I added some bottled lemon juice to mine, as I thought it too sweet before I canned it. Next time I am going to not add the sugar, then taste, and adjust if necessary.

The ingredients list for Annie's salsa is very close to my fresh salsa. I use different peppers, some lime juice and no sauce or paste. I tried using the sauce and paste like Annie does in a batch last night. What I found was that the texture and consistency turned out similar to Pace Picante sauce. The flavor was great(much better than Pace) but I didn't care for the texture. For me I prefer the texture of fresh salsa that has not been cooked down. Fresh salsa tends to be watery if you don't drain the tomatoes however.

Hi there --

My guess is that if you thought it tasted too much like spaghetti sauce that maybe you should give it a try without the tomato paste? I thought I remembered that you can leave that out and still can it... That would probably allow more of the other salsa flavors to come through...

Emily

Yes, you can certainly leave out the tomato sauce and/or tomato paste. I only added those for the texture that I wanted and my family likes. I remember Linda Lou thought it was too sweet but I tried leaving out the sugar and Ashley complained, she likes the sweeter flavor.

As long as you don't add more tomatoes or more low acid vegetables and as long as the acidity level remains the same, you can add more or less as you like. More onions, less peppers, you can leave out the cilantro, you can use cider vinegar, red wine vinegar, white vinegar, lemon juice lime juice. We like the flavor from the cider vinegar best. Leave the sugar out or put it in, your choice and the salt can easily be reduced. Personally, I think it could use more black pepper, but my girls disagree. As for heat, I usually make a "sissy salsa" and a "serious salsa" to allow for the differences in taste as it pertains to heat level. I also like to add several different peppers instead of just jalapenos, my last batch had serranos, jalapenos and ONE habanero. LOL I'm kind of a wimp about those habs.

The trick is to make it your own without compromising the safety of the recipe. Because I made the recipe up it is what suits my family. You will have to make what suits yours.

Annie

I make a salsa similar to Annie's, same proportions of low-acid to acid, but following up on what Annie said, I do use cracked black pepper. For salsa I actually fresh-grind it with a mortar and pestle. No sugar and no tomato sauce but about double the tomato paste, which thickens the texture but doesn't make it "sauce-y." What I like about tomato paste is that even if you're using a commercial product it is nothing but tomatoes cooked down. Tomato paste doesn't dilute the flavor but boosts it; it's also a more acid tomato product so adding more doesn't compromise safety.

But Annie's absolutely right. As long as you stay with the same safe proportions of low-acid to acid, you can adjust sweetness, heat level and texture to suit your preferences. That's the beauty of home preserving.

Also, for those new to preserving, a few reminders about tomatoes - use vine-ripened tomatoes, not tomatoes picked underripe and ripened indoors. Don't use tomatoes off dead or blighted vines or dead-ripe tomatoes. All these things result in less acid fruit. At the end of the season you want to salvage the tomatoes as best you can, but these are not ones to use in canning.

Scarred tomatoes can be used. Just trim well.

Carol

i'm no chemist but I would think changing the amount of sugar or salt would change the acidity level. after all it is a water based recipie, after adding salt, a salt-water based recipie. wouldn't the acidiy level change based on the saltiness or sweetness the water? or are we talking too small amounts to affect real acidity change?

btw, the variety of tomatos has a large influence on flavor. I've made a _very_ sweet salsa with red brandywine and very good salsa with roma and san marzano.

ristau, I've been told by the Michigan State University Extension service that the acidity is provided by the vinegar/acid ingredient. Such a small amount of salt or sugar in such a large batch of vegetables does not perform an appreciable function other than flavoring. In addition, this is not a salt/water based recipe, it has the additional vinegar/acid ingredient.

Some pickles, sauerkraut, etc., are fermented using no agent other than salt, but it requires much larger proportions of salt and time at room temperature to trigger the fermentation process.

I was also informed that today's "low acid" tomatoes aren't necessarily actually lower in acid, they are higher in sugar so you don't notice the acid flavor. That tablespoon of sugar in tomato sauce to "cut the acid"? Nope, it doesn't, it just tastes sweeter and less acidic.

Annie

The type of onions can make a difference on the sweetness too. I used Walla Wallas in my first batch this year and it was quite a bit sweeter than last years using regular white or yellow onions. Good thing DD#1 likes it sweeter!
DD#3 asked me to make more like last year.
Deanna

Carol,

I'm curious why you mention not to use tomatoes that have been ripened inside. I've been told by our extension service that once tomatoes have started to "break" color, they can be picked and ripened inside and used for canning but ones picked completely green and then ripened indoors should not be used for canning.

If I let my tomatoes ripen fully on the vine, the critters would get them before I did! I pick them a day or two before ripe and let them finish on the counter.

Leigh

I wish I didn't have to ask this but:

What is considered a low acid vegetable? I can't imagine me wanting to use LESS peppers...can I add MORE?? For the vinegar substitutions you say you can use lemon juice or lime juice. Just use the amount of either of those juices that you would use for vinegar?

