Canning Tomatoes: Roasted Salsa

Canning is a fun and exciting way of preserving fall's fresh flavors year round, and it is much easier then people think. Aside from some the necessary canning jars and lids, you can hack together the rest of the equipment with things laying around your kitchen. When canning, you're generally doing things in bulk, which means more time. My roasted salsa is a time saving solution, to help those of us with busy schedules, enjoy slow food for fast living. In this instructable, I'm going to show how I canned my salsa. If you follow these instructions, you'll find canning to be easy and rewarding!

Forkable

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

In the fall, the best quality vegetables are available for cheap. This is the time of year to pull out the canning jars and get to work. I'm lucky enough to have parents with a big garden who usually get way too much produce to take care of themselves. If you have a garden, you may know how much work they can be, so my parents are only too happy to send things home with me. Even though I have to take the Amtrak to see them, I was still able to slug a 50 lb bag of tomatoes home with me.

I was super happy to have that many tomatoes, but being a busy person, I didn't have much time to spend processing them. As they were super ripe and fading fast, I needed a quick solution. My answer was to roast them with some peppers and onions to make a salsa. WIth roasting, the tomatoes and vegetables cook down so a quick pulse in the food processor takes care of what hours of chopping would. Then by canning the salsa, I can enjoy it all through the winter. Its so easy, anyone can do it.

Comments

[nitai108]

That's a well done instructables, I love home made canned food! They taste so good, now I'm going to try to make my own.

[Scumm7]

The olive oil is just there to evenly distribute the seasoning and to keep the vegetables from sticking to the roasting pan. So just add enough to lightly coat your vegetables.

[scuba03]

where in australia can i find tomatillos or can i use something else? thanks

[sunshiine]

This looks so good! I will keep this in mind next year! Thanks for posting.

[roof rack]

Hi, I'm a Certified Master Food Preserver volunteer w/ the Cooperative Extension Service. I don't know where you got you recipe for salsa but it seems unsafe to me. Tomatoes have a pH of about 4.6 and can be safely canned in a boiling water canner w/ 1 tablespoon lemon or lime juice per pint added to insure the pH is 4.6 or lower. The boiling water canning time for acidified, crushed tomatoes is 35 minutes in a boiling water canner at sea level to 1,000 ft. USDA recommends that foods w/ a pH > 4.6 be processed in a pressure canner. You seem to have added enough vegetables that have a pH > 4.6 to raise the pH of the salsa mixture well above 4.6. The bacterium that produces botulism toxin is anaerobic and grows well at pH levels > 4.6. You can check the pH of many vegetables as well as fruits, meats and seafood here: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~comm/lacf-phs.html. For more information about canning salsa contact your local Extension Service plus you can find information and safe recipes here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/utah_can_guide_03.pdf. The home page for the latter site is here: http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/index.html. It is the USDA's National Center for Home Food Preservation. There is a wealth of info about canning, freezing and dehydration at their site. If your local Extension Service has a Master Food Preserver program they will also have workshops on safely home canning foods. It is great to see others that value homemade and home preserved foods. Please be safe and Happy Canning.

[Dr.Bill]

WoW !

[roof rack]

Hi barbantia,

The University of Georgia at Athens, GA  has rearranged their links for The National Center for Home Food Preservation.   I've appended the new links.  They've added a PPT for canning salsa.  I've appended the link for it also.  There are several other PPTs for preserving foods that can be accessed from the HomePage via the For Educators link. 

Thanks for bringing this to my attention.  Other viewers needed to know too.

gumby

===============

Home Page
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/

Salsa Page
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/how/can_salsa.html

USDA Cannig Guides (There 7 of them)
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp//publications/publications_usda.html

Step-by-Step Canning of Tomato-Pepper Salsa
http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/uga/TomatoSalsa_web.ppt

[brabantia]

 your "uga" links don't seem to work?

[SinAmos]

Wow, gumby8488 - way to spread disinformation. Only some tomatoes have a pH of 4.6. More are a lot more acidic.

[roof rack]

Hi SinAmos,

I think I responded to your comments before, but I've just received a note from Instructables' mail daemon indicating I have not.

First, let me state from whence I speak.  I am a Extension Service certified Master Gardener and Master Food Preserver.  I have been at these avocations about four decades. 

You are correct that only some tomatoes have a pH of 4.6.  However, none of them are "a lot more acidic".  USDA has verified the pH on a sufficient number of tomato varieties, including heritage varieties, to confidently make the following observation: The pH of ALL tomatoes, plus tomatillos which are related to cape-gooseberries and ground cherries, have pHs that hoover around 4.6.

Because it is impractical to verify the pH of the hundreds of varieties of tomatoes grown in widely variable growing conditions (not to mention the accidental hybrids produced when a home gardener grows more than one variety and collects seeds for next year's crop), and because pH testers of sufficient accuracy and reliablity are too costly for home users, USDA recommends that all tomatoes be acidified before being home canned.  Also, because adding low acid foods such as peppers and onions to tomatoes raises the pH, USDA further recommends that only labaratory safety tested recipes for salsa and other tomato based products be used.

gumby8488

[Forkable]

thanks for all the helpful information and links. I am glad to have more scientific information included here. As I said, canning is fun and easy but it is best to be safe. I am confident my recipe is safe and my salsa is acidic enough as I always add lime juice after roasting. However, I realize my wording doesn't make it sound like a stipulated step in my recipe which I will change now. thanks.

[graphak]

pretty nice recipe. I had to scale down a bit though lol. I also added a whole plant of purple basil that I grew, cilantro, and oregano. Its still roasting, but it smells and tastes awesome so far. Thanks for sharing

[sarah p.]

Yes, how much olive oil?? I'm excited to make this salsa! :)

[stembridge]

you leave the skin on....?

[Forkable]

Yes, I do. I don't think its necessary to remove the skin for salsa.

[stembridge]

thank you!

[wenderella]

can I use canned tomatoes for the salsa?

[canningmom]

Forkable, I am confused- how much olive oil am I suppose to add to the vegies, otherwise I think this is a pretty simple receipe. Thanks, Headcooker

[atombomb1945]

I just tried making a large batch of "fresh" salsa by just mixing everything together in a bowl. My wife and I both agree that something was missing from the mix, and I think I am going to try the roasting method you mention here.

[Forkable]

You can can (that sounds funny) fresh salsa as well if you want to. However it needs to process longer. The salsa in my instructable has been cooked for so long in the oven, it doesn't require as much processing time because any bacteria is killed during the roasting process. My parents can fresh salsa every year and process small pint jars in boiling water for about 30 minutes and larger quart jars for 45.

[swafo]

Thank you so much! These are great directions and wonderful photos. Very good job putting this instructable together.

[Forkable]

thank you!

[jessyratfink]

This looks amazing! What a good idea. I might try to tweak this a bit. I make homemade salsa, but not as often as I'd like. This would make it easier to keep it on hand. :D

[Forkable]

If you like this, you may also be interested in my Dilly Green Bean Pickles instructable which also features oddly similar canning information.