How to Make Priceless Salsa in Three Months or More

Homegrown and Homemade

Yesterday was salsa day at our house.  It occurs annually, usually a week or so before or after the Labor Day weekend.  It’s an all day affair involving roasting, peeling, chopping, cooking, and canning.  That day is the culmination of months of work.

Did I say three months?  More like six.  My husband plans out the backyard garden as soon as daylight ekes out a small margin of dominance following the vernal equinox.  Seed catalogs appear in the mailbox and like magic, grow lights and little rows of cardboard pots line up to germinate the opulence of this year’s garden.

Our salsa has five home-grown ingredients:  tomatoes, peppers, onions, garlic, and cilantro.  The onions are the first in the ground, planted just after the threat of frost has disappeared.  Hardy enough to withstand some colder temperatures so long as the ground doesn’t freeze.

Did I say six months?  More like year.  Long before the seed catalogs are printed, the garlic goes in the ground.  My husband says with garlic, “Plant during the world series and harvest during the all-star game.”  Those are baseball references that mean nothing to me, but I understand he means to plant the garlic in the fall and harvest the following summer.  Garlic has a one-year lead time.

The tomatoes and peppers are planted in early May and flourish throughout the summer.  For the optimum salsa flavor, he plants Roma and San Marzano tomatoes – one bush of each.  These are excellent quality tomatoes for salsa and tomato sauces, but the plants themselves are not hardy.  They require constant attention, which my husband supplies in the form of mineral supplements to ward off blossom rot, and support cages to keep them from tipping over under the weight of their fruit.  He picks off tomato worms and plucks weeds trying to climb the bush for support.  He nurses the plants as if they were his own children.

The peppers are much hardier than the tomatoes.  They love hot, sunny weather, which we had this summer.  Two jalapeño plants and one serrano pepper yield all we need to produce one gallon of salsa.

Pepper plants from our backyard garden.

The final homegrown ingredient, the cilantro, is easy enough.  I buy it already in a pot at the local farmer’s market and it is transplanted into my little herb garden.  However, this year a couple cold nights killed the little cilantro plant before salsa day, and I ended up buying a handful of fresh cilantro from the same farmer’s market. 

The recipe:

50 tomatoes

50 peppers

5 onions

2 heads of garlic

1 fistful of fresh cilantro

1 cup of fresh lime juice

1 teaspoon kosher salt

The process:

Preheat oven to 425.

Wash all produce. 

Slice tomatoes lengthwise and lay cut side down on a half sheet pan.  Fill two sheets.

Roast tomatoes in oven for 30 to 45 minutes, until the skin begins to wrinkle and split.

While tomatoes are roasting, arrange jalapeños and serranos on two half sheet pans.  Don’t cut or seed them.  Cut onions into quarters and arrange on sheet pan.  Wrap both heads of garlic individually in foil and place on pan. 

When tomatoes are done, take out of oven and insert peppers, onion, and garlic.  Pull out onions and garlic after twenty minutes.  Let peppers roast for a total of 30 to 45 minutes, until skin is wrinkled and split.

While peppers are roasting, once tomatoes are cool enough, remove skins and run through food processor to rough chop.  Add to pan and simmer on low.

Once onions and garlic are done roasting, add onions to food processor and rough chop.  Squeeze garlic out of skins and add to tomato mixture along with chopped onions.

When peppers are done roasting, immediately transfer to bowls and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let cool for 15 to 30 minutes.  The steam will help loosen the skin.

WEAR LATEX OR VINYL EXAM GLOVES.  Do not proceed to the next step without gloves.

Remove plastic wrap and start processing peppers.  You will need two bowls, one for seeds and skin to be tossed and one for the flesh to be used.

Using a small, sharp knife, cut off the stem and slit the pepper.  Scrape off the seeds and ribs.  Gently peel the skin away from the flesh.  This is a tedious process and will probably take an hour or longer.  Take breaks to stir the tomato mixture.

Run skinned peppers through food processor for rough chop and add to tomato mixture.

Add lime juice, salt, and rough chopped cilantro to tomato mixture.  Let simmer for 30 minutes while you set up canning equipment. 

Yield:  approximately 1 gallon

Results:  priceless.  Every day in the heart of the cold, dark winter, you can open a jar and taste the sun of summer, remembering summer excitement and the love that went into the creation of every bite.  Whenever you want, whet your lips with the taste of joy.

What little nugget of love will you put away today so you can pull it out this winter to remember joy on the darkest days?  Do you have something you keep handy to get you through? 

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