My Throbbing Hands

After reading about "canning sins" I discovered that salsa can be dangerous if any veggy besides tomato is increased in the recipe.  One can always pressure can her salsa in order to safely preserve a family recipe.  Before Aynie was born I grew and diced some potent jalepanoes for pepper jelly.  I didn't wear gloves when I diced the peppers.  My hands throbbed for two days.  I had to take OTC's.  WEAR GLOVES!

I didn't like the pepper jelly either. 

I retrieved this salsa recipe from the USU Extension Site:

http://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Salsa%20-%20Generic%20Recipe.pdf

Boiling Water Canning

GENERIC SALSA

Brian Nummer, Ph.D., May 2008

Generic Salsa Recipe –per pint jar

(multiply quantities by desired yield)

 

¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice*

½ cup tomatoes (peeled, deseeded**, and diced to approx ¼”)

½ cup any combination of onions, bell peppers (diced to approx. ¼”) and pureed hot peppers including seeds

(other vegetables not permitted)

¼-½ tsp salt*** (up to 1 tsp)

0-1 tsp dry spice (cumin, pepper, garlic powder, celery seeds, coriander)

 

*This recipe was designed to use ¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice per 1 pint salsa. Do not use fresh squeezed

juice or vinegar or alter this acidification procedure. Doing so may not safely acidify the salsa resulting in a risk

of botulism.

**Drain and discard tomato juices for a thicker salsa

***Optional

 

Procedure: Peel tomatoes by placing them in boiling water for approximately 1 minute or until skins loosen.

Plunge in cold water, then peel skins and discard them. Peel onion skins. Wash peppers. Dice all vegetables to

approximately ¼ inch cubes.

Puree hot peppers including seeds (the heat of hot peppers is concentrated in seeds). Caution: Wear plastic or

rubber gloves and do not touch your face while handling or cutting hot peppers. If you do not wear gloves,

wash hands thoroughly with soap and water before touching your face or eyes.

Hot pack – combine vegetable ingredients in a saucepan. Add salt and up to 1 tsp (total) of dry spice as desired.

Heat salsa to boiling with constant stirring. Pour ¼ cup bottled lemon or lime juice into each clean pint canning

jar. Pour in hot salsa ingredients leaving ½ inch headspace. Attach 2 piece canning lid. Invert jar several times

to mix salsa and lemon/lime juice. Process using the following recommendations:

 

Recommended process time for Generic Salsa in a BOILING-WATER canner

Process Time at Altitudes of  0 –1,000 ft  1,001 –3,000 ft  3,0001 –6,000 ft  Above 6,000 ft

Hot Pints                                15 min        20 min             20 min              25 min

 

Sources:

Hillers, V.A. & Doughter, R. (1996, rev. 2000). Salsa recipes for canning. Washington State University Cooperative Extension.

USDA. (1994, rev 1999). USDA Complete guide to home canning. Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539. Retrieved from

http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/publications/usda/utah_can_guide_00.pdf

Nummer, B.A., Thacker,M., D’Sa, E.M., & Andress, E.L. (2004). Studies on safe acidification of salsa for home boiling water canning. University of Georgia.

Retrieved May 15, 2008 from http://www.uga.edu/nchfp/papers/2004/04ift-tomatosalsaPos