Overthinking no. Tomatoes vary in water content and size, as well as the amount of pulp. If making salsa its always a good idea to remove some liqiud, seeds, and skins. This will reduce the amount. Adding more is fine, if you wnat it thicker, add tomato paste. Roma tomatoes are Ok, but usually a mix of several differnet types of sauce, and paste tomatoes give a well rounded flavor. San Marzano, and even an Oxheart are great to use. The Oxhearts have little water, and lots of pulp, but milder taste. San Marzano are used by many sauce makers. If you ended up with more jars, it woul also be wise to increase the acidity a little. I add acid directly to each empty jar before its filled.

Well, in my very humble opinion I think it's fine. You still only used 8 cups of tomatoes!! Once you scoop out some seeds and loose some liquid you'll need more tomato chunks to add up to the 8 cups. I think you made a great decision to add more. Enjoy this amazing salsa.

I do not think you should have added more tomatoes. When you read a recipe, the order of words and punctuation is important.

My version of Annie's salsa says:
8 Cups tomatoes, peeled, chopped, and drained

That means you measure 8 cups, peel them, chop them, and drain them. Now I actually peel and chop before measuring but I drain after measuring.

If the recipe intended for you to drain before measuring it would say:
8 cups peeled, chopped, and drained tomatoes

I think that by adding extra tomatoes you potentially altered the tomato to acid ratio.

That being said, I am not an expert canner. I also think there are multiple versions of Annie's salsa recipe around, so it is possible that yours said otherwise.

skeip,

I agree with prairie love that the wording of the recipe means you measure the toms, THEN you drain them.

But I don't think there's any reason NOT to add more in this case. The important safety consideration with a salsa is the acid level, so you would not want to increase the proportion of low-acid ingredients (onion, garlic, peppers, fresh herbs); this recipe was tested and known to be safe with these proportions. By adding tomatoes, you're DEcreasing the proportion of those ingredients, and so raising the relative acid level. Now, you're also decreasing the amount of added acid (vinegar/lime juice/lemon juice) per jar, so you wouldn't want to go too far with this, but there is a generous safety margin of acid in this recipe (3 times the amount that was tested as just within the safe zone), precisely to accommodate inevitable variations, like the different amounts of actual tomato-chunk-flesh you'd get from different tomato varities --- more than enough to accommodate the additional 17% or so of an extra jar and a half.

Some tomatoes are juicier than others, so you will indeed get a wide range of final tomato amount from your original 8 cups, depending on the types. (I think our Annie grows mostly classic "canner" and "mulitpurpose" varieties, so the recipe was probably developed with toms in the medium-juice range between really meaty paste types and really juicy beefsteak types.)

Z, who loves this salsa, and lots of tomato varieties, too!

I agree with Zabby that in this case it doesn't matter either way when it comes to being safe. But for what it is worth rather than "measure, peel, chop, and drain"; I peel, chop, then measure, then drain. ;)

Dave

as anyone use annie salsa with the 1/3 cup of vinegar recipe and froze it as last batch of salsa i made i had to put a cup of vinegar due to using a water bath method and i put one in the freezer and now try ed it and was very nice but i want to try this recipe with just 1/3 vinegar and not a full cup as i can taste a bit of the vinegar in the salsa but its still great and was on about freezing it instead of water bath method

Are we duplicating things now??

MANY MORE of Annie's salsa threads..
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg082200459418.html?137

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0903113725133.html?8

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg081405525317.html?13

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0710385222591.html?80

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0723174319363.html?12

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg07210105835.html?9

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg1122365628967.html?26

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/harvest/msg0612484415786.html?7

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie Salsa threads

another option is to use 1/2 lemon juice (concentrate) and 1/2 vinegar or 1/2 cider vinegar. It seems to lessen the vinegar taste if you mix them.

Why bother BWB it? I made a half batch for the first time yesterday, followed the recipe to the letter and water bathed, for 15 mins, yielded 3 1/2 pints, today I am left with 1 jar! which hubby has put in his bag to share at work tomorrow! I might as well have skipped that step! :) it was fantastic :) making a whole batch next and don't worry I will water bath it.:)

skeip, when I was using that recipe I used 8 cups of chopped tomatoes, then I drained them. Sometimes I get more salsa, sometimes less, it's all good. (grin)

I also think the salsa is just fine with the few extra tomatoes you put in there, but I wouldn't go much further than that or you're possibly going to upset the acidity level.

I'm glad you like it, I usually make a batch that never makes it to the canner either, everyone loves it fresh and straight out of the pan for that first batch of the year.

Happy Canning.

Annie

I'm curious if anybody that makes Annie's Salsa also saves seeds at the same time. I get the feeling most on the Harvest Forum don't go thru all the extra steps & work to save the seeds and then use whatever of the tomatoes are left for the salsa. This of course also makes it more difficult when you are talking about measures and draining and straining, etc. Not to mention there may be differences in pH based on seeds that have gel that don't get omitted, vs bare, deseeded tomatoes with no juice left in them.

