Simmering Salsa

I've made salsa before. I've even blogged about it. But for some reason, I've never canned any. A few weeks ago, we were having dinner at a cousin's house when the lady of the house broke out her last jar of handcrafted, home canned salsa. I was smitten. The flavor was amazing. I begged the recipe off of her and last Sunday, set to work. It is more work than I expected, but the end result was mouth watering! These long cayenne thin and habanera peppers are from my hoop house. The hand, by the way is not that of the grim reaper. I'm wearing gloves to protect my hands from the hot peppers.

Laughing Water took charge of the blanching operation. She thought it was pretty fun. All of the tomatoes were also from my hoop house.

Here is the pot of simmering salsa. I was delighted to learn that you can dice the tomatoes and let them sit for a while and then drain the excess liquid off. It makes for a thicker, chunkier product. I know most of you knew that, but I didn't.

My finished product. I left these on my table for days and kept looking proudly at them. It was pathetic! I'm planning more batches already! - Nanette