is met, then increase to fingertip tight.
Place jars in canner, ensuring they are completely covered with water. Bring to a boil and process both 8-ounce and pint jars for 15 minutes. Remove canner lid. Wait 5 minutes, then remove jars, cool and store.