Charcuterie, I've made this recipe many times and the amount I get varies from about six pints to about eight pints. I think it probably depends mostly on how watery the tomatoes are. Roma tomatoes are usually very meaty, and the fact that you got less than eight cups from 5 1/2 pounds suggests yours were quite meaty (I usually find about four pounds gives about eight cups). So my guess is that the liquid from the canned diced tomatoes is what made it have so much volume. If you had added more fresh tomatoes, they would have cooked down. Since the tomatoes you added were canned they were already cooked down, so they wouldn't have shrunk as much in cooking, if you see what I mean. I do think your salsa should be safe to eat. The added extra peppers is actually the one thing that goes against standard safety recommendations---peppers are a low-acid food, so if you have more peppers total compared to tomatoes than a recipe is tested for, you don't know for sure that it's acidic enough. But those cans of peppers in adobe are small, and you added extra acid, AND I know that Annie's recipe has a generous margin of error of extra acid. So while the standard answer is "you should never change anything in a tested recipe," I know that I, personally, would feel very happy eating your salsa. I'll be right over, in fact. ;-p Good luck, Zabby

This is refreshing! ;) Usually what we get here is folks wanting to convert a cooking recipe to a canning one. For fresh eating, no you don't have to do any cooking, but this is a lot of salsa for fresh eating unless you are having a large party or cut the recipe in 1/2 or quarters. It won't store safely for long in the fridge without cooking and put in some form of containers. So if you want it for normal rate of salsa eating, just make it as is including the cooking and then freeze it in freezer containers? Then you can thaw a container, keep in the fridge as use as desired. Dave PS: we need to note to avoid future confusion that this posted copy of the recipe is the one for pressure canning only and the processing time has since been increased to 25 mins. There is a separate recipe for BWB canning for 15 mins. that requires 1 cup of vinegar. Bottled lemon juice or bottled lime juice may be substituted for all or part of the vinegar in either recipe.

LOL, I love this thread. I also love experimenting with world cuisines, but it sure makes for an interesting pantry. Anybody have an idea of what to do with a can of nopalitos? I was in a Mexican grocery and it looked interesting, but I have no idea what to do with it now. :-) I can help with the candied ginger, though--I make my own ginger simple syrup and so end up with a lot of candied ginger left from that. It freezes well. I dice it up fine and throw a handful into apple pies or anything made with apples. It adds a beautiful, fresh tasting kick, and it sort of dissapears so people know there's something in there that tastes good but they can't say exactly what. :-) I also toss it into oatmeal, throw a slice or two into tea or lemonade, and add it to muffins and other baked goods. It is also good for motion sickness--I gave my brother a bag of it when his family drove cross country and it kept my nephew's tummies settled. Cj

Lars: Here is a simple recipe using powdered milk. They are really Crispy and Tender. Might be worth a try. Barnmom gave me a tip I tried and worked great. LOUÂS Pancakes and Waffles Recipe 2 ½ cups milk ( IÂve been using powdered milk) 2 eggs ( separated ) . 1/3 cup of veg. Oil 2 tablespoon of vanilla Italian Pinch of salt ½ cup Sugar 1 cup of Wheat Flour 4 teaspoons Baking Powder All Purpose flour --------------------------------------------------------------------- Mix Pancake Batter: Put the first 6 ingredients ( except egg whites ) in a mixing bowl and beat until smooth. Put in the Wheat flour, Baking pwd. and some All Purpose flour. Beat until smooth. Add enough flour to thicken slightly, (were it leaves ripples while mixing ) not thin and loose. Beat the egg whites with a teaspoon of sugar, until peaked. Add ½ the egg whites to the batter and fold in easy. Beat the other ½ of the whites until very stiff and fold these in also. After the pancakes are cooked, I put plastic in between for freezing. For Waffles: Thicken a little more, to where you have to move it around with a spoon, when it is put on the waffle iron . Then do the egg white thing as in the pancake batter. When baked I cool them fast on a rack and put them in a plastic bag, and right in the freezer. If you overcook a little, dampen slightly with water, before you put them in the toaster oven. As for the waffle iron , I have a very old round one with adjustable heat Range. It makes a waffle about ½ inch + thickness. For me this is just right, for the amount of butter and syrup that you can put on top. I found a Cuisinart mod.WMR-CA to match my old one. Now I can make Waffles in Stereo I donÂt use the Belgium Waffle Maker ; except when IÂm adding Ice cream and fruit topping , because itÂs too much waffle for the amount of syrup and butter. But may be good for you.! If I want a Belgium Waffle, I just make a double decker and put fruit or whatever filling in between. Then you have more cooked surface area , on the Waffles. Which is where the flavor is ( the cooked surface )