I didn't want to open up another can o' worms but it takes me soooo long to save seeds because I try to salvage the tomato for salsa. I cut, squeeze, peck/pick, then try to peel & then dice, or dice from the inside like chopping onions but not thru the skin, then cut then put all the good stuff in ziploc #1 and any cores, blems or stems in ziploc #2. The ziploc after a few hours of seedsaving may have a half gallon of tomato, in various dice or chop sizes, mostly without skin or seeds.

The gallon bag goes into the coldest part of the fridge until the next day and the process is repeated, then the bag is drained of any water. I then try to do a double batch or at least 1.5 batch, because of the work involved and the time in the kitchen. Whatever amount I end up with is the factor used, ie. 8 cups = single, 12 = 1.5x, 16 = 2x, and multiply the other ingredients accordingly.

I don't think I have it in me to just drop great heirloom tomatoes into boiling water and ice bath and waste perfectly good seeds that I could sell to pay for my Mom's Alzheimers meds, not to mention myself needing two carpal ops, an ulnar tunnel op, an MCL & patella femural syndrome knee op, and three ruptured and 1 bulging disc & sciatic nerve op.

And KEN, thanks for trying to get all the threads together. I appreciate it. Only one is clickable and I'm beat from the can o' worms I just explained above!

I posted in another Annie's Salsa thread asking if anything changed, this is the first time I can get here with everything going on, I hope I posted it in the right thread to get an answer! Plus I finally have loads of tomatoes now!

The ones that are NOT clickable are a COPY PASTE option instead. The site here offers only one single submit for a web page link. You simply COPY AND PASTE the links I posted into another browser window. Copy is CONTROL and C keys, and Paste is CONTROL and V keys. You can open a new web browser page and just copy and paste each link into that new browser page and it will show the pages. Very easy to do..

To Korney19, I too try to save the seeds from tomatoes I can, listing several with Seed Savers this year. I squeeze the seeds and process them as usual, using the tomatoes remaining for Annie's Salsa. I don't worry about the peels, I really dont mind the texture in the Salsa. If you're doing juice or another cooked process that is strained later, that eliminates the peels right there.

I just deseeded, deskinned & hand diced about 8 cups finished product of tomatoes, I know it called for 8 cups before but that's not easy to figure with heirlooms, some were beefsteak types over 6" diameter. I just kept dumping into a strainer over the sink, then when I got tired I used quart plastic containers from the chinese restaurant's soup and scooped it full twice.

My saved e-mails show that I bought a pound of 100% citric acid in the winter, but I don't recall using it, will have to find it. What is the substitution amount for the vinegar with citric acid? Ken?

Also, I will probably go round up more maters in the yard, we just had about 4.7" of rain since yesterday morning and I'm sure many probably split. I will probably try to do a double batch pressure canned, and add more citric acid & vinegar to be safew if someone feels that it is necessary--I don't have a BWB canner and cannot do 2 single batches this week so shooting for 12-15 pints at once (Presto 23qt.) Any recommendations considering the larger amount of final tomatoes (8 or 16 cups after draining) and the citric acid?

I also read somewhere that Pressure Canning should be OK for the same amount of time as BWB if the vinegar/acid is the same as BWB.

I also have smoked a bunch of red, yellow and purple Jalapenos with pecan wood and will try a homemade chipotle version of Annie's Salsa; last year's batch was really mild and I ground up a jal/chipotle last night and added it to a jar & it really kicked it up a notch!

Ken, thanks, I know how to CTRL-C & CTRL-V. Do you know how to A HREF? Then you will have no problems making all your links clickable! See the link below.

Here is a link that might be useful: A HREF=

I thought I was a good reader, but I guess not, because I figured I was supposed to measure the 8 cups of maters already chopped and drained. The reason I figured this is...who can measure out 8 cups of whole tomatoes? If you have a 2 cup measuring cup and it only holds 2 large tomatoes with a lot of space, how do you even know how much you're really going to have by the time you clean it up?

I had to put the full cup of vinegar in because I was doing a water bath. However, my issue is with the sugar...the salsa was way too sweet for my liking. I'd already doubled the recipe and made it as written, so I added a single recipe-worth to the pot, this time without the sugar. That worked pretty well for me. I would like to try it with 1/2 the called for sugar and the lower vinegar amount for a pressure canner, but I'm not in the mood to buy the pressure canner right now. Overall, I'm not as ecstatic as everyone else about this recipe. I really wanted to be! However, I will try it again with the lower vinegar and less sugar to see if that helps me. I also think I might prefer lemon juice or white vinegar instead of cider vinegar. I'm married to a latino and we eat a lot of latino food. Cider vinegar is just not really a part Mexican style salsa...because apples don't grow in Mexico.

