Salsa Salsa Salsa

It's salsa canning day here at out house. The boys and I harvested 8 lbs of tomatoes (a mixture of cherry, yellow pear, purple cherokee, yellow taxi, roma and green zebra). There are still plenty of tomatoes in the garden (those will be used for pasta sauce!). We also harvested some peppers (bell and jalepeno), along with plenty of cilantro. Unfortunately, we've already used up our onions, so those were purchased locally, along with the garlic. This salsa is perfect for our likings - a little spicy, heavy on the garlic, and fresh tasting! Enjoy!

Garden Salsa for Canning

• 8 lbs ripe tomatoes
• 2 onions
• 2 bell peppers
• 2 jalepeno peppers
• 1 bulb garlic
• 1 small can (156 ml) tomato paste
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 tbsp white sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• lemon juice

1. Cut tomatoes into quaters. Scoop out the seeds, then place in a food processor. Process seeded tomatoes for 10 seconds (you'll likely have to do this a few times, depending how big your bowl is).
2. Dump processed tomatoes into a large pot. Turn onto med heat.
3. Cut onion and pepper into small chunks (remove seeds from peppers). Add to bowl of food processor. Smash garlic, remove skin, and cut each clove in half. Add that to bowl of processor as well, then process for 10 seconds, scrape sides of bowl, then process for another 10 seconds. Dump pepper/onion/garlic mixture into pot with tomatoes and stir well. Once mixture comes to a boil, turn heat to med-low.
4. Scoop 1/2 cup of the mixture into a small bowl and add tomato paste to bowl. Whisk together until smooth, then dump back in pot.
5. Finely chop cilantro leaves, then add to pot. Also add sugar, salt, and cumin and stir well. Let salsa simmer for 2 hours.
6. In the meantime, prepare jars, lids and rings for canning (ie. sterilize as per manufactuers directions). Get water bath ready for canning.
7. Add 2 tbsp of lemon juice to bottom of each sterilized jar, then fill with salsa, leaving about 2 cm headroom. Clean rim, place lid on top, and screw ring on until hand-tight. Place filled jars in water bath, ensuring water is at least 1" above top of jar.
8. Bring waterbath to a boil. Once boiling, set your time for 20 minutes.
9. Remove jars from waterbath after 20 minutes, and gently set on a towel on the counter. Check to ensure jars seal (should be anywhere from 1 minute to 1 hour). Leave on counter overnight, before labelling and placing in pantry. ENJOY!