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Salsa recipe for canning similar to Green Mountain Gringo?

10 years ago

Hi everyone,

I canned my first batch of salsa using the popular Annie's recipe earlier this summer. I agree with comments that it is quite similar to Pace. I'm just curious if anyone's found a recipe that would be closer to a Green Mountain Gringo flavor? That's my favorite jarred salsa.

Thanks!

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Comments (9)

digdirt2
10 years ago
Hadn't ever heard of it. Website reads like it is a regional/local product. I see from the website that it has several different flavors of salsa and the ingredients in their basic 3 seem to only differ in the amounts of hot peppers used.

For example, their medium lists: Ripe Tomatoes, Fresh Onions, Fresh Tomatillos, Fresh JalapeÃÂ±o Peppers, Fresh Pasilla Peppers, Apple Cider Vinegar, Fresh Cilantro, Fresh Parsley, Fresh Garlic, Sea Salt, Spices

So the ingredient differences are primarily the type of peppers used and the unknown "spices".

There is no reason why you can't use the Annie's Salsa recipe, or any of the few approved canning salsa recipes, and sub some tomatillos for some of the 8 cups of tomatoes. The tomatillos are more acidic anyway. And you can sub some of the Passilla peppers for some of the peppers in Annie's recipe as long as you keep the total amounts of all ingredients called for in the recipe the same. so the density and pH aren't affected.

Of course then it won't be Annie's Salsa any longer. It would be a GM Gringo copy.

As to the spices they use - no way to know.

Personally I can't see the comparison of Annie's to Pace. Annie's is far superior IMO but taste is a very personal thing.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: Green Mountain Salsa
malna
10 years ago
The biggest difference I see is the addition of tomatillos. You could substitute a portion of the tomatoes in Annie's Salsa and use tomatillos instead. The pH of tomatillos is lower (more acidic) than tomatoes, so no worries about the substitution.

Fresh pasilla peppers are really poblanos, so you could use that variety.

Except for the parsley, everything else is in Annie's. You could always do 1/2 cilantro and 1/2 parsley, but I don't know if that would make that much of a taste difference.

What strikes you as the big difference in the Green Mountain flavor? Never having tasted this brand (or Pace for that matter), I'm curious.

Green Mountain Gringo's INGREDIENTS: Ripe Tomatoes, Fresh Onions, Fresh Tomatillos, Fresh JalapeÃÂ±o Peppers, Fresh Pasilla Peppers, Apple Cider Vinegar, Fresh Cilantro, Fresh Parsley, Fresh Garlic, Sea Salt, Spices.
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Bill, with processing, the important part is getting it hot enough for long enough. Since the pressure canning process for Annie's salsa is hotter and longer than the one for Linda Lou's green tomato salsa, I don't think there would be a safety issue with doing them together. The texture would probably be affected though. I find it too stressful to make two recipes at once. If I were you, I would make the PC version of Annie's salsa, because I think the taste is perfect with the PC amount of vinegar. (Never made the BWB version though, so maybe I'd like that just as much.) Then while the water is still hot, I'd add more hot tap water to the pressure canner and use it as a BWB, letting it heat up while I prepared the second salsa. I like to use wide-mouth pints, so I need to use my pressure canner to fit seven pints. My biggest BWB pot holds 7 regular square-sided pints but only 5 wide-mouth pints. Have a good day of canning! Melissa
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Thanks Dave. I've never seen a specific acidity for green tomatoes. I've always heard that they are more acidic than ripe tomatoes, but I've never seen a reference to how much more acidic. Going on the assumption that you cannot swap low acid ingredients (for instance you can't swap onions for peppers, even though they have similar acidities), it made me wonder why tomatoes for tomatillos were a safe swap - even though the tomatillos are much more acidic than tomatoes.
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malna
10 years ago
Dave types a lot faster than I do.
bananastand
Original Author
10 years ago
Thanks for the tips, all! I think to me Green Mountain Gringo tastes less like tomato paste/cooked tomato and more like that bright, fresh flavor you get when you make salsa on the spot.

Another one that is similar (and very good) is Frontera. Both the Jalapeno Cilantro and the Tomatillo flavors are very good.

I will try subbing some of the tomatillos for tomatoes and do poblano peppers, we'll see where that gets me! Thanks.
bananastand
Original Author
10 years ago
One more question:

Annie's recipe has 6 cloves of garlic. Is that an ingredient that can be increased or would it mess with the acidity?

Thanks!
malna
10 years ago
You can't increase fresh garlic, but you could add garlic powder or dehydrated minced garlic. One year I ran out of fresh garlic, and used dehydrated garlic partially reconstituted in the vinegar (not water).

As a general rule, dried spices and herbs are OK to increase to taste.
digdirt2
10 years ago
Have you checked out the other approved salsa recipes? Link below. Even though many find it to be the best, taste is a very subjective thing and nothing says you have to use Annie's Salsa as the base recipe. One of the other recipes may be more to your liking.

Dave

Here is a link that might be useful: NCHFP - Canning Salsas
bananastand
Original Author
10 years ago
Thank you Dave, will check it out!
bananastand
Original Author
10 years ago
Here's the recipe I ended up making. I ate some of the cooked salsa when I ran out of jars, and I can already tell this is going to be closer to my preferred taste than the original Annie's! Worth trying for other fans of Frontera and/or Green Mountain Gringo varieties.

7 cups roasted, peeled, chopped and drained tomatoes (I used a mix of heirloom varieties so it was very colorful)
1 cup diced tomatillos
2.5 cups diced onion
2 Pasilla (Poblano) peppers, roasted, peeled and diced
2 diced jalapeno peppers
Small amount of diced sweet red peppers to top off to the max amount of peppers safely allowed in recipe - 1.75c
6 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup diced fresh parsley/cilantro (about 50-50)
15 ounces tomato sauce
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4c canning salt
2t cumin
2t garlic powder

Mix ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. Pour into hot pint jars, seal and process in a boiling water canning bath for 15 minutes.

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