Peach Salsa

I live in Central California.  There are some things that that are a certainty when August rolls around:

1. It will be hotter than Meg Ryan at the restaurant in "When Harry Met Sally"  [I'll have what she's having"---classic],
2. Peaches and nectarines will be falling from the trees, and
3. Vegetable gardens will be producing like crazy.  You could be buried alive under all the tomatoes coming off of even a small-ish garden.

After you have made all the tomato sauce, tomato paste, stewed tomatoes, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, and salsa you could possibly eat or give away in a year, what do you make next?  Try something new; make some peach salsa.

Step 1: You're such a tool!

Gather your equipment.  We will be using the boiling water bath method for canning our peach salsa.  You will need:

• One large 21 quart water bath canner (or a big-ol'-pot)
• One large stock pot for cooking the salsa (I used an eight quart)
• One small pot to heat lids and bands.  I used a two quart pot
• Seven pint size canning jars, lids and bands
• jar grabber and funnel
• Knifes, cutting boards, bowls, ladles, and other prep equipment
• spice bag or a pair of nylons.

Comments

[wendyg]

My family says this is the best salsa they ever had!

[jxross]

Clearly your family has good taste and is well educated. :-)

Glad you all like it.   

[martamc]

A question for you....my peach salsa tastes very hot -- perhaps too hot. Should I have used fewer jalapenos, or will the flavor mellow as it sits in the jar?

[jxross]

If it is too hot, then you probably should cut down on the peppers next time. As for mellowing over time, I couldn't say...mine never lasts long.

A brief sidetrack to a somewhat related situation... I once made a very spicy mango and papaya salsa. It was too hot even for me, and I like spicy. I grated some milk chocolate over the salsa and mixed it up. The "heat level" of that salsa was then half of what it had been before. . ...

Back to the situation at hand... To tone it down a bit, you could add a tablespoon or two of brown sugar when you open the jars....more sweetness should offset some of the spiciness...at least in theory. Heck, try the chocolate. Can't hurt.

If you try this, let me know if it works. Good luck.

[The_Monkey_King]

For peeling peaches you can parboil them if they are really soft (squishy). However, if they are firm you can use a vegetable peeler. The peeler may take of just a fraction of a bit more fruit, the peaches are not in any precooked.

Thanks for sharing your Instructable!

[zorin865]

Thenks, so good!