Thanks again. I just love salsa and hate to have to go to the market in February to get any!!
d

All vegetables are low acid foods. You cannot add any extra amount, but you can substiute one for another.
If your recipe says 2 cups onion and 1 of peppers, your total amount is 3 cups. You can use all peppers and no onion, or whatever, as long as the total amount of cups is 3, in that example.
Yes, use the same amount of BOTTLED lemon or lime juice, in place of the vinegar. Never use vinegar in place of lemon or lime juice if that is what is called for, though. The vinegar is not as acidic. Use bottled juice because it has to meet a standard in order to be sold. Fresh lemons and limes vary in acidity and there is no way to tell what the ph level would be.

The green tomato thing makes no sense to me, I was never taught that. Green tomatoes are more acidic than ripe ones...
If they start turning, they should not be used in the green tomato salsa recipe, they must be green. All my info says this as below, It says preferably vine ripened, but not necessary :

From North Dakota university:
Quality: Select only disease-free, preferably vine ripened, firm fruit for canning. Caution: Do not can tomatoes from dead or frost-killed vines because the acidity of the fruit may be altered. Green tomatoes are more acidic than ripened fruit and can be canned safely with any of the following recommendations.

Sorry, I should have been more explicit. It took me a while to look up the original source so I could quote and cite it:

"Tomatoes growing on dead vines or those ripening indoors may not develop the proper acidity for safe home canning. Instead, harvest green tomatoes from late season or frost-damaged vines, and use these green tomatoes in a relish or salsa."

The quote is from "Tomatoes Tart & Tasty", Bulletin B2605 (copyright 2004) from University of Wisconsin-Extension Cooperative Extension.

It appears, based on this document, that it's fine to use end-of-season tomatoes green but they shouldn't be ripened indoors and then used "ripe" for such things as salsas.

It may be that Extension services are in disagreement or I've misunderstood. Any correction or clarification is appreciated. I'd love to ripen indoors in cold summers. Last year our tomato yield was awful; not a good growing season at all.

Carol

I was taught that using the green tomatoes for relish and salsa is a good way to use them up, it isn't a safety issue unless they were from dead or frostbitten vines. Then, they may not have gotten acidic enough. At least that is how I was trained in my food safety classes.

Right. It appears we're in total agreement on that, and so is the source. Using the tomatoes green is fine. It's ripening and then using as ripe, not green, product that seems to be the issue. So according to Wisconsin Extension, no picking unripe, ripening and then canning as tomatoes in juice, for instance.

It is an interesting distinction; this is the only source I've run across so far that addresses this point.

Carol

I think that is different than what Leigh is doing though, which is just finishing them indoors.

Yes, Melly, you've got it: I pick ripening tomatoes and finish them indoors and use them for eating and canning. I don't use the totally green ones that way.

Ones from dead/dying vines go to the chickens--they usually taste a little off to me.

End-of-season green ones are fried up, made into pickles/relish, or sliced and frozen for winter-time fried green tomatoes.

Leigh

One more question.......you're all great for being so helpful!....

The recipe calls for Pressure Canning. What about hot water bath? For how long?

Plan on making this today....looking forward to it!!

Pressure canning a salsa is fine, as is a BWB. I would add a bit more acid like either lime juice, citric, or vinegar so that it can be safely canned in a BWB. I did it here and the salsa came out great.

DDW, that recipe can be safely waterbathed by increasing the vinegar to 1 cup, instead of the 1/3 cup called for in the pressure canning recipe.

As for time, I waterbath mine for 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts.

Annie

Funny someone else had the same thing happen. My last batch from last year I called "cooking" salsa because I didn't have enough tomatoes and used a couple of cans of canned diced tomatoes to cover the shortage. And I didn't drain the peppers and onions. I also normally used lemon/lime juice but used the cider vinegar. I don't know if that made a difference but I used my cooking salsa on chicken & beef all winter.

Well Annie...I did it, with 12oz jars cause that's what fit in my largest pot, and it seemed a good size. I had lots of Ping!s as soon as they came out of the water bath. Yeah!

This time I used your recipe as is, but for us, I think next batch will have only a smidgen of sugar tho. We'll have to up the heat too for Dick, and a bit for me too. Thanks so much for creating this one.

Maureen, congratulations. Those "pings" are music to the ears, aren't they?

For some reason I just knew you were going to have to up the heat, though. (grin) Use some of those habaneros...

Annie

Annie, I served it tonight to my parents, DH and kids. Everyone loved it and I can see that I'd better get comfortable making it! I'm a nervous Nellie as I've never canned before but I bought a BWB canning pot, tongs, funnel and jars this past week.
I'm a bit confused about the types of tomatoes, but the local farm stand should help me a bit. Did we use tomato paste at Sherry's? I was off at the Amish market buying other goodies when we finished it off.

Yes, Ellen, we did use the tomato paste at Sherry's, we followed the recipe exactly and we did use the pressure canner to process.

We didn't need to, we could have just added extra vinegar, but we wanted to give the "pressure canner lesson" to those who were afraid of the pressure canner.

Annie