Directions: |
Directions:You need about 1 hour, 3 to 12 hours ahead of time to prepare the tomatoes (phase 1). The salsa (phase 2) and canning (phase 3) take about 2 hours total. Add ½ hour for cleanup (phase 4)
Phase 1:
You're going to skin the tomatoes by blanching. Get 2 of 3 litres water boiling in a wide pot and fill a clean sink with 4 or 5 litres of cold water. Select about 30 barely ripe and 5 definitely under ripe tomatoes. Drop tomatoes in boiling water for 40 – 60 seconds (NO MORE) in batches of 6 or less. Quickly fish them out and drop in the cold water. Theoretically the skins should peel off with minimal effort. Cut out big stem ends and cut into 1/8th or whatever to make 1-2 cubic inch volume pieces. Slightly larger is OK, smaller is no good. Throw pieces in plastic bowl or pail and mix in ½ cup of pickling salt. You should have at least 8 litres. Cover and let sit for 3 to 12 hours. The salt will draw off most of the water out of the tomatoes and if you don't screw around and shake things up, you'll be pouring off 2-3 litres of clear salt water.
Phase 2:
Carefully drain tomatoes. The more salt water you lose the better. Throw tomatoes, vinegar and sugar in the soup pot and start heating at medium. Place saucer or small bowl in freezer. Meanwhile, your assistant has been chopping all the hot peppers and 4 of the jalapenos in the processor. Use everything except stems, chop very fine and throw in with the tomatoes as soon as possible. Time to crack beer #1 because now you're pinned there gently stirring for the next hour as the salsa starts to simmer. Assistant should enjoy beverage of preference in moderation as dangerous utensils are in use. The salsa will burn if you don't stir it. Keep it at a gentle simmer. Check the time and remember when simmering started. Do not taste. Meanwhile your assistant is manually chopping the onions and green peppers in ½ to 1 inch pieces. Remove green pepper seeds. At precisely 30 minutes past start of simmer, throw in the onions, green peppers and the tomato paste. Fill canner with hot water, jars and lids and get it boiling. At precisely 45 minutes past start of simmer, spoon 3-6 tbsp of salsa in bowl from freezer and return to freezer. Avoid tasting the hot salsa. At 50 mpsos (figure it out) cleanse palate with ice cold beer #2 and ready nacho chips. At 55 mpsos remove cooled salsa from freezer. It must be at room temp or lower. Taste. If mild, quickly add 3-4 jalapenos and cook for 10 minutes more. If too hot, too bad, girlie man.
Phase 3:
Remove salsa from heat and stir often as you deftly fill your sterilized jars to precisely ½ inch from the top for pint jars and 5/8 inch for litre jars. Fill large jars first. Wipe rims, install lids and screw on rings snug but not tight. Reduce water level in canner to about 2/3 and immerse jars. The tops should be at least 1 inch below water level. Process at full rolling boil 15 minutes for pint jars, 20 minutes for litres jars.
Phase 4:
Enjoy beer #3 while monitoring processing and supervising phase 4. |
This recipe for Keay's Beer Salsa is from