Concerning this same book, Put Em Up!, I made her Charred Chili Salsa last year. It was everyone's favorite, but I have three questions. Having followed the recipe exactly (including weighing ingredients) I found it made much more salsa than stated. Why does this happen? It makes me crazy. Second, when I made additional batches I eliminated the 1/2 cup cilantro and replaced it with 1 tablespoon ground cumin. I also added three cloves garlic (put through a press.) Was I playing with fire or does the recipe remain safe for water-bath? Finally, can I process this in pints? Here is the recipe and it really is a stunner. I have shortened some instuctions (i.e. charring chilies) for the sake of brevity. 2 pounds chili peppers 5 pounds tomatoes, peeled, cored and diced 1 pound onions, diced 1 1/2 cups vinegar 2 tablespoons salt 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro. Char chilies, skin and cut into 1/2 inch dice Combine all ingredients except the cilantro and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer 15 minutes to thicken. Add cilantro and remove from heat. Water-bath in 1/2 pint jars for 20 minutes.

How did the texture/consistency end up? Is it runny/soupy or very thick? Canned salsa is supposed to be soupy, not thick for proper heat penetration. My main concern with the recipe is that is a very small amount of liquid brine which compared to all the solid ingredients so the density may be an issue. 2 cups of liquid to approx. 8 cups of solids. It has a safe level of vinegar to water, just not much of it. But the crucial point is the ripeness of the mangoes. The USDA guidelines make a point of saying: If a recipe calls for green or unripe mango, do not use ripe mango. This will result in changing the final acidity of the mixture and potentially unsafe canned salsa. Compare this recipe with the approved Mango Salsa recipe (scroll down to pg. 12-13 in the USDA link below. As with any recipe from an unapproved source, it is your choice. Dave Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Sensational Salsas

Ken - In your other post you mentioned that you only use a few tablespoons of vinegar in your refrigerator pickles after brining for 24 hours and they last a year or more. What determines what makes those safe and this one, with quite a lot more vinegar, not safe? Again, these are refrigerator pickles. I understand that this ratio would not be safe in a canned product. Does anybody have a similar refrigerator pickle recipe that is considered safe? Annie, you mentioned that you most always do refrigerator pickles. Do you have one that I could try? Thanks, Lu

Without looking up the recipe I'll assume you have typed it correctly and measured correctly. If so then Ellie Topp's recipes are all tested and should be made according to the directions as they are written. But it is a sauce, not a paste, and a relatively thin sauce at that. Still the only liquid is the red wine and the wine vinegar so if it is still too soupy after 8 hours of cooking and the lid is off and the heat set properly then it is because of the extra juicy tomatoes you used and that is something the recipe can't control for. It just means more cooking down. No you should NOT add more tomatoes although I suppose you could add a can of commercial tomato paste to thicken it if you wish since it will contain citric acid and won't negatively affect the pH. For future reference you can drain the large tomatoes first to reduce the liquid, but the recipe is fine and safe as written. I don't recall the processing directions off hand. The Bernardin recipe has since added lemon juice to the recipe when it was published in the Ball Complete Book (1 1/2 tsp per 1/2 pint jar) but if they were processed for the full 45 mins. I would still consider them safe since the recipe stood as is without the lemon juice for decades. JMO Or you can open add it and reprocess. Or you can freeze them. It's your choice. Dave