Mary,

One of my BEST batches was using GARLIC flavor vinegar from Walmart! Second best was adding a pkg of that Ball Chipotle Salsa recipe seasoning.

I completely agree on the problems measuring tomatoes. I think in the past someone converted it to lbs or oz but that still has the same problem before/after: some drain out to be much less than other types. I think the recipe should maybe get converted to ounces/pounds of final tomatoes (and peppers, onions, etc.) after chopping/dicing/draining, or forever hold their peace on safety guidelines.

I just core, cut in half, squeeze most of the seeds and goo out over the sink, then chop up each half and toss the pieces into the measuring cup.
No "real" draining.
When my measure reaches 8 cups, I dump the whole thing into the stock pot.

Deanna

do you have to take the seeds out?, I didn't as my plum toms had very little in the way of seed and no pulp, I used a majority of these, + 4 other types of tomato to mix it up a little, its not too "seedy" but is it a safety issue?
I found my first half batch too sweet as well but it still shone through what an amazing receipt this is, the next batch I didn't add sugar at all and it was perfect.
I also on the recommendation of others used 1/2 cup of cider vinegar 1/4 cups of both lime and lemon juice. it doesn't taste of vinegar at all.

Nope, you don't have to take the seeds out. Some do and some don't (I don't 'cause I'm lazy :-) Just personal preference.

I've never had to add sugar either and yes, it is the perfect salsa recipe.

Has anyone tried a salsa verde, using tomatillos instead of tomatoes with this recipe? Also, can I use all lime juice instead of vinegar? How about other citrus juices when making a salsa verde?
Just considering going to the produce market to get the fixings for some homemade salsa and wanting to make some various types that I can't buy.
I sure wish more canning recipes were done in weights instead of measures, more like good bread recipes. So hard to measure vegetables in volume measurements.

I have not used the recipe for green salsa, but how would it taste with the tomato paste added ? It wouldn't be green salsa any more.
You can substitute BOTTLED lime or lemon juice for the vinegar. Not any other citrus juices, not fresh ones, for the vinegar. Bottled lemon or bottled lime juice is twice as acidic as vinegar. That is why in must be used for safety reasons.
There is a recipe from Univ. of Georgia for tomatillo or green tomato salsa that is good.

I used a recipe from the Ball Blue Book for tomatillo salsa. Came out awesome! Will use Annies recipe for my red salsa as tomatoes from the produce market are cheap and good right now. Can I roast it a little before adding the vinegar?
My tomatoes are struggling but I finally got our flood irrigation problem solved, hoping they'll recover from multiple days underwater. Starting a fall batch of seeds tomorrow and will include ground cherries, mild/sweet habaneros and plenty of tomatoes.
Need salsa, having salsa withdrawals.
Any idea where I can buy Asian cilantro seeds? My cilantro has been done for two months.

I don't know the difference between Asian cilantro and any other kind. I just grow what we have. I can't tell you what kind they are.
Sure, go ahead and roast your veggies.

Guess this is as good a place to ask this as any. Can you substitute lime juice for lemon juice in canning? I know you can sub lemon for vinegar but not vinegar for lemon juice, but can you sub lime juice for lemon in equal amounts?

Commercial bottled lemon and lime juice are interchangeable, but do not use fresh lime or lemon juice as the acid is not standardized.

Sharon

My tomatoes are coming in and I want salsa, so I hunted up the famous recipe everyone is talking about! I see that it calls for 16 oz tomato sauce and 16 oz tomato paste in addition to the 8 cups of tomatoes. Are you all using commercially purchased tomato sauce/paste, or your own canned sauces to use in the recipe?

Oops...one more question. There are a gazillion threads on Annie's Salsa, but I am confused as to which one is the up-to-date verson. Is there a thread that gives the current recipe (final tested version) without corrections? I get confused when I read a recipe, but then at the bottom of the page there are instructions contradicting it because of recent changes.

I'm sorry if this duplicates other posts in the past, but after weeding through so many of them, my eyes are crossed and I'm still not sure.

Jill,

Try the thread I've linked below. Scroll down a bit and you'll find the recipe with all the "tweaks" (what you can do and what you can't do).

I think we all use commercially canned tomato paste. You can use commercially canned tomato sauce, but some of us do use homemade (I use just cooked down tomatoes in the sauce-no other ingredients or spices).

Here is a link that might be useful: Annie's Salsa 2009

Thanks. That was the version of the recipe I ended up using. It turned out really good. I used commercial tomato paste and sauce. Maybe later I'll have enough of my own sauce to use when making the salsa. I appreciate the help. I'm just glad I found this before I got very far into canning. It's so much better to get started with good habits than try to retrain yourself and break bad ones!

Jill