I’ve been canning salsa with all our garden tomatoes, peppers, and onions using My favorite Salsa For Canning. It has remained my favorite even after trying three different recipes last year. I like that I don’t have to deal with store-bought-preservative-filled lemon juice, which every site I visited recommended as the only lemon juice with a guaranteed 5% acidity.
However, I just had to share with you how I am making it now that cuts the preparation time in half:
I’m using a food processor to chop the tomatoes, peels and all!
Thanks to Katie at Kitchen Stewardship who posted about this when making her own salsa, my salsa-making life is much easier now. It had never occurred to me to not peel the tomatoes, but I tried it with one batch last year and I couldn’t tell the difference between that batch and all the others where I peeled and hand-chopped all the tomatoes.
The tomatoes do come out a bit smaller than with hand chopping, but there are usually some larger chunks left when using a processor. Really the biggest drawback I’ve found is that I can’t drain any of the liquid that used to accumulate while I was taking all that time to peel and chop each tomato. The resulting salsa is a little thinner, but hmmm, let me see…
An extra hour vs. a bit thinner?
I’ll take the time any day- what a blessing!
Have you ever used a processor to chop tomatoes for a recipe? Is it worth it to you?
-Jami
Instead of a strainer to get off extra liquid, try a salad spinner.
I never thought of that – great tip!
You can drain the tomatoes from the food processor if you use a mesh strainer 🙂
Thanks for that tip, Stephanie, I’ll have to try that!
OMG. I am still in the “boil” phase. I just tried it and DELISH. With the cumin and vinegar, it reminds me of Emerald Valley Salsa from Eugene, OR. (Which is a personal favorite.) So yummy good. I can’t wait to get this in jars and enjoy it over the winter. Thanks for sharing it!
And the food processor method–genius! I will use it while I am making spaghetti sauce for canning since I am using farm fresh tomatoes from local growers. (I drove out to Sauvie Island personally to pick them up!) I wasn’t sure if I should seed the tomatoes or not. I went head and just cut the tops and blossom ends off, and used everything else. So far, so yummy! The seeds do not seem to be an issue.
Thanks!
Jami, I really like all of your hints and shortcuts (time efficiency management). But in looking around on your site, I can’t find a fresh salsa recipe. I’m a man, and maybe just not bright, or patient enough to find it. Your canned recipe looks good, but do you have one that a person can make and eat right away?
Ha! Nothing to do with your being a man, Patrick – I don’t have a recipe on the site for fresh salsa. *hangs head in shame* I just throw ingredients in a processor until I like the outcome – and it comes out different each time, then…surprise. I should put that on my to-do list!
I know this was posted a year ago, but I’m using your recipe this year. The one thing I’m doing different is I’m making it in my roaster and using my immersioin blender right in the roaster. The tomatoes I’m using are straight from the Garden, so no wax! Thanks for the recipe I’ll let you know if my family loves it!
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Oh yes, I’d love to know how you like it that way – I’ve never thought to cook it in my roaster (probably because I always make huge batches!).
The Salsa recipe sounds so good! And yes, I use a food processor for anything I can. Thin salsa is GOOD!
🙂 CAS
Marie- Thanks! I’m glad it works for you, too. And I love my food mill for sauces, as well- I use it for apples as well as tomatoes.
I just found your site today and loved reading about your food processor idea. This is my first year canning and when I heard that one is “supposed to” peel the tomatoes I balked. No way would I do all that work! So I dug out the food processor and gave it a whirl and love it. I even used it the first time we made pasta sauce (and then last week we bought a used food mill off craigslist and discovered that worked better for sauces).
I’m now following your blog and look forward to your future posts! 🙂
If I have enough tomatoes this weekend I just might have to give this recipe a try. I did get a food mill this year, but no the right attachment for salsa. Next year for that, I guess. This year I’ll try the food processor and maybe some hand-cut tomatoes to add a little more chunkiness.
Oh wow – thanks for the information. I have my tomatoes this year all finished but will certainly save the time next year and do it this way. I prefer the salsa to not be chunky so I have been putting mine in the processor as I take them from the cabinet….this is my first year at canning salsa! Love your blog!
Dawn
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Hi! I appreciate your blog so much ~ you are such an inspiration! 🙂 I would like to share with you the link to a wonderful organic gardening film, in the hopes that it will be a blessing to you as well. (The film is at the bottom of the webpage.) http://backtoedenfilm.com/index.html
Anne
Hmmmm…I’m going to have to try this recipe next year. My tomatoes are done for the season.
This just sounds so yummy and a fun project. Thanks for the post.
I always enjoy your blog.
Our Indian Summer is great here in OR.
I don’t like to use the food processor to chop raw tomatoes. It may sound strange, but it seems to me that the processor “fluffs” air into raw tomatoes, resulting in a not-quite-foamy product. I don’t notice this happening with cooked tomatoes for whatever reason. However, I do use my processor to chop the garlic, onions, and peppers. It saves me both time and tears!
I’ve had that problem also. But if I just use the pulse feature, I can usually avoid the foaminess.
Oh thank you Jami, I was just wondering what to do with all the tomatoes I’ve got to harvest before the next frost hits!! I knew there was a reason why my food processor didn’t sell on Kijiji!! lol