Farmer's Market Salsa-Canned

I took my mom to the farmer's market and came home with quite a haul. The above was just some of what we bought, but the above made some awesome salsa!!!

So, I've never canned before but I wanted to share what I did for other canning novices. The ingredients are an approximation and make a medium heat salsa (mom said my first tasting was too hot so I had to tone it down. Boo!)

INGREDIENTS

2/3 of a half bushel of roma tomatoes (I couldn't fit it all in my pot!)
1 yellow onion
2 red onions
6 jalapenos
6 heaping spoonfuls of diced garlic
2 large handfuls of oregeno
6 ounces lime juice

1. First I cut off the stem end of the tomato, roughly chopped and pureed in a food processor. Since I was using roma tomatoes I did not seed them... nor did I skin them. I took the easy route.

2. Quarter the onions and run through a food processor until diced.

3. I used 6 jalapenos, WITH SEEDS. This made a very spicy salsa. If you don't like the burn, seed them first but use gloves (like latex or vinyl food gloves).  My aunt gave me this tip and man was I glad. I read online that the oils from the jalapeno can burn your skin for days. Ouch!

4. Put all the ingredients in a large pot and heat to a med/lo simmer.

Here comes the canning part.

5. I sanitized my jars in the dishwasher and the lids in boiling water. Put on a large pot of boiling water.

6. Once sanitized, quickly fill the jars with hot salsa. Do not touch the rim and leave an inch or so of space at the top. Wipe any drippy salsa off the rim. Put on the lid, twist until just tightened and put immediately in a pot of boiling water that covers the jars completely.

7. Put the lid on and boil the jars about 20 minutes.

8. Take out when time is up and let cool on the counter. You'll hear a pop sound when the lids "suction" down. It's a good thing! If a jar doesn't "pop" open and eat lol

Out of this batch I got 12-1/2 pint jars (my sharing jars to give away! Also the perfect size for just two people to share) and 5 large quart jars (very big and holds almost 4 cups of salsa).

Of course I opened one and ate it that very night!!

This salsa was nice and thick, spicy and chunky. LOVE it. And it wasn't nearly as hard as I thought. I did buy the Ball Utensil Kit and used the funnel to fill the jars, the "can grabber" to take the bottle out of the boiling water and the nifty magnet on a stick to get the lids out of the boiling water too!

There are tons of salsa recipes out there. This is similar to what I make fresh and serve from my mom's garden during the summer. I can't wait to open a jar in the middle of the winter and have the summer freshness wash over me!!

Enjoy!! And happy canning!